<p>I am someone who grew up in Massachusetts and is an SEC grad from “back in the day”.
Not to be coy, it was the University of Florida. Steve Spurrier won the Heisman Trophy my sophomore year, and there were no African-Americans playing football in the SEC through my graduation. The band marched on the field every game playing “Dixie”, for which I sat, on account of being from Massachusetts. I didn’t even think about the racial implications at the time.
My fraternity was low status and was almost completely channeled by the frat in the “Animal House” movie. Spurrier’s frat was next door, and later bought our house to create a parking lot for their Corvettes. Almost like one of those “Onion” headlines, “Band of Scrappy Misfits No Match For Rich Kids”.
We pledged the first Black kid in the history of the fraternity system. The guy was just interested in being in a fraternity, but the student paper came around taking a picture of him doing his pledge duty, which was mopping floors. More than he could take, and more than we had thought about.
Having said all that, and having lived in New York, Boston, and Chicago since graduation, I think the culture and education in the SEC is maligned inaccurately. The education I got was darned good, and the racist assumptions about people in the South are almost too much to bear. Living now on the Southside of Chicago, it has been my experience that Blacks have a much more open and nuanced view of the South than the elite white folks who surround them at the University of Chicago (a more or less typical elite).
If my son or daughter were interested, I would have no hesitation with them attending an SEC school. Ole Miss sounds particularly cool.</p>
<p>My observation of Ole Miss based on having visited the campus, having explored Oxford, MS, having visited Faulkner’s home, and, recently, having interacted with 5, Ole Miss, “seeming” frat boys at a ski resort in Lake Tahoe.</p>
<p>1) I have never met a group of more polite students, holding the door for us, addressing us as “mam” and “sir” and physically leading us where we wanted to go, upon our wandering around on the campus.</p>
<p>2) Oxford, MS, is charming and intellectual–at least, the book store (I think it was called “Square Books”) was a wonderful, independent bookstore. Oxford has the dinstinction of having a high percentage of its senior citizens taking university classes. Great physical space and selection at Square Books. As well, there was a selection of gourmet restaurants and nice coffee houses, teeming with student life (students studying, playing chess, that sort of thing).</p>
<p>3) I loved visiting Faulkner’s home, walking the neighborhood, the vibe.</p>
<p>4) We were skiing at Heavenly Valley (Tahoe), and there was a group of Ole Miss boys who had climbed onto the shuttle (they had been working at the ski resort for Xmas vacation). At first glance, they seemed to be the typical, Greek guys–loud, raucous, and superficial. They looked like they hailed from the same good-looking DNA pool–dark-haired, blue-eyed, dimple in the chin, tall, bursting with health and appeal. They were eyeing my daughter and engaged her in conversation. After a few minutes of listening to them and then hearing them ask my daughter if she wanted to go to a party “(if it’s okay with your sister, there” they added, referencing me), I told them that she was “16,” and they were immediately apologetic to her and me. They had misunderstood and thought that my daughter went to Tufts, not that she was headed to Tufts, and that she was college age. Further discussion revealed that the boys all had ambitious plans–one of them had been accepted to medical school, another was applying to medical school, two more were taking the GMATs in preparation to apply for MBA programs, and the fifth one was going to veterinary school to become an equine vet. That seems like a fairly high proportion of achievers. If they were representative, they represented Ole Miss, well.</p>
<p>I am an Ole Miss grad who had a son doing his college search last year. My son was an exceptional student (like so many on here). He was valedictorian, National Merit Finalist and Presidential Scholar (one male and female per state). He wanted to go someplace different because he had been to Ole Miss so much growing up. We are not from Mississippi. He wanted to go to Vandy, but did not get a full scholarship. He didn’t want to go to Wash U even though he did get offered one. He was offered great scholarships at U Alabama, U Arkansas, and Ole Miss. He didn’t like Arkansas and he did like Alabama and their honors college. Before he made his decision, he visited Ole Miss. The Honors College and the Croft Institute are top notch. The differences in the Ole Miss Honors college and some of the others is that it is smaller and more of a home atmosphere. The students in the honors college seem very well rounded. Very social and leadership oriented. Many participate in campus leadership and the greek organizations. It has a personal touch and from what I have seen, if a student wants to do something, they will make it happen. It is well funded. The honors college is housed in a former sorority house, but now it has classrooms, lounge areas, offices and outdoor areas where they have classes and socializing.<br>
The Croft Institute is competitive to get in to and very respected. If a student wanted to study Chinese, I would highly recommend it. The Lott Institute is also an outstanding program.
After his visit to Ole Miss, he decided that is where he wanted to go. BUT, on April 30, Vandy called and offered him a full scholarship and he accepted it. Vandy is probably a better fit for him, but Ole Miss would have been an outstanding choice.
FYI, the freshman classes at Ole Miss are 50% or more out of state. Many Tennessee, Georgia, Texas and Louisiana students, but they come from all over. I get newsletters from my fraternity and they are full of guys from Georgia, Missouri, Texas, New Jersey, Illinois.
I would definitely recommend a visit. I think it is better to visit in the middle of the week during the school year.</p>
<p>Actually dd09, 70% of Ole Miss students are from Mississippi. </p>
<p>Some other interesting facts, if anyone was interested . . .</p>
<p>-Average Freshmen ACT Score: 23
-53% female, 47% male
-80% Caucasian, 15% African-American, 1% Asian/Asian-American, 1% Hispanic/Latino, 4% Other
-80% of students receive some form of financial aid</p>
<p>(Sources: University of Mississippi QuickFacts, Viewbook)</p>
<p>Also, one of the things I appreciate about Ole Miss (as a public university) is its transparency in college admissions. It outlines how to get admitted on its website (<a href=“http://www.olemiss.edu/admissions/fap.html[/url]”>http://www.olemiss.edu/admissions/fap.html</a>)! </p>
<p>"Regular admission will be granted to the following:
- All students completing the College Preparatory Curriculum (CPC) with a minimum 3.20 high school GPA on the CPC.
- All students completing the CPC with a minimum 2.50 high school GPA on the CPC and a minimum score of 16 on the composite ACT (or 760 on the SAT critical reading/mathematics).
- All students completing the CPC with a class rank in the top 50 percent and a minimum score of 16 on the composite ACT (or 760 on the SAT critical reading/mathematics).
- All students completing the CPC with a minimum 2.00 high school GPA on the CPC and a minimum composite score of 18 on the ACT (or 860 on the SAT critical reading/mathematics).
- All students who meet certification requirements for the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). This option is available to all freshman applicants."</p>
<p>So basically you can figure out whether one will be admitted or not by this formula (so if I’m Suzy Q. Applicant and I’ve got a 2.9 GPA with 360/420/400 SATs I can figure out that I will be admitted).</p>
<p>I think that institutions that use such formulas/charts should post them publicly and I commend Ole Miss for doing so.</p>
<p>Just a general FYI…</p>
<p>The Honors College received over 730 applications this year…up over 50%. I believe the total HC membership is just shy of 800. My daughter said that many of the seniors have commented that they would have never been accepted if they were applying this year.</p>
<p>2 cents:
The ole miss entrance requirements are mandated by the Federal courts. All Mississippi public universities have to use the same entrance requirements (its part of the Ayers decision to correct systematic underfunding of HCBUs in MS). You’ll find they are the same at MSU, USM, Alcorn State,…
Its a problem IMHO. It stops MS developing a true flagship university. Although MSU and Ole Miss are both pretty good schools, they cannot easily raise standards when there is effectively open admission (if you look at those standards they are pretty lax).</p>
<p>The ole miss entrance requirements are mandated by the Federal courts. All Mississippi public universities have to use the same entrance requirements (its part of the Ayers decision to correct systematic underfunding of HCBUs in MS).</p>
<p>I don’t understand this… The Ayers Decision applies to all southern states and to a few northern states as well, so why does only Miss schools have these “across the board” entrance requirements (which some have argued has prevented Ole Miss or Miss St from emerging as a true flagship.)? It would seem that Alabama and Georgia, etc, would also have to follow these unified entrance rules, but they don’t. I’ve read that other states simply ignore the ruling - perhaps because they’ve included their own provisions to increase minority attendance without just opening the floodgates to more whites with lower scores. </p>
<p>BTW…what would Ole Miss and/or Miss St do if they got flooded with qualified apps that far exceeded their ability to accommodate? Frankly, it can happen just by having a winning football team for a couple of years. Bama’s apps are up a substantially. Bama will likely have to reject about 55% of its applicants this year. What if something like this happened at Miss St or Ole Miss? </p>
<p>Ole Miss
Total applicants: 8,595
Total applicants who are accepted: 6,833
Total of accepted students who enroll: 2,399</p>
<p>The above numbers are not far off of Bama’s numbers a short time ago. This year, Bama will receive well over 20,000 apps. What if Ole Miss or Miss St had a similar experience? I guess that is the answer. If Ole Miss and/or Miss St want to be able to become more selective, then they need to create a situation where their projected qualified apps would exceed campus accommodation and do so without sacrificing minority acceptances. At that point, I guess they could seek some kind of injunction that would allow them to raise their entrance requirements and use some kind of holistic method to allow them to still include a fair number of URMs.</p>
<p>I’m glad they dropped their old mascot, the discussions for the new one is pretty funny-
[Star</a> Wars Figure Gains Steam as Ole Miss Mascot - The Paper Trail (usnews.com)](<a href=“http://www.usnews.com/blogs/paper-trail/2010/02/25/star-wars-figure-gains-steam-as-ole-miss-mascot.html]Star”>http://www.usnews.com/blogs/paper-trail/2010/02/25/star-wars-figure-gains-steam-as-ole-miss-mascot.html)</p>
<p>@mom to 2:
I know these admission rules seem crazy but they are correct. Here’s a relevant page from the governing board (the IHL [Mississippi</a> IHL - Academic and Student Affairs](<a href=“HTTP Error 404”>Redirect))
Why does this not apply to more states? I don’t really know, but the IHL signed off on these rules when they settled the suit by Jake Ayers. That case awarded additional “Ayers funds” to the HCBUs, mandated new degree programs at the HCBUs with appropriate funding (e.g. engineering at Jackson State), setup scholarships and set system-wide admissions standards. The only way enrollment can be managed is by setting early application deadlines or through negative advertising (A few years and a couple of presidents ago MSU sent letters to all acceptees pointing out that freshmen with low ACT scores rarely graduated from MSU).</p>
<p>
Well, if some of us would stop talking about what a great place/deal SMBHC is (and what a great fella Dean DS-G is) maybe their apps would go down. I know I haven’t told anybody. ;)</p>
<p><a href=“A%20few%20years%20and%20a%20couple%20of%20presidents%20ago%20MSU%20sent%20letters%20to%20all%20acceptees%20pointing%20out%20that%20freshmen%20with%20low%20ACT%20scores%20rarely%20graduated%20from%20MSU”>I</a>.*</p>
<p>That is very sad… I do think that MSU does have a number of sub100 courses as remedial for students who arrive unprepared for college-level classes.</p>
<p>*
Complete the College Preparatory Curriculum (CPC) with a minimum 2.50 high school GPA on the CPC or a class rank in the top 50%, and a score of 16 or higher on the ACT* (Composite); or*</p>
<p>Oh my goodness. A 16 on the ACT? An ACT 16 is in the 20th percentile! At that point, why insist on an ACT score at all???</p>
<p>Excuse me, I think I just figured out that “HCBU” is actually supposed to be “HBCU”. That is, Historically Black College or University. Right?</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>To keep out the really, really, REALLY bad students. For that matter, 2.5 is an abysmally bad GPA at most high schools, so why insist on a GPA at all? You have to admit, some standard is better than no standard. And it is Mississippi, after all, not exactly a nationally-recognized bastion of higher education. They’re probably happy just to keep decent students in-state.</p>
<p>I say this as someone whose son is leaning toward attending Ole Miss because of its excellent Honors College and Chinese program, by the way. I’m not knocking the school. I’m saying that they have to be realistic about who they can attract, and do the best they can with the talent available to them.</p>
<p>
Here ya go.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.act.org/news/data/09/pdf/states/Mississippi.pdf[/url]”>http://www.act.org/news/data/09/pdf/states/Mississippi.pdf</a></p>
<p>Mantori: yes I meant HBCU (I always get that wrong for some reason…)
Mom 2:
MSU and OleMiss are identical in their approach to remedial courses. They have to be (Ayers again; all MS universities HAVE to offer remedial classes). MSU actually has the highest average ACT scores for entering freshmen. That’s probably attributable to the fact that MSU is considered the “tech flagship” (engineering is far superior at state and most “in the know” consider the sciences to be comparable at MSU and OleMIss). OleMiss stronger in languages and the arts. MSU has a large well-funded honor’s college populated with scientists, engineers, premeds, prevets…</p>
<p>I don’t live or work in Mississippi, but I do hire engineers, and MSU has a very good reputation here.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Plenty of state schools, particularly directional ones, have similar formulas for admission (X GPA, Y scores on ACT or SAT) and post them on their websites, and an applicant can figure out whether he will get in or not. I’m not sure why this is commend-worthy; it just is.</p>
<p>Growing up in the Memphis metro area, here is my PERCEPTION about Ole Miss. I have done no research on the school–it’s only from what I’ve observed about people who went/go there and their fans. I don’t necessarily think these are true.</p>
<p>From what I’ve observed, Ole Miss is less of a university and more of a place to get hammered. Most of the people I know who go there are upper class, VERY conservative, and like to party, and for the most part, not too bright. I know they have a decent honors college from what I’ve heard, but from what I understand the majority of the university is barely a step above the University of Memphis. Great football tradition. The grove is a great place to tailgate, but, again, it’s a place where you have to dress up to get hammered. My parents always looked down upon Ole Miss, and they probably wouldn’t let me go there even if I wanted to.</p>
<p>Again these are STEREOTYPES, take from them what you will.</p>