<p>Hey. I have a dilemma, and any input of any form would be greatly appreciated.<br>
I am somewhat of a top student at a tiny school (translation: run of the mill for the likes of CC :)) but I want to get the best education I possibly can. The problem is that while I <em>might</em> be capable of getting admitted into a top school, there's no way I can pay for it without major scholarships--and I'm not that perfect of a student. I am a junior and I live in Mississippi. I can get a full scholarship to Ole Miss or Mississippi State, but I really want to find a school with a more intellectual and academically rigorous system. A nerd school, basically, or at least a really challenging one. I am not sure what I want to do but leaning vaguely towards liberal arts--int'l relations, politics, business, journalism. I really just don't know yet. My parents are pushing me to save the expensive but great school for graduate degrees. (AKA Vanderbilt, Rice, and a few others). I'm okay with this, but I really want to find the best state school I can for undergraduate. I am having trouble finding much information about southern public universities. For example, does Alabama, Auburn, or Tennessee have a better liberal arts curriculum or reputation than Ole Miss? Ole Miss is supposedly quite good, but I can't stand the oppressive preppiness. Are any honors colleges particularly good in the southern-publics? Does anyone know of any reliable resources for finding such information? Any help would be GREATLY appreciated! Thank you.</p>
<p>I don't really know anything about Ole Miss, so I can't say much about that school.</p>
<p>However, Tennessee is a great school. Especially if your looking into politics, perhaps political science, they are building a brand new center for public policy. That will give a huge boost to the program. You also mentioned the honors program. Here is the link for more info. <a href="http://honors.utk.edu/%5B/url%5D">http://honors.utk.edu/</a></p>
<p>Rice and Princeton are both known to give GREAT financial aid.</p>
<p>Dont think that only state schools will give good aid.</p>
<p>In terms of state schools, UVA, Texas and UNC-CH are probably the best in the south.</p>
<p>Auburn is best in sciences, although it's pretty good overall. Alabama's honor program is actually fairly highly regarded. Have you looked at Sewanee? Furman, UGA, and Clemson might also be worth looking into. UNC-Asheville, if it's not too far.</p>
<p>You might want to consider Mississippi State University. Reportedly it has very good liberal arts departments. You get academics, the rah-rah atmosphere of "big time" college sports, all the comfort but less of the preppiness and hassle of class/race distinctions of Ole Miss.</p>
<p>University of South Carolina Honors offers some very nice scholarships plus a good business school.</p>
<p>Check out The U, they might be able to give you more info about some of the southern schools.</p>
<p>I am a graduate of Mississippi State and I can't recommend it highly enough. I was a good student who graduated with a 4.0 and above a 30 on the ACT with a long list of EC's. I was accepted to a few liberal arts colleges (which were the only other places I applied) but chose to attend MSU because I could do so for free. In fact, I received money back from MSU that I used for books and food each semester. </p>
<p>I felt that the quality of my education was good and I found a lot of peers. State is a very laid back school with a lot of really nice people. Sure there are people who barely squeaked in, but you will find a lot of other highly intelligent people to be friends with. Among my close friends from State are now three Ph.D.'s, an M.D./Ph.D., many doctors, lawyers, accountants, engineers, etc. They've gone to grad school all over the U.S. I encourage you to look into the honors program or talk with some people in your proposed major before discounting it. I had a FANTASTIC experience at MSU both academically and socially and do not regret for a minute not going somewhere else! When I don't have a loan check to write out every month it reinforces my decision even more.</p>
<p>OP, if you can get a full scholarship to Ole Miss or State I'm going to assume you can get into some really exciting Honors Colleges in the South, starting with the one at Ole Miss. Barksdale is a fantastic place and Dean S-G is a great guy. The HC at Alabama , Arkansas, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, or Clemson all have a great deal to offer , even to OOS kids. Stay away from Texas. We are chintzy with our own students, much less out of staters. </p>
<p>Other schools to consider that would be a real change of pace would be New College, Woodrow Wilson, U-N.C. Asheville, Mary Washington, St. Mary's of Maryland. Check those out and see if anything appeals and we will try to offer up some more. </p>
<p>My personal underappreciated picks 1) for a very high stat kid would be Clemson and 2) for a high stat kid Arkansas (Wal-mart money they are trying to spend on honors kids).</p>
<p>thank you all! Sorry, I seem to have posted this thread twice, if there is any confusion. I have a couple of questions if any of you check back here:
LakeWashington and Teach2005: I am especially curious about your posts because my entire family and many people in my town attended MSU, but I have not heard many people say good things about their liberal arts departments, honors program, or just having a really challenging atmosphere in places besides engineering, science, and vet programs. Did you find a lot of challenging classes in your major?
Em36: sorry...The U?
Curmudgeon: Is Barksdale a separate entity or a name for Ole Miss' program?</p>
<p>University of Florida?</p>
<p>UNCA has some of the "nerd school" thing. I have a friend who wanted to choose it over Vanderbilt, Oberlin, and Skidmore, but (ironically) he couldn't get enough financial aid there, as fin. aid for out of staters is minimal.
UT Honors is good. UGA Honors is quite good, but not very diverse-- like Ole Miss, mostly in-state students despite high academic standards and quality.
You might take a look at Sewanee, Rhodes, and Hendrix-- perhaps one of those schools would give you more financial aid than Vandy, Duke, or Rice.</p>
<p>Barksdale is my shorthand for The Sally McDonald Barksdale Honors College (SMBHC) of the University of Mississippi.</p>
<p>And I echo what fiddlefrog says about the LAC's . After a truly exhaustive coast to coast search, my daughter will be attending Rhodes.</p>
<p>I heard Sewanee is pretty stingy with the $$$$.</p>
<p>If you have taken the PSAT, thus setting yourself up for the possibility of becoming a National Merit semifinalist, that will open up a lot of merit scholarship opportunities for you at a number of schools. I know, however, that lots of Miss. schools don't give the test.
Depending upon your ACT/SAT scores, lots of other scholarship opportunities could present themself, as well. As a Mississippi mom whose daughter has successfully navigated the college application process this year, I would be happy to answer any specific questions re: private message. I attended both MSU and Ole Miss law school, and could compare the schools if you like, but I would suggest you look at Millsaps in Jackson. Many of my daughter's friends will be attending there next year - they give lots of merit aid and attract some outstanding students.</p>
<p>I agree about Millsaps (good job, msjhop). Excellent school. Nice folks. Surprisingly good , in fact. Excellent facilities. Engaging vibrant President. Real effort to attract high caliber kids. Pretty campus next to a med school and a hospital or two. I liked it a lot and my D seriously considered it. </p>
<p>There are many other southern privates that might be a good financial fit depending on your unique and specific situation.</p>
<p>It really is about finding a good fit, but please do visit State and give it a shot. I will also suggest Millsaps and Rhodes as I looked into both schools. Rhodes made my top 3 list. </p>
<p>I do not know about all of the English department at State, but Noel Polk is there now from Southern Miss and he is fantastic. I posted a bio below.</p>
<p>Biography of Noel Polk</p>
<p>Noel Polk was born in Picayune, Mississippi, on February 23, 1943. He received his B.A. in 1965 and his M.A.in 1966 from Mississippi College. In 1970 he earned his Ph.D.from the University of South Carolina. For twenty-seven years he was Professor of English at the University of Southern Mississippi and the editor of The Southern Quarterly.<br>
During the summer of 2004, Dr. Polk was the featured speaker at an international conference on William Faulkner, sponsored by the Japanese William Faulkner Society in Tokyo. He also taught a mini-seminar on "William Faulkner and Southern Culture" at Hokusei Gakuen University in Sapporo, Japan.</p>
<p>In the fall of 2004 Noel Polk joined the English Department at Mississippi State University and became the editor of the Mississippi Quarterly, a scholarly journal of Southern culture, past and present, which is published by MSU's College of Arts and Sciences. He now lives in Starkville, Mississippi. Polk is a specialist in American fiction and has published and lectured widely in this country, Europe, Japan and the former Soviet Union on the works of Faulkner and Welty. He currently is in the process of editing Faulkner's works for three publishers: Library of America, Random House and Vintage International. Also, he recently edited a new edition of Robert Penn Warren's All the King's Men for Harcourt Brace. He is also working on a new edition of William Cather's The Song of the Lark. </p>
<p>Polk was named a 2005 Fulbright Senior Scholar at the University of Lodz, Poland, where he lectured for five weeks on the works of famed Mississippi writers William Faulkner and Eudora Welty. Polk's more than twenty-five book publications include Children of the Dark House: Text and Context in Faulkner (1996); Eudora Welty: A Bibliography of Her Work (1993); and Outside the Southern Myth (1997).</p>
<p>Oh, also, let me put in a word for my two local schools as I live in Birmingham now. Give a look to both Birmingham-Southern and Samford University. Samford is a Baptist affiliated school and I don't know if you were looking for religious or secular but it's a really great school!</p>
<p>Thanks again, all! I will look into all of the smaller schools listed-Rhodes was already on my list-and reconsider state and ole miss. msjhop (I'm sending you a pm) but funny that you should mention national merit- just today my principal gave me a letter saying I am "in the running" for it with my score from the PSAT. The letter asks that I choose two schools for the national merit-um, place- to send my scores/info to. I have no idea which to pick- is it really that important who gets that information? I mean, couldn't l just tell any school my score? I don't know how important it is as to which I end up putting down. Does anyone know or remember this?</p>
<p>I would definitely try to find out about the Texas state schools. There are several that are worth attending, two of which are University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M. Oh yes and Texas Tech as well. But A&M and Tech wouldnt serve your major interests too well. UT Austin would be great though. University of Georgia also has a pretty decent liberal arts focus and it supposedly has a pretty nice campus ( i think the georgia tech is the hideous one )</p>