UA & Ole Miss

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Alabama
1

Our son is down to just Ole Miss and UA. Truth be told, I thought he was “all in” for UA…but he is really struggling right now and I think he is right down the middle. Did anyone find themselves in the same boat? I am hoping that an upcoming revist of both will help clear things up - or at least give him the info he feels he is missing.

What’s weird, is that both schools sort of present themselves quite differently. UA feels MUCH larger and grand. Everything about UA feels polished and well-executed (which I like). UA feels sort of like going to Disney…everything just works! Ole Miss feels MUCH smaller (even though it’s really not). Much more personal and intimate.

Right now, Ole Miss has some major strengths - the Honors College is really drawing him in. They made a big deal about it - and him.

UA impressed him physically and he liked the caliber of everything. However, the Honors Program didn’t feel as intimate and he sort of felt a bit anonymous.

Mom is secretly (or not so) pulling for Ole Miss simply because it is 5 hours vice 9. That sounds trivial, but it does mean we will be much more active in his college experience. Heck, I would probably get season tickets since mere mortals can get tix.

Dad (me) is ok with either. Ole Miss is 100% covered now (we know that). UA is most-ish covered - but nothing crying about. I told our son that right now money is no object (we don’t get to say that often).

I am leaving the country for six months soon and told him that as soon as I depart, it’s time to cowboy up and commit. We discussed doing dual deposits and enrollment and then ultimately committing in the spring, but that seems a bit of a waste. I think that’s really just delaying the inevitable.

We are going to Ole Miss at the end of the month. We have a full day of a semi-custom tour. Housing, Engineering, Honors. Anything else to consider?

We are then doing the University Days in October at UA. That’s sort of grand turn-key from UA. I am sure it will be grand. Anything we should add?

I am asking my wife to back off and let him decide and quit reminding him how much closer Ole Miss is… I am trying to rationalize this through my eyes and not through the eyes of an 18 yo. Clearly this is a big deal for him and want to empower him - not frustrate him.

Any tips appreciated!

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I don’t think he can go wrong with either choice, but I agree with making sure it’s HIS decision. My daughter also chose between two big flagships (her 2nd choice was Wisconsin rather than Ole Miss, so there was a bigger difference, IMO), and she agonized over it, so I can imagine what you’re dealing with. I probably wouldn’t double deposit if he has all the information he needs to make a decision now. I let my daughter deposit at Bama in October of her senior year before she’d made a decision, but that was because she wouldn’t hear from a couple of her schools for a few months, and I did make her choose among those she’d been accepted to at the time before making the deposit.

The one thing I would try to do is make the second visits as “apples to apples” as you can. So if he’s getting a personalized tour at Ole Miss, make sure he gets a personalized tour at Bama. We never went to University Days, so I don’t know what those are like, but if it’s a crowded, kind of impersonal visit with lots of kids descending onto campus on the same day, he might get a much different feel (which could be better or worse) than he’d get on a personal or small group tour. (We never had to worry about that because my daughter refused to visit either of her schools for a 2nd time - she said she’d seen all she needed to the first time, even though those visits were early in her junior year.) Did your son already have a visit arranged by the Honors College at Bama, with opportunities to talk with professors, explore any special programs of interest, sit in on a class, have lunch with a student, see the honors dorms, etc.? If not, I’d try to set that up during the time he’ll be on campus. Likewise, does Ole Miss have a University Days equivalent that your son might want to attend if he attends UDays at Bama?

Finally, are there any special programs at either school that pique his interest? I don’t know what Ole Miss offers, but Bama has the STEM/MBA program and the competitive honors programs (UFE and CBH). It sounds like he’s going to be an engineering major; is he interested in a co-op? I know Bama has that option, and I know engineering students who’ve done it and others who haven’t. He should check out co-op vs. internship and which school provides the best assistance with one or the other, depending on which he’s interested in.

As for the Honors College at Bama, one can be as involved or uninvolved in the Honors College as one wants. For kids who become very involved, I suspect the HC is pretty intimate. There are lots of kids in the HC at Bama, many of whom aren’t involved at all. Students who become involved in the HC, both academically and socially, have a completely different experience with the HC than those who don’t, obviously.

My daughter ultimately just went with her gut (and frankly, I suspect she may have chosen based on which dorms she liked better), and it worked out fine for her. Good luck.

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if he is majoring in engineering or sciences then i might choose UA. if he wants more liberal arts then Ole Miss Honors college is a good choice.

on the Ole Miss trip make sure you see the Center for Manufacturing Excellence on the engineering tour. you may also want to check out the Chinese Flagship Program, Croft Inst for International Studies, Lott Leadership Inst. if he does Honors college plus one or two of these special programs then Ole Miss looks like a really good option.

my son was just at Ole Miss for summer high school and he loved it there. he has applied to both Ole Miss and UA, and is applying to other schools as well.

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What is his major and career goal???

5

Chemical engineering specializing in materials of some type. He’s got a knack for chemistry for sure. He was the only kid in his class to get a 5 on the AP Chemistry exam as well as Physics. Both have very low 5 populations. I had my share of chemistry and he’s beyond me for sure.

Sucks as I thought I could outsmart him a bit longer. His mile time is very low 5’s now…so now he pretty much just makes me feel old, slow AND stupid :slight_smile:

6

We were in the same position last spring…Ole Miss or UA. S is majoring in mechanical engineering. OM is 8 hrs away and UA 11 hrs away from Olathe, Kansas. S could not go wrong with either school. Ole Miss was offering close to a free ride and the CME scholarship was almost the icing on the cake. But UA won out when it was all said and done and that was S choice. We are paying a little more at UA but still the scholarships are great for OOS students. The UA campus is larger but does not feel like a 37,000 pop school. The campus, the engineering facilities, scholarships, suite dorms, athletics and the “feel” were the big draws. I can honestly say that S made the right choice and so far his freshmanyear is going well…Roll Tide!

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@morida

if he doesn’t get CME for some reason, i would lean Alabama. but if CME + Honors college is on the table at Ole Miss, that might tilt it that way. congrats b/c i think you have a good kind of problem.

also my kid makes me feel like a moron with all the stuff he is doing and succeeding in.

8

Great advice all - thanks!

So there is a bit more to the story. There shouldn’t be, and we should be dealing with this decision in isolation, but life never really happens like that, no?

I am trying to not let finances sway our decision - and truth be told, it shouldn’t. We have about $50-55K put away for our son now. Right now, we are looking at $0 for all four years at Ole Miss and somewhere between $20-35K for all four years at UA. I know, these are good problems. Like I mentioned earlier, money isn’t really an issue - and that is way outside the norm for us.

The issue…

Last year, we hosted a foreign exchange student for a year. Amazing experience and we simply fell in love with our new daughter. She returned to her home country with zero chance for any real future and is doing everything she can to come back to the US to study (and hopefully stay).

The two issues shouldn;t be realted, but they are at some point. The more of S’s money we don’t use (if any), the better the chance we can support new D’s US-based studies.

Crazy, I know…but feeling like this is the right decision for our family. She is a blessing to our family and worthy of the investment. While I try to separate the two, it is hard to peel back that bias. Know what I mean?

I am really hoping these two back to back visits provide the input he needs. He’s expressed he just wants the info so he can make the decision and move on. I really hate that you don;t get a full picture until the aid offers are in around January/February. This sort of feels like buying a car… I like the Carmax approach - everything is clearly stickered and one knows the price up front!

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Will Ole Miss have as many OOS students as UA, or are you in-state for Ole Miss?

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We aren’t in the exact situation as you , DS is trying to decide between Ole Miss and UA but he has a 32 ACT so I think they will both be around the same price in the end. UA is about 3 hours and Ole Miss is 6 hours away. The fact Ole Miss is farther away is what DS doesn’t like. When we visited Ole Miss it seemed to me to be cozy if that makes any sense. I think it’s the way the buildings are closer together. I liked that. I don’t think it mattered to DS though. DH wants to take him to a football game at both schools to see what it’s like then. But DS will probably end up at UA because it’s closer.

11

<<
Chemical engineering
<<<

How big is Ole Miss’ CoE dept?

I would go with Bama since major is eng’g.

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I’m curious. When you say ole miss is “100% covered”. Are you including housing, books meals etc or just tuition?

My son is leaning strongly toward alabama for a variety of reasons but the biggest reason of course is the oos presidential scholarship and the 2500.00 engineering scholarship.

We’re going to visit ole miss despite the fact that I believe alabama is an all around better university, especially for stem studies. However of he’s able to qualify for the honors scholarship and one or two of the other smaller scholarships (they have about a thousand) then much if not all of his education would be fully funded.

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@general tso

Yes. One thing that Ole Miss is really up front with is “extras” for merit, or just high achieving students. The 33 ACT (or 1440 SAT) gets kids 100% OOS tuition. Add good grades, and its another $2500. In my son’s case, they also do another $1500 a year for Eagle Scouts and another $1500 for valedictorian. Room and board are considerably cheaper at Ole Miss, so just that is almost everything. There are also a number of engineering scholarships (Brevard & Adler) that are very achievable, and even some from the honors college.

For high achieving kids, it is easy to get to a $0 bill at Ole Miss. A bit harder at UA.

During our visits, Ole Miss was a bit more “open” about where our son would fit financially. They caveat the statements with “this is not a guarantee” - but there was a strong indication that getting to $0 would not be an issue. I have sensed the same from many others here.

Like you, I feel as if UA is a slightly better school. That being said, my son is in a good spot!

Here is their breakdown of scholarships. Many are “automatic” and many are competitive. I don;t know if Ole Miss has the same long-term strategy of attracting high caliber students like UA, but it sure feels like it. It’s interesting that n both cases, the state has two (or even three) really decent schools and one is electing to become a more regional academic center.

This whole free ride thing is just whacky to me honestly. I shared that with one of the admissions ladies at UA and she said “Why? We’ve been doing this for athletics for decades. If you ask me, it’s about time we recognized academics.” The even whackier thing is that very similar colleges make almost no attempt at aid. Read the UA vs GA thread and you’ll see a family with a kid with identical specs that was offered $500 annually by their home state! Ironically, my son was admitted to Urbana Champagne (our home flagship), but no merit aid. Not one penny. Weird.

14

UA’s Chem Eng’g program is almost 3x as large as Mississippi’s : 38 vs 106 degrees in 2015.

http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=mississippi&s=all&id=176017
http://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=university+alabama&s=all&id=100751

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@SouthFloridaMom9

I have the statistics someplace. Ole Miss is a hair less than UA for OOS representation, but it wasn’t far off. It definitely did not feel like “all MS” when we were there. In fact, Oxford is quite the gem. It is Mississippi’s Austin or Boulder - or maybe even Berkeley. My wife was - like where are we?!?!? Oxford doesn’t seem to really fit with the rest of Mississippi!

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@morida

you also have Ole Miss Engineering scholarships at $2000-$6000 per year. Honors college scholarships at $8000 per year. Croft scholarship at $8000 per year. you might want to see if total scholarships cap at cost of attendance, or if you are able to exceed COA, meaning that Ole Miss would actually pay you to go there.

currently UA sits at #98 in Undergrad Engr at USNWR, with Ole Miss at #152. i have a feeling that UA might rise over the next few years. they are both ABET though. the chance to change someone’s life and give them a future might be worth taking the Ole Miss offer and helping your exchange student daughter.

17

Very helpful.

Thanks much for the response.

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I don’t think there’s anything wrong with making finances part of your son’s decision. When my daughter was deciding between Alabama and Wisconsin and having a hard time of it, I thought finances should be taken into account but my husband thought they should not be since we could afford either school without a problem. If the decision hadn’t been close, I probably wouldn’t have mentioned finances. As it was, I told her that we would happily pay for either school and that she should feel free to choose the one she preferred, but that she should at least consider whether one school was worth $100,000 more to her than the other. I don’t know if finances were ultimately part of her decision, as she never explained it, but she did choose the less expensive option.

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How does your son feel about your “international daughter”? Does he feel like it’s unfair to him, or is this something he’s mindful of or would be happy to do? Does his decision affect whether your “international daughter” can apply to college in this cycle (for the Jan 1 deadlines) and is that a pressure he is aware of, accepts, and understands, or does he resent this, or is he totally unaware of the implications his choice may have?

20

I played Mega Millions Lottery today. If I win, finances will still be a part of our decision. No reason to overpay for a similar product just because you can.