<p>Hey. I am currently a senior in high school and I want to go to a college in a whole new state where I can experience new culture and meet new people. I was really stoked about going to Ole Miss but I heard negative things about it. One of my friends family member goes to Ole Miss and she hates it. She told me that the school is very narrow minded and everyone is fake. I assume she has had a bad experience their due to the way she dresses and presents herself. (He is a male who prefers being a female.) I want to know your opinions though. How was your experience at Ole Miss? How are the sports? So they have a swim team? Is being in a sorority really that important?
I know this is not important but will I be treated really differently because I am not from the south and I'm not white? I am from Southern California and I am half Tajik and half Turkish.
Does the way I dress also affect how I will be treated? I dress really casual because I am not into the whole Lilly preppy thing.
Any other tips/advice about the school would be awesome!
Thank you! :)</p>
<p>While I personally do not attend Ole Miss, I have a sibling who does. From what she’s told me, Greek life dominates the scene, and many of the students are very narrow minded, as your friend also said. </p>
<p>As for athletics at Ole Miss, football is like crack to most of them. It’s football season right now, actually, and I am EXTREMELY annoyed. </p>
<p>Forgive me for stereotyping, but I was under the impression that SoCal people generally party pretty hard, and Ole Miss is a renowned party school, so you’ll have fun if you like partying. However, since you’re not white, you’ll most likely experience quite a bit of de facto segregation. Keep in mind that this is Mississippi we’re talking about; progressiveness isn’t a priority.</p>
<p>As for dress, most of the girls wear oversized shirts/hoodies and Nike shorts.</p>
<p>I hope I helped. If you want more info, just PM me and I can ask my sister.</p>
<p>You should know that only 33% of the Ole Miss student body participates in a greek organization. So, if you want to be involved, you can. If you don’t, there are plenty of other opportunities to get involved on campus. </p>
<p>Student dress ranges quite a bit. Feel free to make a visit to campus to see for yourself the atmosphere on campus. While it’s okay to listen to other people, you would need to experience the campus for yourself before making a decision. Best of luck to you, and I hope you get to Oxford soon.</p>
<p>[Mississippi</a> Rebels football players disrupt campus play with ‘hate speech’ - ESPN](<a href=“http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/9764914/mississippi-rebels-football-players-disrupt-campus-play-hate-speech]Mississippi”>Mississippi Rebels football players disrupt campus play with 'hate speech' - ESPN)</p>
<p>UM Release: Open Letter to Students, Faculty, and Alumni</p>
<p>[UM</a> Release: Open Letter to Students, Faculty, and Alumni - The Daily Mississippian](<a href=“http://thedmonline.com/um-release-open-letter-to-students-faculty-and-alumni/]UM”>http://thedmonline.com/um-release-open-letter-to-students-faculty-and-alumni/)</p>
<p>I guess that’s the only story about Ole Miss that TeamRocketGrunt has read. Again, that situation strengthened dialogue on our campus about LGBT issues. Find a campus where an incident of prejudice has never occured. When you do, let me know.</p>
<p>Not everyone is involved in Greek life, you’re actually in the majority as an independent. </p>
<p>[University</a> of Mississippi | Best College | US News](<a href=“http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/university-of-mississippi-2440]University”>http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/university-of-mississippi-2440)</p>
<p>Collegeguider, if you go onto the other thread, you can see the other story I posted. I have many more; shall I post them for your pleasure?</p>
<p>If you’re able to get into the culture you’ll have fun. But you’ll definitely be looked down upon for not dressing preppy and for being non-white. Technically, yes, fraternity/sorority students are in a minority but they have a hegemony over the rest of the campus, and they are 100% white. Those 30% of students are able to shut out everyone else to about 80% of campus social life. People of color and non-Greek students are pretty much second-class citizens socially. It’s pretty messed up.</p>
<p>Collegeguider, I really hope you’re getting paid well for misleading potential students about U of M.</p>
<p>My D is an OOS liberal environmentalist activist. She is not interested in the Greek scene but she had found a huge variety of friends from Mississippi, other states and other countries. She is run ragged with activities, get-togethers and parties. She is having a great experience. How sad that some students feel the need to post negative comments. Every prospective student should feel comfortable visiting and determining whether OM is the right place for him or her. Don’t let others discourage you from making up your own mind!</p>
<p>I visited Ole Miss yesterday for an interview and tour, and quite frankly, I was very disappointed.
I am a highschooler in MS, btw
First, they sent me the wrong itinerary, and once I got there, there was obviously no tour guide to pick me up. After about 2 hours, my mom and I eventually found out where my interview was supposed to be.
There were a few Ole Miss students who were supposed to be answering questions before interviews, but when I was there, I didn’t know who they were, what they were supposed to be doing, etc. because they did not introduce themselves and did not even try to talk to interviewees; all they did was talk amongst themselves about there spring break plans and stuff. They did not even try to take initiative. Needless to say, I was very unimpressed.
Interview was very easy.
The organizers of the event apologized profusely, but I cannot overlook my bad experience. After the program was almost over, they gave me my corrected itinerary.
I had an exit meeting with the dean, and he also apologized. He’s actually a really smart guy and told me that if he were in my shoes, he would not come to Ole Miss unless they were paying me in addition to full scholarship, especially after the day I had.
I really hope I do not end up going to that unorganized school.</p>
<p>Sorry about your day. Sounds like you caught them when they weren’t as organized as usual. Similar to my Vanderbilt experience. Our Ole Miss tour was the most organized and energetic of all 5 we visited. What was the Dean’s name who told you not to come unless the school was offering you a full ride plus expenses? I’m sure he would remember your conversation with him.</p>
<p>notredameirish, I’m sorry you didn’t have a good visit. I think that is very atypical for Ole Miss. My daughter’s experience has been very good. If you are still interested and would like a personal contact, let me know, especially if you have an interest in Chinese, Croft, the Honors College or environmental groups on campus. My D would be a good contact for any of those.</p>
<p>@notredameirish I also apologize that your visit experience was not positive and can understand that it could be off-putting. I can assure as previously stated that this is not typical of the UM campus. I hope you will still give Ole Miss a fair shot and maybe reschedule a visit since you are in MS. I can give you the contact of someone who would arrange a personalized visit that would cater to your interests. </p>
<p>@aegdistis I am just seeing your comment from October. First, I’m an alum of Ole Miss and was heavily involved in campus activites ranging from student government, ambassadors, orientation and various honors societies. I was a campus favorite and member of the hall of fame. BTW, I am an African American male who was not Greek. I got out of my dorm and engaged in what was happening around me. All I encouraged that person to do was visit and see for themselves, not go on word of mouth from other people especially someone who did not attend the university. </p>
<p>Ole Miss did pay me well. They paid me with a wonderful education and memories that will last the rest of my life since you brought up being paid. I hope the institution you went to did the same.</p>
<p>@collegeguider: Did you hear about the noose and Confederate flag being placed on the statue of James Meredith? Disgusting affair.</p>
<p>I did. It is disgusting - completely agreed. It’s sad that three students out of a campus of over 18,000 students would do something like that. Sadly, no college campus is perfect. I was just reading a stories about Penn State where Chi Omega sorority was kicked off campus because they had a party that stereotyped Hispanics and Duke where one of their fraternities had a party that stereotyped Asians. So many campuses need to continue discussions on racial sensitivity and cultural competency. I hope Ole Miss, Duke, Penn State and other campuses will work on these issues.</p>
<p>@collegeguider: I agree that incidents of racism can occur at any university. However, it is different for U of Miss. because of its history. These incidents reinforce a negative perception of the university. I would also argue that the Confederate flag on campus doesn’t help and the resistance of alumni to changing the Mascot suggests that the University has a long way to go. I realize that you are a big supporter of the university and your role is to do just that, but there needs to be some acknowledgement of issues here</p>
<p>@cg123: “However, it is different for U of Miss. because of its history.”</p>
<p>Do you realize what a closed-minded statement that is? How bigoted?</p>
<p>Collegeguider has stated that he is a recent Ole Miss graduate and is a black American. He’s walked the walk. </p>
<p>As far as “a negative perception of the university” goes, many of us who value freedom do not have a “negative perception” of Ole Miss. On the contrary, many of us who have actually spent time on the campus have a positive perception. You may be unaware that Ole Miss is one of the few universities to have received the highest rating from FIRE, its “green light” rating. This designation speaks volumes about the values of the University of Mississippi… at least to those who do not view everything through a racist lens. </p>
<p>Read about FIRE here:
“The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, or FIRE, is a nonprofit educational foundation based in Philadelphia. FIRE’s mission is to defend and sustain individual rights at America’s colleges and universities. These rights include freedom of speech, legal equality, due process, religious liberty, and sanctity of conscience—the essential qualities of individual liberty and dignity. FIRE protects the unprotected and educates the public about the threats to these rights on our campuses and about the means to preserve them.”</p>
<p><a href=“About Us FAQs | The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression”>http://www.thefire.org/about-us/faq/</a></p>
<p>For what it’s worth, we just had a great time at the recent Open House held at Ole Miss last Saturday. The admissions office arranged a one-on-one visit with a department professor on Friday, and he took such an interest in my son that he drove him around to various locations on campus and introduced him to several students who were busy working on research in the labs. My son was very impressed and grateful for the personal attention. Then, on Saturday, our entire family attended the Open House, which was remarkably well-organized (not that we expected anything different, but for as many students as were there, it was great), and every single student ambassador involved was enthusiastic, friendly, helpful (yes, I know, it is their job to be so, and they were excellent.) I cannot speak to how things are for students on campus as far as opportunities for non-Greek and/or non-white students, but as far as the student ambassadors who ran that Open House, they represented diversity of all kinds. We never had the sense that we were in some time warp, and as a native Californian who was always a great disappointment to my southern grandmother because I enjoyed watching “Good Times” (and because I failed to keep my cuticles pushed back LOL), I think I would have picked up on something. I didn’t.</p>
<p>Instead, it was a wonderful couple of days. We enjoyed the Oxford area, especially once we figured out how to get into the Square without dealing with the parking issues. My son is now in the final decision-making mode, and Ole Miss is winning on many counts. It is somewhat excruciating for him. He thinks Alabama is great, and offers so much, but there are many plusses when it comes to Ole Miss, including the lower cost. He has to make his decision by this weekend so I can get deposits sent off. It is really really tough.</p>