Why our son chose Ole Miss

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Mississippi
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<p>My son finally decided on Ole Miss. Actually he decided a while ago, it was my wife and I who were doubtful. I thought I would post our thought processes in case it might be helpful to others. </p>

<p>In the beginning he had three main criteria that he was looking for: </p>

<ol>
<li>A Computer Science major;</li>
<li>A Linguistics major;</li>
<li>Separate men's and women's dorms, with a policy against overnight visitation by the opposite sex. </li>
</ol>

<p>(Some people may wonder whether no. 3 was actually his choice or his parents'. You're going to have to take my word for it that it was his, although my wife and I certainly supported it.)</p>

<p>He was a National Merit Finalist, so we identified the schools that gave full ride scholarships to NMFs. Once we had that list, we narrowed it down to those that had both the majors he wanted. This left only Ole Miss and Kentucky (most of the others lacked the Linguistics major). After visiting both those schools, he was pretty much undecided between them. The thing that swayed him was the fact that Ole Miss has the policy against overnight visitation by the opposite sex, and Kentucky doesn't. </p>

<p>He also applied to some higher-ranked schools that met his criteria, but that did not offer NMF full ride scholarships. But in the end, he liked Ole Miss enough that he didn't feel it was worth the extra cost to attend those other schools, solely on the basis of higher rankings. </p>

<p>Oklahoma made a last-minute effort to snag him with their NMF package, and that's what made my wife and I unsure about Ole Miss. But as generous as OU's NMF package is, it was still going to leave him about $20,000 in debt after graduation, whereas with Ole Miss he'll graduate debt-free. </p>

<p>The funny thing about OU is that they have enormously high fees. A parent here on CC told me that a few years ago, OU started raising its fees rather than tuition, because it wanted to be able to claim that it was holding the line on tuition increases. Admittedly this is thirdhand info, so take it for what it's worth. But I know, from the documentation they provided us, that their yearly fees are in the neighborhood of $5,000, whereas fees at other colleges are only a few hundred. </p>

<p>OU's NMF package includes a tuition waiver, but not a fee waiver. So as those fees increase every year, the increases were going to come out of our pockets. We also would have had to eat any increases in room and board costs, since those are not waived either -- they provide scholarships that you can apply towards room and board, but they are fixed amounts and do not increase to cover yearly inflation. Whereas Ole Miss waives tuition and fees, as well as housing costs, no matter how much they increase year by year. </p>

<p>As far as rankings go, Ole Miss is at a bit of a disadvantage in that it is required to accept all in-state students with a GPA of 2.5 or better and 760 or better on the SAT. These requirements are appallingly low. I did some research and found out that this is a result of a lawsuit filed some 30 years ago, which was eventually settled. One of the provisions of the settlement was that all state universities in Mississippi must have uniform admissions standards. The reason being that before this, the vast majority of black students were being funneled into the historically black colleges, which had lower admissions standards, the result of which was de facto segregation. By making admissions standards uniform, the idea was to get a more diverse student body. It seems to be working, since Ole Miss's black enrollment is now at an all-time high of 17%. </p>

<p>The more highly ranked members of the SEC have competitive admissions, or higher minimum admissions standards, whereas Ole Miss has to take all in-state students who meet these minimal requirements. This of course lowers its acceptance rate, graduation rate, average SAT scores, etc., all of which affect its US News ranking. With all this taken into consideration, it actually seems impressive that Ole Miss manages to rank as high as it does. It is, after all, ranked higher than many colleges that are allowed to have competitive admissions. </p>

<p>All in all, we're happy with our son's choice. We found Ole Miss to be a beautiful, friendly place and we're confident that they'll let him go as far as his talents and efforts can take him. </p>

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<p>Congratulations on finding a comprehensive scholarship at a college where your son will feel comfortable- and also for looking beyond the rankings. I think you and your son have made a well thought out choice. I agree that he will do fine. He’s the kind of student who would likely do well academically anywhere, but being comfortable where he is counts for a lot. Best wishes to him. </p>

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<p>Thanks, Penny. Yes, he decided last Fall that he liked Ole Miss. We kept throwing other options at him, but through all of the developments and acceptances (and rejections) that occurred from then until now, he has consistently maintained that Ole Miss was his favorite. Something about it must have just “felt right” to him. </p>

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<p>What a great message! I am glad that your son chose Ole Miss and will be a part of the School of Engineering. Has he been to Orientation yet? I know he will have a wonderful experience, and I know some people on campus who can help him should he need it. </p>

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<p>CG:</p>

<p>Thanks! He hasn’t been to orientation yet. He will have to go to the last session in August, just before classes start. Otherwise we would have to fly out there twice (from California), which we can’t afford. </p>

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<p>Not sure if he is interested, but they do have the prettiest girls in the SEC. This is from an Alabama fan who has a daughter stariting at OLe miss in the fall</p>

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<p>does he not like girl or something?</p>

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I’m reviving this thread to see how the OP’s son liked his Freshman year. Our son is going to visit early next month. The generous scholarship money is a draw, but he also likes the offerings (he wants to major in math and minor in film studies). It would be somewhat of an adjustment to go to a school with a more conservative student body, but even though I’m pretty far to the left politically I don’t necessarily think that’s a bad thing. I haven’t been to Oxford yet, but I’ve visited through the wonder of Google Maps street view. It looks like a cool college town. Of course our son is the one to make the decision.

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My son also just finished his first year. We are from Ohio. He made friends from all over the country, pledged a fraternity and thoroughly enjoyed himself. He said best decision he ever made to go out of state while many of his friends stayed close to home attending Miami or Ohio State. We can’t wait to get back this fall for another football game and the Grove’s pregame atmosphere.

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@filius1 I am curious - did your son look at Bama at all? Does ole miss use Degree works to register for classes?

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My daughter chose Ole Miss and is completing her second summer session in the Chinese Flagship program. She is very happy. As a parent, I’ve had to explain why she chose Ole Miss multiple times. But over and over, it turned out to be the best opportunity available. Seriously, there isn’t another school out there that could provide her with the education she will receive at Ole Miss regardless of the price.

One thing of note is that the NMF package isn’t full ride depending on the program you choose. It doesn’t cover the extra cost of the Chinese Flagship program. Granted, there are additional scholarship opportunities for that program, but it is important to keep that in mind when choosing Ole Miss.

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@frugaldoctor, I get raised eyebrows when I tell people our son is applying to Ole Miss. It may not be his first choice, but he was positively impressed when we visited. If he actually goes there I’ll need to make a recording that I play every time someone asks me why.

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LOL! My wife had to explain it to someone today. But we do not mind! There is no buyer’s remorse here. Nothing but a wonderful start. We are so lucky to have stumbled on the school’s programs.

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Where do you live? We’re in the DC area. I wouldn’t choose to live in most of Mississippi, but I thought Oxford was a neat town. I’d have no problem with either of our kids going to school there.

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I lived and worked in the DC (Greenbelt) and Baltimore (Owings Mills) area for almost 2 decades before moving to the Southwest. I always dreamt that my daughter would attend Stanford or an Ivy League school. She even spent a week in summer camp at Stanford which she loved. But when it came down to applying and considering the impact of paying tuition, we started looking for value. Then I found out about the Chinese Flagship programs and brought it to her attention. As she learned more, she narrowed her choices only to those schools that offered the flagship program.

I wouldn’t choose to live in most of Mississippi either. Nevertheless, college campuses are bubbles that often bear no resemblance to the cities or states they represent. Oxford is definitely a neat town; I am hoping she ventures out and discovers all the town has to offer. I wish I could predict the future for the next 2 kids. I would buy a house in Oxford now and have it available for all 3 to live off campus.

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Our son wants to major in math and minor in cinema studies; this would be available to him there. In fact, it’s the one school that offers good money to NMSF and has these programs. He has very high test scores but so-so grades. I wouldn’t say he fell in love with the school when we visited last week, but he said what he saw made him more likely to want to attend. His other realistic option is Temple, but the way they weight GPA will have to go his way for it to be affordable. The full tuition +room he’d get at Ole Miss is pretty good for a kid with a GPA in the low 3’s.

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So yes - an update? We’re headed down that way next month with our HS junior son, stopping by on our way to New Orleans. Your son sounds like our older one. He was also NMF, into computer - though he went for game design instead of comp sci - is also really into languages, and wouldn’t mind the single-sex dorm thing either. He’ll be a junior a Miami of OH. The younger one thinks he’d like to be a teacher, probably middle school, probably a STEM subject, but I’m not entirely sure his interest in Ole Miss isn’t more about the stories his dad (who also went to school in the South) has told him about Southern women.
So let us know - how’d it work out?

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MStomper and Ericd1112:

Sorry, I never got a notification of your comments. I just happened to be checking back and came across them.

My son liked his freshman year just fine. He’s a nerdy type without much of a social life, so I can’t say much about the social life or how an OOS student fits in socially. That being said, people have been very friendly towards him, nerdiness and all. People often accost him while walking between classes or eating in the dining hall, to say hello or even give him a hug.

He has had no complaints and enjoyed his classes mostly. He was challenged by one of his professors regarding his religious and philosophical views, but in a good way. He has no car but finds it easy enough to get around using the free shuttle system. The food options give him everything he could want.

He wanted to get an apartment off campus this year but his mom insisted that he stay on campus, so he applied to the RC South and got in. This has turned out to offer a lot of conveniences such as a dining hall and computer lab within the dorm building, although it is more expensive than a regular dorm.

He loves the weather, mostly because it changes all the time, which he likes. Growing up in So. Cal., he got tired of warm, dry weather all year round, and so enjoys the occasional heavy rain and small amounts of snow in Oxford. He’s not crazy about the humidity, but that’s not a problem for most of the year.

Oxford is indeed a beautiful college town. I don’t know what more anyone could want.

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Nerdyparent:

My son did consider Alabama, but as I recall, they didn’t offer the Linguistics major that he wanted (actually he was undecided between Linguistics and Comp Sci, so he wanted a school that offered both majors). Also they were not offering a full ride scholarship like Ole Miss was.

I’m not sure if they use DegreeWorks. It doesn’t ring a bell but then I haven’t really been involved in the registration process.

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@filius1 , thanks. S is still considering Ole Miss, but Temple is his first choice. He would like to stay in an urban area. He may check out Howard; he said being on of a few hundred white students probably wouldn’t bother him. It’s only 6 Metro stops from us, so why not go take a look?