Is Ole Miss a good school?

[Anonymous]

Back to the original question, NO!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:In a separate incident...

http://www.salon.com/2012/11/07/ole_miss_students_start_racist_protest_after_election_result/

Pretty thin beer. A torched Obama/Biden campaign sign sounds like something less than a riot or armed insurrection.

Maybe you can suspend all those students tweeting #ThanksMichelleObama about their lunches, too, while you're at it.

Get your head out of today's events in Henderson. A full-fledged riot is not the only indication of racial tension. To many of us, a large group of angry White men yelling racial epithets and small group of Blacks returning verbal fire - which is what happened here - is more than enough to produce discomfort. I am guessing this is just business as usual with your crowd.

Morons like you have a problem with others exercising their First Amendment rights, unless it's supporting Obama or accusing others of racism at the top of their lungs. These students were probably ahead of the curve in terms of expressing their disappointment with where Obama has taken this country.

Not to mention that Ole Miss has about 22,000 students, so even if each of the 400 students reportedly in attendance at the anti-Obama rally was as rabid as you'd like to believe, and not just largely bystanders, it will still be less than 2% of the student body.

If you are trying to convince the OP that Ole Miss is a suitable place to consider for their child, you sure are doing a lousy job of it. Tolerance and civility are not your strong suits. Thanks for the public service message.

No, I think PP is trying to say that the students have right to express themselves. Not big fan of Ole Miss but don't see anything wrong with PP's post.

Then you just don't read carefully.

I have to agree with the previous two posters. Student expression should be protected. Even when you don't agree with it. And I am sure that the two posters would also agree that placing a noose around the neck of the statue of the first person to integrate the school should also be protected. Go Dixie!

Stupid behavior by three college freshmen that was condemned by blacks and whites at Ole Miss. But at least they didn't rob anyone or slug a police officer.

Southern universities are works in progress, but anyone with a brain knows the rampant racism and classism among students at Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern schools is a much greater impediment to progress.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Back to the original question, NO!

There is not enough money that would convince DC to go and AlaBAM is out too.

[Anonymous]

It used to be quite a segregated school - the white and black undergraduates ignored one another. The foreign students a d graduate students were like lost souls. Not sure what is going on now.

[Anonymous]

I thought IU had a great engineering program. Go Boilermakers!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:WH is everything racial with you all on here? There is a time and place for everything and this isn't it.

I understand your sentiment but the U of Mississippi does have a prior history of sordid racial behavior and is remembered by readers (or some). When you have a street on campus named Confederate Drive or waving the confederate flag at football games or putting a noose around the statue of James Meredith (first black person to integrate Ole Miss), it is hard to try and view Ole Miss as a place that wants to erase the past.

While you may feel this isn't the place or time, let me remind you that I have seen many discussions on this forum about histories of schools and most recently Harvard's sordid past history and treatment of Jewish students. Not once did I see a comment like yours. Because it's Harvard maybe?

Unfortunately for Ole Miss, University of Alabama, and some other southern schools, they do have these past histories and still continue some of the past uncomfortable traditions but I think for the most part not meant to be hateful (though the confederate flag makes some white students uncomfortable too). I, personally, would want to know about those traditional activities, and I don't care if it's Ole Miss, UCLA, McGill, or Harvard.

In fairness, you are probably not alone in your sentiment, but I guarantee you will find these discussions on College Confidential also.

[Anonymous]

It's a state flagship university, so he'll get a quality education. Like most flagships it gets plenty of federal grants, so it's a good opportunity for undergrads to get hands-on research experience (Ole Miss operates the only Federal marijuana farm!). The lousy schools rep in the Deep South does not apply to Universities.

Culturally it's in a rural area of the Deep South, so expect all that goes with it. Going there would be a good opportunity to get out of the urban Northeastern "bubble", and see how a different part of the country lives.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's a state flagship university, so he'll get a quality education. Like most flagships it gets plenty of federal grants, so it's a good opportunity for undergrads to get hands-on research experience (Ole Miss operates the only Federal marijuana farm!). The lousy schools rep in the Deep South does not apply to Universities.

Culturally it's in a rural area of the Deep South, so expect all that goes with it. Going there would be a good opportunity to get out of the urban Northeastern "bubble", and see how a different part of the country lives.

If people are willing to do the research, they'll find that Ole Miss is actually a very good school. The first human lung transplant was done at University of Mississippi Medical as was the first animal to human heart transplant. They have a fantastic Chinese Flagship program and a very competitive honors college. Their pharmacy school has been nationally recognized as well.

Oxford is a really neat little town. We lived there for three years and loved it! It's very different from the rest of the state.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would have responded last night, but I was busy picking up family for Thanksgiving. Anyway, we talked to DS and he's updated his list to include Duke, Indiana, Alabama, Clemson and Ole Miss.

In terms of stats, he has a 3.44 GPA and participates is in several extra-curriculars. DS plans on studying Economics with a minor in Political Science. He claims Greek Life isn't important and he wants a school that has isn't "dead" on the weekends.

Alabama is a much larger school, and Tuscaloosa is a small city, whereas Oxford really is a town. There will be more to do, and the student body will be more diverse, since it draws from Birmingham, Mobile, and Huntsville (cities full of transplants from everywhere). Getting a degree from there will plug him into the growing job market and major companies in those three cities. Mississippi is a less developed state, and most grads I know from there left the state afterwards.

I went to Clemson for a year. Being a land-grant school, its focus mainly on engineering and science, but not elusively. If your son is interested in doing socially useful work with Economics and Politics, Clemson does a lot of community development work around SC, and students who work there get great pre-job work experience. The big downside is hefty tuition for a public school.

Out of that list, I'd pick Alabama slightly over Miss simply for its large size and job connections. Miss is still a great choice though if cost is the main factor.

[Anonymous]

Logistically Ole Miss is a nightmare. It is a 17 hour drive and the closest major airport is an hour away. The town itself is quite nice but if you end up living off campus you will need a car and will probably end up in one of the not so nice run down apt complexes on the outskirts of town.

[Anonymous]

Bama is likely more difficult to get in than Clemson.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bama is likely more difficult to get in than Clemson.

No dog in this fight, but the Naviance data I've seen suggests Clemson is a much harder admit for local students than Alabama, whereas Alabama ought to be a slam-dunk for a kid like the OP's son.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bama is likely more difficult to get in than Clemson.

this is SOOOO not true. Clemson is much harder than Bama to get in.

OP - drop Duke. No change even with URM/other hooks. That GPA is too low.

[Anonymous]

The admission percentages say differently, PP. Both around 57% but Bama''s is a shade lower.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The admission percentages say differently, PP. Both around 57% but Bama''s is a shade lower.

You can't just go by the admissions rate, as it depends on the applicant pool and admissions policies of the individual school.

In NoVa, Virginia Tech is a perfect example. It has a higher overall admissions rate than either Alabama or Clemson (around 70% vs. 55-60%) but the chances of a kid from the DC suburbs with a 3.44 GPA getting in are both slim and much lower than his chances of getting into Alabama or Clemson as an out-of-state student. The applicant pool is stronger and the school limits the number of admits from NoVa.