Ole Miss Opinion from a Very Recent Alum

Introduction
College is a hard time for anyone. Between adjusting to academics and becoming independent of your parents for the first time in your life...being thrown into a huge building housing like a billion people you don't know...it's all so intimidating. The first day or the first week you're in school, no one really knows if they will love college. It's the same as loving a person, though, right? How can anyone love something they don't know yet?

But quickly and silently Ole Miss will captivate your heart. It happens so quietly that you may not even notice...and suddenly one day it hits you that a place has never felt so much like home in your life. Somehow it happens when you least expect it and suddenly, when the first May arrives you find yourself clawing the ground, clinging to everything you can becuase you aren't ready to let go of this place that is now your heart. Y ou think I'm kidding! But you'll see.

Being just a few months removed from Oxford my heart aches for it daily. I can honestly say that my heart hurts more for Ole Miss than the pain that any heartbreak from a boy has ever brought me in my life. When I moved in August to a new city, my heart didn't come with me. It is still beating there in Oxford and I am here somewhere in the random Midwest of America walking around without my heart. That's how much this place has changed, captivated, and inspired me. I am from another city in which I "grew up," but Oxford is my home. It is there that I grew to be the person that I am and I always will be.
My advice? Don't just look at the school, although it is amazing....But explore Oxford as a city. Go to the square, go to the Chev to eat, go to the park. If you are blind enough to fall in love with the campus and you somehow are not amazed by The Grove, the Football field, and The Circle, than leave campus and look at the town. I can personally say that there is nothing more beautiful in the world that the Christmas lights on the square, drinking coffee on the porch of Square Books, or picnickng at Roanoke on a Sunday afternoon. Go to Thacker Mountain Radio show on Thursdays, drive over to College Hill Presbyterian Church the first week that the leaves start to turn in October, and eat at Ajax Diner for THE best Southern, home-cooked meal in Mississippi. Drink sweet tea and eat chicken on a stick from the 4-Corners gas station, throw a frisbee in The Grove, rent a movie from As Seen on TV, and please, don't forget to take a book or a friend to Bottletree Bakery at about 8 AM one morning - the pastries are ridiculously amazing, the coffee is strong, and the ambience is stronger.

If you are convinced that Southern hospitality, friendly townspeople, and great weather are not good for you, shy away....but if you are that person you are out of your mind to begin with.

Campus Life and Social Life
Ole Miss is an elite Southern school when it comes to sporting events. Whether it's the nationally-recognized tailgaiting tradition of The Grove or the Student Section behind Right field at Baseball games, Ole Miss fans bleed red and blue to the bitter end. They are loud and excited, sometimes to the point of being obnioxious, but isn't that how everyone is about something they love? That's what I thought. I will say this: there is not feeling in the world like the first all-stadium Hotty Toddy of the year. It literally sends chills down your spine despite the balmy 90-something degree weather and makes your heart skip a beat. Basketball tickets are pretty expensive but Baseball is free, so i feel like they cancel each other out.

The weekends are wonderful at school. The Fall is filled with Football games and hanging out in The Grove and great bands always come on those weekends. Spring is packed with Greek parties: it seems like every fraternity has a weekend-long party sometime in the spring and they are filled with bands and kegs and everything else that accompanies Greek life. Away-game weekends in the Fall are often filled with road trips to the other SEC schools. The Square is beautiful and fun by day and transforms into this amazing production at night. Bands play in the bars, all of which are within walking distance of each other. Some are for patrons 18 and older, some only 21 and up, but each one is personally owned by a family or an Ole Miss grad and each has its own personality and flare. As you get older you see how the different personalities of the bars attract different types of people to come perform, as well as different types of "regulars" and their friends. It's a great feeling to have somewhere where you are finally comfortable and accepted, but also just the feeling of home - whether that is having "the usual" to eat when you go to Jubilee or knowing the bartender at Parish's - we all want somewhere where we are known and comfortable. If it wasn't too cheesy I'd quote the theme song from "Cheers" right now.

There are tons of great study spots all over campus and throughout Oxford to get away from the dorm or your roommates to do some studying. Uptown Coffee, the porch of Square Books, and the picnic tables of The Grove are some of my favorites. Advertisement
Academics
Academics are the best in the state, hands down. The Pharmacy school is in the top 10 of the nation and is highly competitive for acceptance. Its students are paid a minimum of 80,000 dollars upon their graduation from it. The Journalism Department has ridiculous amounts of money pouring into it - leading to better professors and alumni every year.

The English Department is set in a city that is one of the places that writers MOVE to to do their writing becuase of the historical aspect of Oxford. It's the home of greats like William Faulkner and John Grisham. The Business School is huge and a great program, Hospitality Management is the best in the state because the professors are highly experienced and also fun (making cooking classes and the study of hotels and food production amazing, especially since Tunica and Memphis are both less than an hour away), and all departments offer lots of fun field trips. The Art Department has seen ridiculous amounts of growth in the past few years with some really talented Actors, Painters, and singers graduating and going on to do some amazing work.

Psychology is a great department and the classes are great, but that and Education are the two majors the students say you take if you want an easy degree. If you want to study Landscape Architecture or Farming or something like that, go to Mississippi State because Ole Miss doesn't have those departments.

However, Ole Miss has amazing Law and Med schools. Obviously, coming from undergrad at that school will not only allow you to get to know the professors and programs better, but will give you that upper hand in placement and knowing what to expect.

As for the professor vs. TA question: I'm a TA fan myself. They are always way more laid-back because they were in your position just a few years ago and they tend to be much cooler about assignments (what type, how much, the topics) in class. As for the professors, they aren't paid terribly well, which means that most are there because they really want to be. This means that they are passionate about what they teach, and that, in my opinion is the most convincing arguement for why I should listen if there is one at all.

Workload if going to depend on your major to be honest. But regardless, Pre-Med is going to be a butt-kicker. Pharmacy too. Every major has its certain semesters when the load is lighter or heavier. English requires a lot of reading and writing, but some people would prefer to do that as opposed to taking tests.

But Ole Miss isn't Ivy League for a reason. You have the opportunity to study a good bit and make all A's or study some and make B's and C's. It just depends on where your priorities are and what is important to you.

Student Body
The students are either Southern or in love with the culture of Southern people. And, no, I'm not talking about redneck, pick-up truck, tobacco spitting Southern. I'm talking about the way of life that is friendly, kind, and hospitable.
There seems to be a stong representation here from Mississippi (obviously), Alabama, Tennessee, and Louisiana since they are bordering states, but I knew tons of students from Texas and North Carolina and met people from Washington, New York, and Canada....no one seemed to be unhappy about their choice to come to Ole Miss, regardless of where they were from.

The school spirit is ridiculous. Just be ready to love this place more that you have loved any place in your entire life. Ole Miss students know how to have fun and they know how to relax too. They are the best at both of those things of any group of people I have ever seen. They play hard, study hard, and sleep hard. Hey, you only have 4 years, you gotta do what you can with them!

In Closing...
Just go and visit. If you aren't sold by the national academic recognition, amazing sports program, and incredible alumni and students from the school then just go to Oxford. Walk the campus. Talk to people you pass. Sit in The Grove and then tell me that the stings on your heart aren't being plucked to throw every idea you had about another school out the window and to run full-force, head-on into a life that you will never regret at the University of Mississippi.