OLE MISS: YOU THINK YOU KNOW, BUT YOU HAVE NO IDEA!

Introduction
To those seniors and juniors and high school thinking about where to go to college, think hard. Visit the schools you are considering, not just on campus visit days but also on normal days. I chose Ole Miss because of the scholarships they offered. I must say that coming here was one of the worst decisions I've ever made. Ole Miss has a very attractive campus, but looks can be decieving. If you are a unique individual, who likes to be yourself and not follow others, stay away from this place.

Campus Life and Social Life
Generally, if you're not in a frat or sorority, there's nothing for you to do. The only bars are Night Town, The Levee, and The Library. There are lots of fraternity and sorority parties, especially in the fall, but if you're not considering joining one or if you don't know someone in a frat or sorority, you're not getting in to their parties. The town of Oxford is horrible. It is so small, and the traffic is horrible. There is no mall and the only shopping is on the Square, but those stores mostly cater to skinny white sorority girls. Most of the restaurants close at ten, and if you are seen walking anywhere at night, you will more than likely get a ticket from the OPD for public drunkiness. The dorms are disgusting; one time someone threw up all over the bathroom and it sat there for a full week. I have seen everything from blood to semen in the showers. Parking is scarce, but Ole Miss is too stupid to construct parking garages. All of the facilities and technology at Ole Miss is outdated. The Turner Center (rec center) is small, the gym is very small and you usually have to wait in line to life weights, get on a treadmill or anything. There is no wireless Internet in the dorms, and the Ethernet provided is usually always broken. Also, there is no temperature control in the dorms. So in the summer, it's usually extremely hot, and in the winter, it's very cold. And don't expect to get a good night's sleep, you'll be awaken by loud, drunk students breaking into your room or pulling fire alarms forcing you to evacuate the building in your underwear at 2 in the morning. Advertisement
Academics
Ole Miss has great academic programs in law, pharmacy, social work, nursing or any other medical field (med. center is in Jackson), political science, and journalism. Their engineering and education programs are terrible and have even been publicly criticized. At an engineering competition at Mississippi State University, each of the schools in the competition had to construct boats and enter them into a race. Ole Miss was the only school whose boat did not float. Also, experienced teachers in local schools have publicly complained about how awful student teachers from Ole Miss are. One good thing about Ole Miss is that classes for the most part are pretty small. Classes like history, psychology, and all sciences are the only ones that have over 100 students. Professors ususally have reasonable office hours and are more than willing to help you via e-mail. The registration process is pretty unreasonable; registration windows open by class, then in aphabetical order by last name. So if your last name starts with an S-Z, tough luck! You won't be able to get into ANY of the classes you need, unless they're at night. My last name starts with a C, and I wasn't even able to get in to a few classes I needed.

Student Body
The typical student at Ole Miss is white, in a sorority or fraternity, rich, stuck up, and rude. The girls wear jeans or umbro shorts with oversized t-shirts and Ugg boots. The guys wear khaki pants or shorts and polo shirts with the collar popped along with brown lophers. You'll always see them riding around in expensive cars and SUVs, smoking cigarettes, drinking, and driving recklessly. About 90% of the students match the above description. The African American students here go out of their way to fit in with the white students, and make up the most arrogant and rude part of the student body. Most of the students here are kids from Georgia and Texas who were denied admission to GA's and TX's colleges. About 40% of the students are from Mississippi. There are quite a few international students, and they are very nice and very inteligent. Just about everyone drinks and smokes. There are a lot of hit and runs, DUIs, burglaries, and student deaths. Housing in Oxford is ridiculously overpriced, and the average job in Oxford pays under $6 an hour.

In Closing...
The University of Mississippi claims to be "a great American public university," when in reality it greatly falls behind most of America's colleges and universities. It is not even ranked on US News & World Report's best public colleges and universities list. Although the campus is physically attractive, the technology is very far behind. There are no parking spaces, so leave your car at home. And there is no bus system on campus nor in the city of Oxford, so be sure to bring some good shoes. If you like to workout, bring some money for a gym membership because our recreation facility is awful compared to other schools in Mississippi and across the nation. My advice is to choose a school based on the education it has to offer and to go where your heart is. Don't let your friends, your parents, a scholarship, or social traditions decide where you should go to college.