I am from a small town in New Jersey where it is typical for students to go to college locally. Due to this, many people ask me why I decided to attend school 18 hours away, so now I can just show them this. Keep reading for 10 reasons why I chose to go to Ole Miss over anywhere else.
College is an opportunity to have new experiences. My dad is a Tennessee native, so going to college is my chance to explore the Southern side of me. I have always been curious about what it is like to live in the South and Ole Miss provided the perfect location for me to experience the southern lifestyle.
Coming from a small town, I wanted to be somewhere that I felt comfortable. In many ways, the Square in Oxford, MS is very similar to the downtown area of my town. When visiting Ole Miss, my family and I went to the Square and it gave me that small town vibe that I have grown up with and that I have grown to love. During my junior year of high school, I visited many different colleges. Ole Miss was the only place that gave me the small town vibe I was looking for while still being a big school.
Sports were a very big factor in my decision. Ole Miss is known for its sports and all of the traditions surrounding them. Since I was five years old, I have cheered on the sidelines of football games, but I have decided not to cheer in college. The next best thing for me was to choose a SEC school with great football. Ole Miss, as we all know, has an amazing football program and game day experience. On top of football, Ole Miss also has several other sports, such as baseball and basketball, that provide the ultimate game day experiences for students. Sporting events are just one of the many things that I have looked forward to about college for years and Ole Miss provides the ideal college sports experience.
While I loved the high school that I went to, it did not have the most spirited student body. We had our moments, like when our basketball team won the championship game, but other than that day, I can’t recall a time when the students of my high school had a lot of school spirit. I have always wanted to experience the type of school spirit that Ole Miss students have. Every person that I have come in contact with that has a connection to Ole Miss can’t help but say how much they love the school and talk about all the amazing things about it. This showed me that Ole Miss is truly the place for me.
Being an English major and a lover of literature, the literary ties to Oxford are very important to me. Novelists like William Faulkner and John Grisham along with many other successful writers make Oxford a literary center. The Square is home for many book stores and it is a place that any book lover would want to live. This takes a huge part in why I chose Ole Miss because there is nothing I would want more than to be surrounded by literature all the time.
The Grove is a reason all on its own because it is just that much of a part of the Ole Miss experience. Of course, there is tailgating on game day, which is one thing that I am looking forward to in the upcoming year. In addition to the tailgating, the Grove is the setting for many events, such as concerts and many student activities. It is the center of Ole Miss life and any event that takes place on the Grove is one that I would want to attend.
At first, I did not realize how different Ole Miss dorms were than other colleges or at least from colleges near me. One day I went to visit my friend who attends a university in NJ and I hung out for a while in her dorm room. To be blunt, my friend’s dorm was reminiscent of a prison cell. They only had a few pictures on the walls and everything was really cramped together. Decorating your room to the nines isn’t a thing at her college, and I am so happy that that is not the case at Ole Miss. It is customary at Ole Miss to decorate your dorm and many people decorate theirs really nicely, complete with décor coordination. I love this because it helps to make Ole Miss truly your home away from home.
I am a member of the Honors College at Ole Miss and the many opportunities that it provides is amazing. The Honors College allows students to learn in smaller class sizes and give students many opportunities, such as Freshmen Ventures, and studying abroad. I have also been able to meet some people in the freshmen class who are also in Honors College and I feel that having this connection could make us become closer.
Ole Miss has so many clubs and events that anyone in the university can take part in. Hearing about the many student organizations that Ole Miss has to offer at orientation shows the endless opportunities that lay ahead. The students of Ole Miss also do a lot of volunteer work throughout the community. I have done many hours of volunteer service throughout high school and I do enjoy it, so I am happy that I will get the chance to do more in college. Lastly, even though I am not doing it, Greek life is a huge part of the University of Mississippi. Even for those of us who are not participating in sororities or fraternities, Greek life still contributes to the overall Ole Miss experience.
Coming from New Jersey, I was always told that staying in state would save me a lot of money in the long run, but, when it actually came down to picking a college, I discovered that Ole Miss was actually more cost effective than most, if not all, of the colleges in state. Obviously, this helped make my decision a little easier, but, if I am being completely honest, I would have picked Ole Miss no matter the price because that is just how much I fell in love with the school.
Featured photo source: Ole Miss
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