I have a daughter who is a junior at Ole Miss (student athlete) and I also have about a million friends with kids at state…State is more “laid-back”…but don’t be fooled…there are plenty of affluent people at State…but it’s not as “in your face” as Ole Miss. My child ADORES Ole Miss and we are not the traditional Ole Miss peeps…saying all that to say that either would be great. However, Ole Miss does seem to attract more OOS students…and from what I can tell…everyone seems to get along great. My daughter has made close friends from all over…D.C., Cali, Australia, GA, FL, Chicago, NYC…and she is just a normal southern gal from MS/LA. So, from our experience and from what we know about the kids/families that support/attend State…my opinion is that Ole Miss is a little more progressive. Also, in very general terms, Ole Miss is more the place for doctors/attorneys while State is more engineers/computer science although that is not by any means the rule…
I don’t think the majority of the students at Ole Miss even blink at a student from a different state/region. It’s pretty common at Ole Miss because they are so affordable and do give great scholarships.
I also have a daughter who is a senior in high school and has outstanding GPA and 35 ACT…saying that to say that she has visited many schools and could attend pretty much anywhere with a nice offer, but in the end, she is down to TCU and Ole Miss. Even though Ole Miss would kind of be like not “going anywhere” (it’s 2.5 hours away and she’s been there a lot due to sister), we really have come to understand that it is a fantastic school, safe environment, and provides a great college experience. Ole Miss is also BEAUTIFUL! My family is not/was not brought up Ole Miss…never really knew much about it before they recruited the older girl, but they have certainly impressed from that time to now… Would highly recommend it to anyone from anywhere.