transfer to Ole Miss
 

Hi, I am currently a freshman at LSU and absolutely hate it. I rushed hoping I would meet a bunch of new people; however, I still do not like LSU. I wanted to go to Ole Miss, but everyone is telling me its a waste if you aren't greek? and would they even really consider me cause i rushed, but dropped before initiation?

What do you hate about LSU and why do you think Ole Miss would be different? It seems to me that they would be similar. Sec schools with social life centered around greek life and football.

TOOTIEPIE2 :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

Them's FIGHTING WORDS!!!! :p

I'm completely at the other end of the scale from the OP. I would expect that off all of the other Universities in the *country* that the one with the most in common with LSU would be Ole Miss.

I think I am getting faint.... pass me the sweet tea!!! :p

Bless your heart. You know that "sweet tea" is redundant. ;)

To bethheigle4, I agree that it would be helpful to know exactly why you hate LSU and how you think Ole Miss would be better. And if you wanted to go to Ole Miss, why didn't you? Do you hate LSU just because it isn't Ole Miss?

But as helpful as the answers to these questions might be, if your username reflects your real name, I'd suggest being very careful what you say and erring on the side of discretion.

The two schools are similar in a lot of ways, but they have very different vibes. LSU is a lot bigger, which definitely adds to it.

I can't speak to the issue of having dropped a sorority previously, and I don't know anything about membership selection. I do know of people who transferred to Ole Miss and had successful recruitments, but they were from community colleges, not other SEC schools. If it fits your timeframe for transferring, the Alpha Phi colony might be something to consider as well, but I have no idea if that might work out for you or not.

I'll also say this:
You do not have to be Greek to have a meaningful or enjoyable college experience.
Even in the SEC.
Even at Ole Miss.

Other organizations aren't going to replace joining a sorority, but there are tons of amazing groups and things to do at the University of Mississippi. If your goal is to meet people and have a good time while getting a solid education, it's entirely possible to do outside of a sorority. That said, if you absolutely can't imagine being in college without being Greek, then I don't know. But only a third of the Ole Miss campus is Greek. There's another two-thirds of the campus that is not, and some of those students even have social lives. Really. :)

I'm confused, did you get a bid from a sorority at LSU and dropped out? Or did you rush and not get a bid and don't understand what initiation is?

You have skipped some important information in between rushing and initiation. We are just trying to understand where you are, so that we can answer correctly.

Did you:

1. rush, but drop out of rush without signing a bid card, so you did not get a bid?

or

2. rush, get a bid and go through the pledge process, but drop out of your sorority before you were initiated?

Our answers will really depend on the answer.

Have you applied to Ole Miss and been accepted?

Please don't get mad thetalady!!!!! I don't know anything about Ole Miss, from what I can tell it seems to be a school that is very rich in traditions and would be a great place to spend your college years. BUT so is LSU. I just wonder what it is that she doesn't like. Is it the social life, I think that college is what you make it. You can have a great experience where ever you are if you have the right attitude.

Is she unhappy with academics? Does Ole Miss offer her a better program for her desired major? Is she unhappy in a bigger city? Those might be better for her at Ole Miss. But if she thinks that it will be more fun or she will fit in better I think that she might be disappointed.

No worries, TootiePie2 ;) We are just still sensitive about LSU after Saturday.

No, I do not want to talk about it.

I rushed and received a bid, but dropped before initiation. I wanted to go to Ole Miss last year after i toured, but told my parents i would try LSU first because its cheaper in state. However, I hate how big the school is and i don't like constantly seeing the same people I've been with my whole life. I was hoping to make new friends and go out of state. So the good news is I applied to Ole Miss and they will hold my acceptance for 2 years so thats why I'm asking because i don't want to transfer and then hate Ole Miss if I'm not in a sorority and then be the girl that constantly transfers.

i rushed and received a bid, but dropped before initiation

Katy Perry is right. LSU fans do smell like corn dogs.
Having had the dubious experience of tailgating at Tiger Stadium and being in Death Valley for last Saturday's game, I can re-attest to the chasm that exists between the classiness of Ole Miss/The Grove vs whatever it is they do at LSU. They are horrible losers and worse winners and just bad, bad people.
And don't even get me started on Tigerland (the collection of dive bars that passes for what in Oxford would be The Square). Fights, passed out/puking kids -- just the worst.
So, to the OP, while the challenges of re-rushing (if that's what you decide to do) are real and will be clearly communicated to you here at GC by others, I can say that the worst day at Ole Miss is better than the best day at LSU. I think even a day as an independent at Ole Miss is better than a day as a Greek at LSU. But I hate LSU, so take that FWIW.

There are about 30K students at LSU. You must know a lot of people if you're constantly seeing the same people you've known your whole life. Further, you were in a sorority at LSU. I'm wondering, was it not the "right" sorority? Else why would you "constantly transfer". What I'm getting from your remarks is that you're not in college for an education and I'm pretty sure I know what you're chasing. I wish you good luck.

What I'm getting from the rest of the remarks by other posters is that the antipathy between Ole Missi and LSU is equal to that between Arizona and ASU (Tempe Normal, ASWho, etc). :D And I will never say "sweet tea" again without hearing MysticCat's sonorous words "bless your heart" - gah!

A classiness so conspicuously absent from your post that I have to wonder if it exists only in your imagination.

LOL at the corn dogs reference. Corn dogs are good! Wish they sold them at Tiger Stadium. Anyone that thinks they are insulting LSU fans with that phrase needs to be more creative. You aren't bothering us at all.

I love corndogs too!!!
I can understand your parents concern about tuition. It is very hard to pass up TOPS. I also understand your statement about being around the same people that you went to high school with. Sometimes you want to branch out and meet new friends. That is why my daughter chose to go to LSU instead of UL with most of her graduating class.

I also think that people have a very romanticized view of Ole Miss. We see it as a place where the girls are prettier and the men are all gentlemen. Lucky for you the the poster from Ole Miss proved that false!!!! I have never heard people describe LSU as a classy place, I don't think we even aspire to be that. If you think that going to Ole Miss is going to make you into the perfect person you might be disappointed. Of course we can't make that decision for you and only you know your true feelings. I just know that if it was my daughter I would ask her to think very carefully about what you could do to make yourself happier where you are. Sometimes your unhappiness has more to do with you than where you are. You may get up there and be just as miserable if you don't fix some of the personal things that might be making you unhappy.

Schools all do have very different personalities. If you spend some time thinking about what you are looking for in a new school and came back to us, you might get some really interesting options to consider. Major, size, level of conservative vs liberal, male-female balance, housing, arts, weather, party atmosphere, whatever your gig is.

But I would hesitate jumping ship from one huge southern school to another thinking it is going to be anything dramatically different than just further away. It MIGHT be, but maybe not, depending on what you're looking for.

I do kinda understand what she's saying, it's one of the many reasons why I didn't go to Penn State, because it seemed like 3/4 of the college bound kids in my class did. Plus even with that many people, you know you are gonna keep running into that person you couldn't stand.

But throw the quitting pledging in and yop, I agree with your assessment.

33, when I went to UCSB, there were only 13-14K students. We either lived on campus in dorms (pretty much what freshmen did) or in apartments in Isla Vista (sorority and fraternity houses too). There were others from my HS there but I never ever saw them! I hardly saw anyone from the sorority either. I was too busy going to class, going to work, going to the library, blah blah blah. And I walked uphill five miles in the sand each way to get to campus, too.

That's why I'm puzzled, but I don't pretend to know what college life is like at LSU. Although I do like tigers. But corn dogs, not so much. It's the texture.

Well, bless your heart. I am sorry that you have lived such a charmed life that you haven't seen the "other" side of Oxford. I have family in Pontotoc so I can assure that that "fights/passed out/puking kids" are just as prevalent (on a pro rata basis, of course) in Oxford as in BR (where I also have family). I'm busy thru football season but am glad to give you a tour after that. I won't even clutch my pearls.

Do you have any friends at Ole Miss already? If so, it might be worth seeing if you can visit them and get more of a feel of the school outside of the Grove experience or large organized events. Mardi Gras break is a little short, but that might be an option (unless you're planning to do something in Louisiana for Mardi Gras, of course!) or perhaps during your spring break at LSU, since Ole Miss generally has their spring break earlier. It might be really helpful to talk to an academic adviser at Ole Miss to learn about what your major looks like there, too, beyond trying to feel out the social climate.

Ole Miss is smaller, but it's still a big school compared to many others. If you're in a larger major and not in the Honors College, it can still feel very large. That said, it's also a school that can feel super-small. I was there in a different context, but when I would walk through campus there, I felt like I always saw someone I knew and could never be anonymous. Even if I wanted to go to Walmart for cold medicine when sick, I still felt pressure to wear something nicer than sweats because I *knew* I would see someone I knew. (I usually went to Walgreens and then CVS after it opened so that the odds of seeing someone when I felt terrible would be lower, even...) Oxford is definitely a small town, and that brings its own set of challenges.

I agree with the other posters--you have some soul-searching to do before deciding to transfer, I think. Good luck!

I love you!

Ole Miss and LSU were very different 30+ years ago. There is more in common between the two in terms of academic rigor and research now. Ole Miss is now 17,000+ students in a small town that is struggling to handle it's new traffic and new non-student year-round residents. The NPC Recruitment is highly competitive, read the threads. Check Ole Miss out before you jump from the frying pan into the fire because the grass is always greener on the other side. It might be right for you but then it might be awful too.

Mary Poppins
Ole Miss Alumna

I understand Beth. Her story is akin to my story.

I attended a very large high school. I adored high school, but it seemed everyone from every graduating class went to the large university. I liked the people in my class, and I would have liked the large university. However, since I would encounter them in a lot of core classes, the dorms, dining hall and social activities, I was afraid of High School 2 - the Sequel. I chose an out-of-state university as much on gut as academics. (Fortunately, my gut was having a good day!)

I am posting in segments because I keep hitting the dang delete button accidentally in a long post. Continuing:

It is not about choosing the wrong sorority but about choosing the wrong school. You could stay at LSU, but there might be a void. You probably won't transfer from school to school because that's tiring and expensive. The Ole Miss grads on this site can speak specifically to rectuitment there, but from what I understand it can be difficult in the absence of an upperclassman quota. Alpha Phi will be colonizing and looking for great sophomore women as well as freshmen. If you presented yourself well at LSU, get good grades and maintain a good reputation, you can be a good candidate. Nothing is assured though.

Instead, look at Ole Miss as the school whose vibe spoke to you and the opportunity to meet new people. If you decide to attend, embrace it and the things that follow (sorority or not).

I would just keep in mind that the sorority members at Ole Miss have friends in sororities at LSU. So they talk. And they might just talk about you and wonder why you dropped your sorority before initiation. So just keep that in mind. LSU recruitment and Ole Miss recruitment are both tough. If you transfer you will be a sophomore so that might make it a bit harder for you as well.

I'm from New Orleans and I'm an Ole Miss alumna. I don't have any problems with LSU. It's a wonderful school and their Greek system is wonderful as well. (Personally I just look better in red and blue!)

So keep this all in mind. Best of luck.

Are you going to finish your first year at LSU or transfer next semester? If you transfer for Spring semester, you will have a good chance of meeting girls who are in sororities and that could help you have a better rush. Remember though that lots of things will be the same because they are the things that are really part of you that you bring into any new place. If you are really trying to just get away from something instead of going toward something, you might not be any happier.

Wherever you go, there you are.

There were two parts to my post. The first was poking fun at a 100+ year rival, which some here recognized and some didn't. The second though is that there is a qualitative difference between the cultures of the two schools as it relates to drinking in particular, which may be of interest to the OP.

At LSU drinking to the point of staggering/passing out, whether at Tigerland or at a tailgate, is looked at as the normal course of business. People freely walk around with beer and liquor bottles. That's LSU's choice, but it does send a message.

In the square and in the grove that doesn't happen with nearly the same frequency, even after adjusting for population size. Of course the kids drink, and many get quite drunk, but getting out of control is the exception rather than the rule. Yes, there are places you can go in Oxford to find that environment, but they are not the focal point of the social scene. My comparison was specifically between Tigerland and the Square.


Particularly in the grove an Ole Miss student becoming uncontrollably drunk is not considered cool, and when you do see that in the grove it is much more likely to be the visiting team's fans. Another tailgating contrast can be seen in the way guests are treated. A visiting fan in the grove is likely to be invited into a tent and treated like family. A visiting fan on the LSU campus will be taunted with chants of "Tiger Bait" and have ice (if they're lucky) thrown at them. Another choice.

Perfectly said.

MU2Driver- although it was very hard for me to tell that this was sarcasm I will admit that you are right on several points. When I moved to Louisiana from Kentucky I was blown away by the casual attitude towards drinking. It does often cause problems with our younger people because it is such and accepted part of the culture. That is not just and LSU thing, it is all over south Louisiana.

As far as your experience tailgating I have read online about people saying they had bad experiences but I have never seen that going on in person. Maybe some of the college age guys get out of hand but I have never seen people being anything but nice. I think the secret is to play along, when you get upset they get worse!!! It is just a very different culture than you will find in other southern states. Lots of people love it, but its not for everyone.

I don't think Tigerland and the Square are the same at all. I see them as 2 different things. The Strip in Tuscaloosa is more like Tigerland and the Quad in Tuscaloosa is more like the Grove. So you have both on one campus. I went to Alabama and go to a lot of games there. I also have been to games at LSU and have NEVER had ice - or anything else - thrown at me - whilst in my Bama regalia. They've been nothing but gracious to me at any time....invited into their tents to eat and drink. The Grove is an entirely different experience from any on any other college campus in this country. I don't think it's fair to try to equate it with another...nor the Square with any other place. It's just different there. But different isn't defined as worse - or better. It's just different. Sorry if you can't appreciate or understand that. And if some of my cajun relatives offended your delicate sensibilities, so be it. I wouldn't have taken it so personally.

You have to realize that Louisiana was the last state to accept the 21 age for drinking - and we did it to get federal highway tax money. It was 18 for years before that. You are right - it's different there....thank goodness!

I googled Tigerland and got stories on a bunch of apartment complexes for students that (their words) range from fun to sketchy. Is that what you guys are talking about?

QFP

Tigerland is an area close to campus that has several bars that LSU students go to. There are also some older apartment complexes there that where nice in the 70-80's but are in bad shape now and are not very safe. I don't think a lot of college students live there now.

I was actually living in Louisiana by the time this happened. The first time the difference hit me was one night at a festival put on by our local Catholic school. I was drinking a beer( that I bought in a booth there) and when I saw a police officer I tried to hid it. Everyone that was with me just died laughing at me. It just didn't occur to me that if they were selling it on the school grounds it was obviously okay to drink it in public!!!!

For those not familiar with game day at Ole Miss and the Grove, here is a taste:

Tailgating Goes Above and Beyond at the University of Mississippi