Getting To Know: Mississippi State University

Published by Stuart Nachbar at August 14, 2024

I honestly knew next to nothing about Mississippi State before the briefing.

As a New York Yankee fan, I knew that it was the alma mater of Buck Showalter, who managed the Yankees and the Mets. The other men who have managed both teams include Hall of Famers Casey Stengel, Yogi Berra and Joe Torre. Showalter, while a very good manager, was the only one of the four who did not lead either team into the World Series. Dallas Cowboy fans will know that Mississippi State is the alma mater of their quarterback, Dak Prescott. However, while the baseball facilities are mind blowing, and Football Saturdays appear to be quite festive in the Junction, there was a lot more for me to learn about this school.

Mississippi State has an interesting campus and community.

It’s a fairly large place with approximately 4,200 acres, over twice the size of Auburn and about six times the size of the University of Georgia. The academic center of campus has some nice buildings. I dropped three photos below. The red brick look extends from here, even to the newer residence halls.

Mississippi State has a small enrollment as flagships go.

In 2014 there were approximately 16,500 undergraduates at Mississippi State. Ten years later, there were 18,200. From 2014 through 2019 Mississippi State was a male-majority school. But women have been in the majority since 2020, and their percentage continues to grow. While Mississippi State recruits nationally, 65 percent of the student body hails from Mississippi. Among the 7,750 undergraduates and graduate students from outside the Magnolia State, over 1,500 each come from Alabama and Tennessee. Over 700 come from Georgia and over 500 from Louisiana. This past fall, 43 percent of the incoming freshmen came from other states. The recent freshman class is the largest in the university’s history.

The university is also in a small community, considering the size of the student body.

Starkville, aka “Starkvegas,” has fewer than 25,000 residents, excluding the students. It’s the smallest college town that’s home to a school in a power sports conference, beating Oxford, home to the University of Mississippi, aka “Ole Miss,” by about 1,000 residents. This is a rural area, though it has a downtown much like any other college town that hosts a large university.

Mississippi State currently houses about a third of the undergrads, typical for a flagship state school. Greek life is fairly popular, engaging over a fifth of the men and over a quarter of the women. It’s possible to find housing near campus for between $500 and $700 per person per month. This was the first school where I have seen off-campus rents advertised as “per person only.” Walk times to campus are also provided, though some were as long as 30 minutes. The city and university join to have a bus system to help students get around. It would be a good idea to become familiar with the bus system. I have to imagine that student parking on campus is either really tight or a long walk from classes.

From a virtual distance Mississippi State reminded me of Miami of Ohio, where town and gown are really tight, but the campus is a long distance from large cities. However, Mississippi State has a more important stature in the Magnolia State than Miami does in the Buckeye State.

Mississippi State University is the Land Grant flagship in Mississippi.

The university was founded in 1878 as Mississippi Agricultural & Mechanical College aka “Mississippi A&M.” Interesting to me: Mississippi A&M. was not the first Land Grant college in the Magnolia State. Alcorn State, a public Historically Black University, then known as Alcorn A&M, was founded seven years earlier. As a Land Grant University, Mississippi State takes a leadership role in public agricultural and engineering education. For example:

One result of being true to that mission, Mississippi State is one of only 49 universities in the world that has a veterinary school accredited by the American Veterinary Medical Association. Aspiring veterinarians can apply for early entry into the university’s vet school.
As of Fall 2023, 11 percent of Mississippi State’s enrollment was in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Twenty-one percent were enrolled in the College of Engineering. For comparison, these numbers were four and 19 percent at Auburn, a sports rival and much larger Land Grant school.
Mississippi State’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences is host to 17 majors. Most are related to the name of the school, though the Fashion Design and Merchandising program is also based here.
The university is probably one of a very small number of schools that teach Food Science and Culinology, aka Culinary Arts. in the same college.
The same observation applies to to Landscape Architecture and Landscape Contracting & Management.

There are other good academic reasons to like Mississippi State.

The Shackouls Honors College automatically invites all incoming freshmen who have scored at least a 30 (superscore) or higher on the ACT and have a GPA of 3.75 or above. However, interested students who do not meet these numbers are invited to apply, completing an additional; essay, by December 1st. The Honors College has 2,500 undergraduates, more than Penn State or Rutgers, which are much larger schools. The Presidential Scholarship and admission to Shackouls are two very good reasons for a very bright, cost conscious student to consider Mississippi State.
Mississippi State is one of the few schools that offers an undergraduate program in Educational Psychology. The university also partners with a local school system to host a middle school on campus.
The meteorology program has educated about a third of the nation’s meteorologists with undergraduate options in Broadcast Meteorology and.Professional Meteorology.
There’s another very rare program in Sustainable Bioproducts.
Mississippi State’s five-year Bachelor of Architecture (BArch) culminates in a year-long apprenticeship in a university-run firm based in Jackson, the state capital.
Interesting to me as I look at undergraduate enrollment and admissions: the most popular major after Business is Kinesiology, followed by Mechanical Engineering and Biological Sciences. The engineering school has over 1,000 more undergrads than the business school.

It is not especially hard to get into Mississippi State.

Seventy-six percent of all applicants to the Class of 2027 were offered admission. About a quarter of those accepted decided to deposit. The university does not use a wait list. So, prospective students are encouraged to apply early, even in August, if they are interested in Mississippi State. There’s no essay for the university application; admissions are based mainly on grades, and for non-residents, test scores help for scholarships. Admissions are rolling. So, a decision might come back fast after the application packet is complete.

Unlike some of its sports rivals in Florida, Georgia and Texas, Mississippi State is test optional. Scores are only considered. The average ACT is a 25, though a 28+ is helpful if you want to study engineering and a 30+ is helpful if you want to be in the Honors College. Interesting to me, 84 percent of the members of the Class of 2027 submitted ACT scores. The middle 50 percent scored between 21 and 29 on the Composite. The average high school GPA for the Class of 2027 was a 3.6. Of course, some programs such as architecture and the early-entry vet program will have limited enrollments, so admissions will be more competitive.

Retention and graduation rates are improving, but they could be better.

Freshman retention has fluctuated between 79 and 85 percent since 1998. I have seen other flagships that have done better. The university did not make four-year graduation rates available, but did publish six-year graduation rates. Most recently 63 percent of the class that entered in 2017 finished in six years. That could be better, too.

Mississippi State is relatively inexpensive for a flagship state university.

The direct charges, tuition & fees, room & board, are just over $23,000 for a Mississippi residents, and less than $41,000 for non-residents. Scholarships do not bring costs down to nothing for residents, but those who have a mid-pack ACT would end up paying less than $7,000 in tuition and fees. Non-residents with a mid-pack ACT and high school GPA could see their direct charges drop below $30,000. Forty-nine percent of the members of the Class of 2023 graduated with no student loan debt. The remaining 51 percent owed, on average, $24,300. That’s $2,700 less than the maximum that they could have borrowed over four years through the Federal Student Loan program.

Mississippi State has an interesting sports history.

Mississippi State has one of the most successful baseball programs in the Southeastern Conference (SEC).The program holds attendance records that are sure to rise following an expansion to over 20,000 seats. Most recently, the Bulldogs won the College World Series in 2021. They have won 13 post-season conference championships, either as the regular season champion or tournament champion, more than any school in the SEC. Rafael Palmiero and Will Clark are only two of the many Bulldogs who have made the major leagues. The softball program has also been successful, making the NCAA Tournament 18 times since 2000, advancing to the Super Regional in 2022.

The men’s basketball program has been relatively successful, especially given how Kentucky has dominated the conference; the Bulldogs have made nine NCAA tournament appearances since 2000. The women have done even better, appearing in the tournament 11 times, advancing to the Elite Eight three times and the national championship game twice.

The football program has had its ups and downs. It has a historical winning record against only one current or soon-to-be conference rival: Vanderbilt. Mississippi State was the first SEC school to hire a Black head coach, Sylvester Croom, a former NFL assistant, who won national Coach of the Year honors in 2007. His successor, Dan Mullen, took the Bulldogs to the #7 ranking with Dak Prescott at quarterback in 2014 and sold out every home game. The Bulldogs have had five winning seasons since then, but they have not returned to the heights they had attained ten years ago. Last season, the Bulldogs went 5-7. However, they played to near sell-out crowds vs. LSU and Alabama as well as the Egg Bowl rivalry game vs. Mississippi. I dropped a photo of the route of the great walk to Wade Davis Stadium where players touch the Bulldog statue.

Playing to the importance of football to the community as well as successes in baseball, basketball and softball, Mississippi State sells students an All-Sports Pass. The pass costs $250, a $75 savings over purchasing season tickets separately for each sport.

Mississippi is a conservative state for higher education.

I cannot write about this school with an ignorance of the Magnolia State’s history with civil rights issues as well as its conservative political views. While the state legislature has not moved to ban Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs across its public universities, some have rebranded the offices that lead this role for the faculty and the students. Shad White, the state auditor, is a particularly vocal opponent of DEI.

As of November, Mississippi State renamed its office as the Division of Access, Opportunity and Success.The focus appears to be on improving academic advising and direction for all students versus those who have been traditionally underrepresented in the university community. Underrepresented students currently comprise 28 percent of the undergraduate student body. However, it is fair to ask how cultural and social activities will be impacted by this realignment as well as any future acts of the state legislature. To date Mississippi State had not reduced the staffing or budget for DEI related efforts to help its students to succeed academically or socially.

Conclusions

Mississippi State University has a lot to offer academically for a motivated and cost-conscious student. However, it really helps to be familiar with life in the Southeast to thrive socially and after graduation. Bulldogs are more likely to find friends for watch parties in Atlanta, Birmingham, Memphis or Nashville than most other cities outside of Mississippi. However, while Mississippi State is one of the smaller schools in the Southeastern Conference, it has the school spirit that mike make you believe that the community is much larger than it really is.

Report Card: Mississippi State University

Four-Year/Six-Year Graduation Rates: C/C
Freshman Retention: B
Curriculum: A
Costs: A
Comforts: B+
Community: B+
Connections: A (Mississippi, Atlanta, Birmingham, Memphis, Nashville)/C (elsewhere)