Best Colleges in Mississippi 2018
Many colleges and universities in Mississippi are small to midsize in undergraduate population, and various are publicly funded. Various small private colleges are also located in Mississippi and most handle a religious affiliation. Residents of Mississippi can join select colleges and universities in nearby states, along with Alabama, Louisiana, Arkansas and Tennessee, through the Academic Common Market and pay in-state tuition; nevertheless, students should complete an accepted degree program.
Along with many choices offering differentiated prospects, we have slicked the decision-making process by providing the following list of the top four-year schools in Mississippi.
1. Mississippi State University
The Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, better known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a land-grant university in Oktibbeha County, Mississippi, United States, relatively in the town of Starkville and principally in an unincorporated area. It is established in 1978. Mississippi State, Mississippi is the official designation for the area that surrounds the university.
It is organized in the category of “R2: Doctoral Universities – Higher Research Activity” by the Carnegie Foundation. The university has various campuses in Starkville (main), Meridian, Biloxi, and Vicksburg, Mississippi.
MSU is also center to the FAA National Center of Excellence for Unmanned Aerial Systems. The institution has a strong built agriculture and life sciences program, providing 15 majors and 43 concentrations. Few bachelor’s degrees can be completed in three years.
MSU is a member of the SEC Academic Consortium. MSU participated in the SEC Symposium in Atlanta, Georgia which was organized and headed by the University of Georgia and the UGA Bioenergy Systems Research Institute. The topic of the Symposium was titled, the “Impact of the Southeast in the World’s Renewable Energy Future.”
Currently, the university has the following colleges and schools:
- College of Agriculture and Life Sciences
- College of Architecture Art and Design
- College of Arts and Sciences
- College of Business
- Richard C. Adkerson School of Accountancy
- College of Education
- James Worth Bagley College of Engineering
- Dave C. Swalm School of Chemical Engineering
- Shackouls Honors College
- College of Forest Resources
- College of Veterinary Medicine
- School of Human Sciences
Academic affiliation: Association of Public and Land-grant Universities
- Graduation rate: 60%
- Student enrollment: 21,884 systemwide
- Academic staff: 1359
- Administrative staff: 3361
- Ranking: It was ranked the 36th top college in the United States by the Social Mobility Index college rankings.
| University rankings | |
| National | |
| Forbes | 279 |
| U.S. News & World Report | 157 |
| Washington Monthly | 77 |
Ranking score is 76.67.
U.S. News & World Report National Rankings
| Graduate Area | 2012 National Rank |
| Engineering | 84 |
| Veterinary Medicine | 24 |
2. Mississippi College
Mississippi College is a Christian university situated in Clinton, Mississippi, west of the capital city of Jackson. Established in 1826, MC is the second-oldest Baptist-affiliated college in the United States and the oldest college in Mississippi. Students engaged in liberal arts learning that integrates faith and educational attainment.
The School of Business is Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business accredited. This is the latest business accreditation in the world with only about 25% of business schools in the US holding this accreditation. The School of Business is located in Self Hall-a currently renovated, state-of-the-art facility. The school provides 6 undergraduate business majors: Accounting, Business Administration, Finance, Marketing, MIS and Entrepreneurship. The school also provide the MBA in 4 concentrations: General, Accounting, Finance and MIS. The MBA program can be earned in-class, online or a amalgamation of both. Along with enrollment of 850 students, business is the single largest major on campus.
The School of Education involves the Department of Kinesiology, the Department of Psychology and Counselling, the Department of Teacher Education and Leadership, and the Dyslexia Center. The School of Christian Studies and the Arts is having the Department of Art, the Department of Christian Studies and Philosophy, the Department of Communication and the Department of Music.
CAMPUS TYPE: Suburb: Large 320 acres
Student enrollment: over 5000. The college endowment grew to $500,000 and in 1922, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools approved accreditation for the college. Enrollment grew from 3,227 to 5,152, an increase of 60% reached 400 students.
| Undergraduates | 3,145 |
| Postgraduates | 1,310 graduate students 550 law students |
- Ranking score: 75.53
- Graduation Rate: 59%
3. Southeastern Baptist College, Mississippi
Southeastern Baptist College is a private Baptist Bible college established in 1948. The college is situated in Laurel, Mississippi and provides both a 4-year Bachelor’s degree program and a 2-year curriculum.
SBC’s mission is to offer education from a biblical worldview in a Christian environment.
SBC provides an online, two-year curriculum that is created for students to transfer credits to a four-year college or university. Prospective students need to submit an application, official high school transcripts, ACT scores, and a reference form finished and signed by their pastor. SBC provides classes on the semester schedule, and the small institution commonly offers between twenty and thirty classes each semester.
The college is approved at the state level by the Mississippi Commission on Accreditation, and by the Association For Biblical Higher Education (ABHE) on the national level. The Association for Biblical Higher Education is approved by the US Department of Education and the Council on Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) and is an approved Title IV school for its students to get financial help through Pell Grants. Eligible students can gain VA benefits. However, CHEA is not on the list of accreditations that is identified by the Secretary of Education.
Location: The campus is located on 28 acres (110,000 m2) containing nine buildings on Hwy. 15 N just outside Laurel, MS in the Shady Grove community. Laurel is just a short drive from Hattiesburg, Meridian, and Jackson, Mississippi.
Affiliation: Southeastern Baptist College is retained, and operated by the Baptist Missionary Association of the state of Mississippi and governed by a board of trustees elected annually by the association.
- Graduation rate: 16%
- Student enrollment: 5000
- Academic staff: over 1000
- Accreditation: ABHE/CA
- Ranking Score: 72
4. The University of Mississippi
The University of Mississippi has a history of academic excellence and leadership with a student body of less than 24,000. The University of Mississippi, commonly known as Ole Miss, is one of the biggest universities in Mississippi and hosts a rival football team. It has 15 academic divisions that are having a major medical school and nationally recognized schools of accountancy, pharmacy, and law.
The degree-granting divisions located at the main campus in Oxford:
- School of Accountancy
- School of Applied Sciences
- School of Business Administration
- School of Education
- School of Engineering
- College of Liberal Arts
- Graduate School
- School of Law
- School of Pharmacy
- School of Journalism and New Media
- General Studies Program
The schools at the University of Mississippi Medical Center campus in Jackson:
- School of Dentistry
- School of Health Related Professions
- School of Nursing (with a satellite unit at the main campus)
- School of Medicine
- School of Graduate Studies in the Health Sciences
Academic affiliations: ORAU, APLU and SURA
- Students enrollment: 24250 fall of 2016
- Location: Oxford, Mississippi, U.S.34.365°N 89.538°W
- Academic staff: 871
- Rankings: Ranking score-68
| University rankings | |
| National | |
| Forbes | 278 |
| U.S. News & World Report | 140 |
| Washington Monthly | 166 |
| Global | |
| QS | 801-1000 |
| U.S. News & World Report | 374 |
Student-faculty ratio- 19:1, and the school has 47.4% of its classes with less than 20 students.
5. Blue Mountain College, Mississippi
Blue Mountain College (BMC) is a private liberal arts college, aided by the Mississippi Baptist Convention, situated in the northeastern Mississippi town of Blue Mountain not far from Tupelo. Established a women’s college in 1873, the college’s board of trustees voted unanimously for the college to go fully co-educational in 2005. It has student-to-faculty ratio of 11:1.
The school provides bachelor’s degrees in fields like business administration, music, history, and liberal arts. Degree programs of note ivolves Blue Mountain’s BA and BS in worship leadership. Also of note are the school’s dual degree bachelor’s programs with local community colleges such as the BS in psychology and pre-nursing, a BS in biology and nuclear medicine technology, and the BS in biology and sonography.
Students at Blue Mountain will have entrance to the tools and resources enough for success, including the Learning Lab, where they receive free tutoring, academic coaching and learning seminars.
Departments of study:
- of Biblical and Associated Studies
- of Business
- of Education
- of Fine Arts and Speech
- of Kinesiology and Health Studies
- of Language and Literature
- of Mathematics and Natural Sciences
- of Social and Behavioral Sciences
Student enrollment: over 700
- Academic staff: 350
- Graduation rate: 51%
- Ranking score: 67.67
6. Millsaps College, Mississippi
Millsaps College is a private liberal arts college situated in Jackson, Mississippi, the state capital. Established in 1890 and affiliated with the United Methodist Church. One of 40 colleges featured in Loren Pope’s Colleges That Change Lives, it is one of only 21 private colleges countrywide credited a Best Buy in the 2013 Fiske Guide to Colleges.
Millsaps provides 32 majors and 41 minors with bachelor’s degree programs in areas as wide spread as African-American studies and classical studies to BA and BS degrees in chemistry and economics. There is the choice for a self-designed major, in which students work with academic staff to design the curricular, instructional, and administrative framework to provide housing facility to students’ personality, educational, and career goals. The school is home to five professions and five sororities. One of the best colleges in Mississippi, Millsaps has a nationally ranked study abroad program, with 2017 summer trips scheduled for Ghana, the Galápagos islands, and various countries in Europe.
- Academic staff: 97 full time
- Student enrollment: 985
| Undergraduates | 910 |
| Postgraduates | 75 |
- Location: Jackson, Mississippi, United States32°19′20″N 90°10′46″W
- Campus: Urban, 103 acres (417,000 m²)
- Affiliations: IAMSCU,ACS&Annapolis Group
- Ranking score: 64.07
7. University of Southern Mississippi
The University of Southern Mississippi (USM), known commonly as Southern Miss, is a public research university located in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. University of Southern Mississippi is established in 1910.
It is located 70 miles (110 km) north of Gulfport, Mississippi and 105 miles (169 km) northeast of New Orleans, Louisiana. USM is approved by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools(SACS) to award baccalaureate, master’s, specialist, and doctoral degrees. The university is classified by the Carnegie Foundation as a “Research University” with “High Research Activity” (designation “RU/ H”).
Southern Miss’s students and staff involve in research programs such as evaluating the efficiency of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, generating new polymer materials for everyday consumer products, and advancing new forensic technology for fingerprints. The school has almost 300 student organizations spreading a wide array of interests such as business, the arts, athletics, Greek life, the military, and religion.
USM is arranged into 6 colleges, offering academic programs of study in:
- College of Arts and Letters
- College of Business
- College of Education and Psychology
- College of Health
- College of Nursing
- College of Science and Technology
Additionally to its six academic colleges, The University of Southern Mississippi also provides the following programs:
- George R. Olliphant Honors College
- Graduate Studies
- International Studies Program
- Fully Online Programs: Master of Science in Sport Management and Master of Science in Sport Coaching Education
- DuBard School for Language Disorders
- Frances A. Karnes Center for Gifted Studies
The University of Southern Mississippi is utilizing an academic reorganization altering the academic structure at the University and the positions of administrators. This plan will bring down the number of colleges from six to four:
- College of Arts and Sciences
- College of Business and Economic Development
- College of Education and Human Sciences
- College of Nursing and Health Professions
Academic affiliation: AASCU,APLU,SURA and ORAU
- Sporting affiliation: NCAA Division I – Conference USA
- Student enrollment: 15000
- Academic staff: 896
- Ranking score: 63.33
| University rankings | |
| National | |
| Forbes | 522 |
| U.S. News & World Report | 220 |
| Washington Monthly | 192 |
