At a Glance
Ole Miss admits 97.4% of applicants.
What You'll Actually Pay
See what families at different income levels actually pay after aid.
What families actually pay, by income level
After grants and scholarships. Before loans. Public school prices shown at in-state rates.
Source: College Scorecard / IPEDS, 2024-25
Where the Sticker Price Goes
Based on average need-based grant. Actual cost varies by family income — see chart above.
Shown at in-state rates.
Debt at Graduation
36.2%
receive need-based grant aid
$32,545
average debt at graduation
Ole Miss graduates carry an average of $32,545 in debt.
Merit Aid
6,750
students received merit aid
$11,501
average merit award
Getting In
Ole Miss admits 97.4% of applicants.
SAT — Middle 50% of those who submitted · 27% of the class submitted
ACT — Middle 50% of those who submitted · 61% of the class submitted
22% were in the top 10% of their high school class.
What They Value
Academic
Nonacademic
University of Mississippi gives essays less weight than many schools — academics drive most admissions decisions here. Demonstrated interest is Not Considered here — campus visits and emails to admissions won't affect your odds.
Student Life
45.9% of Ole Miss classes have fewer than 20 students.
Share of undergraduate class sections at each size, from CDS Section I-3. More red = more large lectures.
At Ole Miss, 45.9% of your classes will have fewer than 20 students.
Class size data reflects all undergraduate sections including labs, seminars, and lectures. Large research universities often have smaller upper-division and graduate-level sections that improve the overall distribution. First and second-year students typically experience larger classes than these averages suggest.
Source: Common Data Set 2025–26, Section I-3 (class sizes)
18:1
student:faculty ratio
Campus Life
From out of state (freshman class)
67.5%
Live on campus
28%
Men in fraternities
40%
Women in sororities
53%
Who Attends
Racial and ethnic breakdown of enrolled undergraduates, as reported in each school's Common Data Set. "Unknown / Other" includes students who did not report or selected "other."
Ole Miss's student body is 76.1% white.
Popular Majors
Will They Graduate?
Ole Miss graduates 57.8% of students in 4 years.
Graduating late means paying for extra semesters. The 6-year rate tells you who eventually finishes — the 4-year rate tells you what it actually costs.
Ole Miss graduates 57.8% of students in 4 years.
What finishing late actually costs
Based on each school's published cost of attendance. Public school costs shown at in-state rates.
Ole Miss
57.8%
4-yr grad rate
Extra year cost: $28,660*
* In-state cost of attendance. Out-of-state students pay significantly more.
Graduation rate data from Common Data Set 2025–26, Fall 2018 cohort (most recent available). 4-year rate = students completing in 4 years or less. 6-year rate = students completing within 6 years.
70.3%
Overall 6-yr rate
57.5%
Pell recipient rate
A 12.8 point graduation gap between lower-income and overall students suggests financial or academic challenges for some students.
Freshman Retention
86.7%
86.7% of first-year students return for sophomore year.
City & Culture
Beyond the data — what it's actually like to spend four years in Oxford.
Oxford is a classic Southern college town of about 28,000 people, built around a courthouse Square lined with bars, restaurants and the independent bookstore Square Books, a short walk from campus. It's also William Faulkner's hometown — his home, Rowan Oak, sits just off campus and is owned and run by the university. Memphis is about an hour north, but weekends here tend to revolve around campus itself, especially The Grove on football Saturdays.
Notable Alumni
Eli Manning
Started at quarterback for four years, won the Maxwell Award as a senior, and was the first overall pick of the 2004 NFL draft, going on to win two Super Bowls with the New York Giants. He graduated with a degree in marketing.
Class of 2004
John Grisham
Earned his law degree here in 1981 before practicing as a trial lawyer and becoming one of the best-selling novelists in the world, mostly writing legal thrillers.
Class of 1981
James Meredith
Became the first African American student to enroll at Ole Miss in 1962, escorted onto campus by federal marshals amid a deadly riot, and graduated in 1963 with a degree in political science — a turning point of the civil rights movement.
Class of 1963
Shepard Smith
Left Ole Miss two credits short of a degree to take a reporting job in Florida, and went on to anchor Fox News Channel's flagship newscast for two decades before launching his own show on CNBC.
Alumni selected for name recognition and range of fields. Not from the Common Data Set.
The City
College town
Oxford, MS
Best For
Traditions
The Grove
A 10-acre green space at the center of campus that becomes a sea of tents on football Saturdays — Sports Illustrated has ranked it the best tailgating site in the country. Cars have been banned since 1991, and students traditionally dress up rather than down.
Hotty Toddy
The call-and-response cheer that doubles as an all-purpose greeting around Oxford, recited before kickoff at every home game and dating back to at least 1926.
The Egg Bowl
The season-ending rivalry game against Mississippi State, played annually since 1901, with the loser's team forfeiting the Golden Egg trophy for the year.
Weekend Escapes
Within driving distance from Oxford
Memphis, TN
About 1 hour 15 minutesThe closest real city — Beale Street, Graceland, and the National Civil Rights Museum.
Clarksdale and the Mississippi Delta
About 1 hourThe birthplace of the blues, on the official Mississippi Blues Trail, with juke joints and the Delta Blues Museum.
Nashville, TN
About 3 hours 45 minutesA bigger weekend trip to Music City, for students who want more than Oxford's own Square.
Getting There & Game Days
Nearest airport
Frederick W. Smith International Airport (MEM)
About 1 hour 15 minutes from campus
For international flights: Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International (ATL) — about 5 hours by road, or a short connecting flight from memphis.
Pro sports nearby
- Memphis Grizzlies NBAAbout 1 hour 15 minutes away
- Memphis Redbirds MiLB (AAA)About 1 hour 15 minutes away
- Tennessee Titans NFLAbout 3 hours 45 minutes away
Career Proximity
Oxford itself is a small college town, but Memphis's logistics and healthcare economy is about an hour north, and the Toyota plant near Tupelo is even closer — internships here mean a commute, not a relocation.
Top Industries Nearby
Major Employers
- FedEx
- Toyota Motor Manufacturing Mississippi
- International Paper
- Baptist Memorial Health Care
- C Spire
Memphis, about 1 hour 15 minutes; the Toyota plant near Tupelo about 1 hour
Who Thrives Here
Ole Miss admits 97.4% of applicants and only requires the SAT or ACT for a handful of named programs, so it's accessible to a wide range of academic profiles — the middle 50% SAT Composite among enrolled first-years is 990-1175. What sets the experience apart is culture: 40% of men and 53% of women join fraternities and sororities, and The Grove — the 10-acre tailgating green at the center of campus — is one of the most storied tailgating traditions in college football. Only 28% of undergraduates live on campus, so student life plays out as much in Greek houses and off-campus housing as in dorms. In-state tuition and fees run $10,438 a year, but aid doesn't fully close the gap: the school meets 76% of a first-year's demonstrated need on average, and students who borrow graduate owing $32,545. The honest trade-off is pace to a degree — 57.8% finish in four years, though 70.3% finish within six.