University of Mississippi vs. The University of Alabama

Alabama is the harder admit. It takes about 71% of applicants, roughly 44,000 of some 62,000, and its enrolled first-years carry an average high school GPA near 3.85, with rigor of record, GPA, and test scores all rated very important. Ole Miss admits about 96.6% from a smaller pool of roughly 33,000, weighing GPA and scores as important in a largely formula-based review, and its average GPA sits around 3.50. Neither runs Early Decision or Early Action, and Alabama admits on a rolling basis with a December 5th priority date.

On cost, Ole Miss carries the lower out-of-state sticker, about $30,310 in tuition and fees against $35,342 at Alabama, and it meets more demonstrated need on average, roughly 78% to Alabama's 63%. Alabama still writes the larger need-based package at about $19,857 versus $15,661 at Ole Miss, and about 43% of its first-years draw need-based aid against 39% at Ole Miss. Out-of-state students fill both campuses heavily, 57% non-resident at Alabama and 70% at Ole Miss. In-state families also pay less at Ole Miss, near $10,150 against $12,484.

Scoring higher, Alabama's admitted students land ahead. Among those who submit, the middle 50% scores 1100–1360 on the SAT and 22–31 on the ACT, against 1000–1200 and 21–29 at Ole Miss. Both schools went test-optional, so you can apply without a score. A submitted Alabama score carries very important weight and feeds the automatic merit-scholarship tiers, while Ole Miss treats a submitted score as an important factor.

By enrollment, Alabama is the much larger campus, with about 35,621 undergraduates to Ole Miss's 21,585. The teaching scale stays close, with a 19-to-1 student-faculty ratio at Alabama and 18-to-1 at Ole Miss, and nearly every first-year lives on campus at both, 95% at Alabama and 98% at Ole Miss. Retention also tracks together, around 88% at Alabama and 87% at Ole Miss.

It splits by field. Business leads at both, about 30% of degrees at Alabama and 27% at Ole Miss, so either delivers a deep business program by sheer volume. Communication and journalism run close, near 10% at Alabama and 9% at Ole Miss, and Ole Miss houses a well-known School of Journalism and New Media. Engineering tilts toward Alabama, where it ranks as a named top-five field at about 7% of degrees, while Ole Miss bundles sciences and engineering together at about 10% without breaking engineering out on its own.

Ole Miss runs the proportionally bigger Greek system, even though both are large. About 54% of its women join a sorority and 37% of its men a fraternity, against roughly 44% and 30% at Alabama. Greek life anchors the social scene at each school, yet it pulls in a larger slice of the student body at Ole Miss.