Academic Recruiting

[Shortbusjeff]

I've seen it discussed on here before about State's lack of recruiting in Academics. Currently my son is being pursued by TSUN and gets mail almost daily, and gets has gotten hand written notes from recruiters. The problem is that State has not sent a single piece of mail. None!

My son has not sent his ACT scores to either school but has visited State twice. He is not at all interested in Ole Miss, and was interested in State for a little while, but has decided on going to a private Christian school.

He may have been persuaded to go to State if they had shown any interest and laid out what type of scholarships he would have received. Ole Miss has done this without ANY information being sent to them. While I do understand he could have sent his info to them Ole Miss was able to find him and recruit him.

The reason we have not sent the information out was 1) it costs
2) to keep the phone calls and mail to a minimum
3) it was only between State and the school he has decided to attend

He is a DeSoto Co. student so I am assuming that State can get as much information as any other University in the state.

He has a 33 on his ACT and is probably in the top 3 of his class and has made two 5's and a 4 on the 3 AP tests he has taken
and is taking 2 more at the end of this year.

My question is why State doesn't do a better job of identifying in state students and try to persuade them to attend State?

In all manners of recruiting we seem to be one step behind!

After thought:

Also, Milsaps and Mississippi College as well as Southern Miss, Fla. St., Ga. Tech, Purdue, Colgate and numerous others have all at least sent information on
the school.

[Goat Holder]

I have no clue why they didn't recruit your son, but I would strongly encourage you do one thing. Although his decision is made, get in contact with SOMEONE IN POWER at MSU and tell them your story. Email Keenum or his secretary if all else fails. This type of thing is something that is directly within his control and he should be concerned.

That said, I don't know your story and the details. You may or may not have done something right or wrong. But all things being equal as you said in your post, I would implore you to contact MSU and let them know, for the betterment of everyone. I know you may be sour over the way they handled your son, I would be too, but still, if you're an MSU fan look out for the best interests of the school going forward.

[blacklistedbully]

I have a daughter who's been recruited heavily for academics. I think the biggest factor in that is her high-school counselor. She does a great job of getting the student's info out. We're in Cali, but she'd been recruited nationally.

[MadDawg]

I can't tell you why your experience has been like that, but ours has been completely opposite.

State has recruited my daughter for a long time now. And we have received countless letters, cards, birthday cards, Christmas cards, t-shirts, etc. After and on campus visit, a professor sent her a chrome cowbell that puts mine to shame. They have probably sent twice as much as mississippi has. Of course she's never expressed any interest in the Bears so that's understandable.

But, and this is just my opinion, you can't complain too much if you don't even send in your ACT scores.

[Technetium]

I was heavily recruited by MSU when I was in high school (graduated 2005). My guidance counselor was a joke. I went to a small school, so I assume that sending my ACT scores to MSU is what put me on their radar. I received daily mail from them and tickets to every home football game during my senior year (through various organizations/departments that were hosting recruiting events), etc. I would encourage you to send your kid's ACT scores to anyone he's interested in, be it MSU or otherwise. There are lots of scholarship opportunities at MSU for someone with a 33 on the ACT.

[TheRef]

Agreed, you get 3 free ACT score sendings when you take the ACT, any subsequent ones after that you have to pay for. But I'd talk to the guidance counselor for that. Mine was pretty good, I never really received stuff from them but I did receive things from the schools I sent my scores to. I had a modest score (28), but with a 35 in Science so I was getting attention somewhat. TSUN never sent anything, got stuff from DSU, MSU, and FSU which were the three I sent my scores to. But this definitely seems like something for you to talk to the guidance counselor about after talking to MSU officials.

[bannedwayne]

When I took the ACT back in the late 90s, I remember getting to choose 3 schools to send the scores to for free (included in the cost of the test).

I'm pretty sure that's where most of my letters came from, that and my high school counselor.

If he went to visit MSU in any official capacity there is no reason for not sending him mail. Roadrunners aren't doing their job if that's the case.

[hailmari]

If 28 is a modest score, I refuse to ever tell what I made (truthfully, at least).

[Dawghouse]

If 28 is a modest score, I refuse to ever tell what I made (truthfully, at least).

I think by modest he means it isn't going to get him a full ride but will definitely get decent scholarship money.

[TheRef]

I think by modest he means it isn't going to get him a full ride but will definitely get decent scholarship money.

That's what I meant. It's not OMG worthy, but it's definitely noteworthy enough. 29 is the cutoff for Imminent Scholar level of scholarship money. So I was one point from that.

[SignalToNoise]

Both my dad and older sister went to State so I had some mail coming through the door. It ramped up a notch when I gave the College of Engineering some contact info and expressed interest in the EE program. That is when I started getting literature that was more meaningful, instead of the generic stuff that was mostly pictures of students sitting on blankets on the drill field laughing and smiling.

[blacklistedbully]

Agreed, you get 3 free ACT score sendings when you take the ACT, any subsequent ones after that you have to pay for. But I'd talk to the guidance counselor for that. Mine was pretty good, I never really received stuff from them but I did receive things from the schools I sent my scores to. I had a modest score (28), but with a 35 in Science so I was getting attention somewhat. TSUN never sent anything, got stuff from DSU, MSU, and FSU which were the three I sent my scores to. But this definitely seems like something for you to talk to the guidance counselor about after talking to MSU officials.

Modest my ass! I realize the scores don't exactly relate to years past, but 28 overall is damn good, and 35 in science is off-the-charts good, considering 36 is the highest attainable score.

My daughter's scores aren't that high, yet she's already been accepted into 2 of the better Chem E programs in the state of Cali, and is waiting to hear from 4 nationally prestigious programs.

[BrunswickDawg]

It is all about sending them scores. They aren't out looking for diamonds in the rough like Mullen is....
The whole reason I ended up at State from GA was that I had one slot to add a score after UGA and my in-state safety school. I added State b/c I knew they had a top baseball program (this was '90). I got my scores back and my first recruiting letter from State on the same day.

[Goat from MSU]

I am having the same problem. My daughter is a soph. in high school score a 29 on ACT .WE gotten stuff from 47 different schools from Brown to Baylor . Not one thing from State ,she about drop them from her list and the kicker is I own a house in Starkville.

I've seen it discussed on here before about State's lack of recruiting in Academics. Currently my son is being pursued by TSUN and gets mail almost daily, and gets has gotten hand written notes from recruiters. The problem is that State has not sent a single piece of mail. None!

My son has not sent his ACT scores to either school but has visited State twice. He is not at all interested in Ole Miss, and was interested in State for a little while, but has decided on going to a private Christian school.

He may have been persuaded to go to State if they had shown any interest and laid out what type of scholarships he would have received. Ole Miss has done this without ANY information being sent to them. While I do understand he could have sent his info to them Ole Miss was able to find him and recruit him.

The reason we have not sent the information out was 1) it costs
2) to keep the phone calls and mail to a minimum
3) it was only between State and the school he has decided to attend

He is a DeSoto Co. student so I am assuming that State can get as much information as any other University in the state.

He has a 33 on his ACT and is probably in the top 3 of his class and has made two 5's and a 4 on the 3 AP tests he has taken
and is taking 2 more at the end of this year.

My question is why State doesn't do a better job of identifying in state students and try to persuade them to attend State?

In all manners of recruiting we seem to be one step behind!

After thought:

Also, Milsaps and Mississippi College as well as Southern Miss, Fla. St., Ga. Tech, Purdue, Colgate and numerous others have all at least sent information on
the school.

[bannedwayne]

I am having the same problem. My daughter is a soph. in high school score a 29 on ACT .WE gotten stuff from 47 different schools from Brown to Baylor . Not one thing from State ,she about drop them from her list and the kicker is I own a house in Starkville.

Go to this site, read the literature, and make a couple of calls.
http://www.admissions.msstate.edu/co...oadrunners.php
They'll be recruiting your daughter like she's a 6 Star QB in no time.

[M.Fillmore]

My daughter was valedictorian, huge ACT score, and UMiss was all over her. Nada from MSU.

The kid around the corner was a National Merit Finalist. MSU was a little better with him but not much.
The real problem for him was UMiss said, "National Merit Finalist! Here is $xx,xxx in scholarship money."
MSU told him, "Great, apply for scholly A and you will get money. Then apply for scholly B, then apply for scholly C." The total from each school was about the same but MSU made it a pain in the butt. UMiss made it easy. Fortunately, the kid had the foresight to recognize that MSU has superior engineering studies and so he endured the MSU nonsense and went to MSU. No thanks to our academic recruiters though.

Keenum should clean house with this bunch.

[Shortbusjeff]

Ok, let me try to explain the point I intended to make.

When my son took the ACT I told him to not list any schools until he decided 1) on what he wanted to major in 2) on maybe 3-4 schools. He did decided on the major (Bio-Med Eng)
and then started looking at schools that offered that major. He lets me know and gives me a list of schools and we narrow it down. We visit schools, he selects school, and we send ACT score. We did it this way so he will choose the school he is most comfortable with not because of the amount of scholarships, although I'm certain it would be easier on us it he had chose State.

I don't see the need to send scores to schools that you have no intention of going to and not knowing what you plan on majoring in at that time. You take the ACT as a Junior and most do not have a clue as to what they want to do.


Now, even before we sent in his ACT score to the school he ultimately chose we had phone calls and mail. We toured state also, we had a nice visit and everyone was very helpful. We took down several kids all with very high ACT scores(2 with 30+ and 2 with 29's). The person in charge spent a lot of time with us and was very nice. (All this before we sent in ACT scores) We told him what our son had made and he told us about the scholarships and what to expect and all the dates to adhere to and gave us a packet of information. That is the last we have heard from MSU. I do understand that the only info they had about our son at that time is what we had told them. However, my concern is that approx. 30-40 other schools didn't have that much information and have managed to send him mailings after mailings after mailings. About 5 of them are what one would consider very elite schools.

We are not upset, because we wanted our son to make his decision on where he wanted to go to school.

I'm just curious as to how schools like Ole Miss and others manage to send out information but a school that he was actually interested in does not.

Goat Holder has it right, kind of.
I'm am a State fan as is my wife, son, and daughter. We would love our son to go to State and we always want what is best for State. I'm concerned that this might be a cause for someone that is narrowing down their choice based on scholarships and they may choose to go elsewhere because the info is not getting to them for whatever reason.

Again, I understand that we did not send scores to State and we are not upset over not getting mail. This is just to let someone know that there may be a problem in the recruitment of gifted students in Our State!

[bannedwayne]

To be honest, it's a little embarrassing that MSU didn't have any further contact after the visit and your conversations with the recruiter.

That recruiter dropped the ball.

[Shortbusjeff]

Just to clarify so as to not get anyone in trouble. If I ever mentioned a recruiter, it was by mistake. I'm not sure as to who we talked to or if we have or have not
ever talked to a "recruiter". But when we visited State, it was an organized event and we were not just wandering around campus. We called down and made an appt to
bring 7 students down and many others from across the state were there also.

However, that may be the problem. If he wasn't a recruiter maybe one was not assigned to our group. I'm certain that there is a recruiter in this area as many kids from my
sons school go to State it may be a problem of not enough for DeSoto Co.

[bannedwayne]

THe group was probably a roadrunner, which are basically "recruiters" who are still students at the school. They're responsible for handling a lot of the tours and interactions with potential students and are managed by several faculty.