Mississippi State University

Mississippi State University was founded in the 1870’s as a land-grant college. Today, the university is comprised of eight different colleges that offer over 160 degrees. These include many master and doctoral degree programs. Some of the most popular programs include nursing, business, counseling and psychology.

Over 70 percent of students are Mississippi residents. Every year, over 20,000 students attend the university. The six-year graduation rate is around 60 percent and the annual retention rate is around 80 percent. The Shackouls Honors College helps over 1,300 academically impressive students take small, exclusive classes. There are around 1,200 faculty members and a total of 4,300 staff. The student to faculty ratio is 20 to one. The main campus has over 730 buildings spread over 4,200 acres. The main campus library boasts over two million volumes. Alumni include Josh Grisham, popular writer of thriller novels, William Faulkner, Nobel laureate author, and James Meredith, who was a leader in the American civil rights movement.

Related Resource: The Top 40 Most Affordable Accredited Master’s in Rehabilitation Counseling Programs

Mississippi State University Accreditation Details

- Southern Association of Colleges and Schools’ Commission on Colleges.

-Psychology programs are accredited by the American Psychological Association (APA) and the Council for Accreditation of Counseling and Related Educational Programs.

Mississippi State University Application Requirements

Admission to Mississippi State University is only granted to high school graduates who meet certain requirements. They must have a minimum 3.2 GPA on the College Preparatory Curriculum (CPC) or a minimum 2.5 GPA with a 16 ACT score or 770 SAT score. The average ACT score for new freshmen is 23 and the average GPA is 3.17. The College Preparatory Curriculum (CPC) includes four units of English and three units of math, science and social studies. The CPC also includes one unit of the arts, two units of advanced electives and a half unit of technology. The CPC total is 16.5 credits. Graduate students must take the GRE or GMAT tests, which are offered at the university’s testing center. Graduate students must also include three letters of recommendation with their online application.

Tuition and Financial Aid

Mississippi residents who take at least nine credit hours will pay $3,835 per term. Non-residents and international students will pay $10,395 per term. Part-time residents will pay $426 per credit hour and non-residents and international students will pay $1,155. The cost of living locally is around 20 percent lower than the national average for college students. All students must complete the online Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) to see if they qualify for aid. The Federal PLUS Loan and the Alternative Loan programs help cover student costs when traditional student aid isn’t sufficient.

The Federal PLUS Loan is for parents to borrow for their dependent student and the Federal Graduate PLUS Loan is for independent graduate students. Graduates engaged in research and teaching may qualify for assistantships. Each academic department establishes and enforces their own assistantship eligibility and award criteria. This usually equates to 20 hours of work assisting faculty. Graduate students may apply for the Graduate Research Assistantship (GRA) program that employs students in academic, research and administrative positions. The Graduate Service Assistantship (GSA) program is for students employed with higher-level administrative duties within academic units.

Mississippi State University’s Popular Degree Choices

Mississippi State University’s Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology, and Foundations (CEPF) is hosted through the College of Education. This renowned program offer dedicated faculty, unique learning opportunities and innovative curricula. The program focuses on producing professionals who understand every aspect of human change, adjustment and development in order to effectively engage clients and promote well-being. The program strongly encourages students to pursue cross-cultural collaboration and interdisciplinary innovation regarding research, teaching and community service. The College of Education offers an educational psychology degree at the undergraduate level and educational psychology and psychometry graduate degrees. There are graduate-level counseling degrees in the following specializations: student affairs, school counseling, rehabilitation counseling and clinical mental health counseling. There are education specialist, master’s degrees in school counseling and psychology available. The doctoral degree programs include counseling, school psychology and educational psychology.

The school counseling program prepares graduates to apply for licensure as school counselors within the state. The school counseling program’s curriculum uses the College of Education's Conceptual Framework for General Advanced Program. The school counseling programs are accredited by the Council on the Accreditation of Counselor Education (CACREP) and the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE). Graduates of the school counseling program have plenty of opportunities for employment in traditional and innovative environments. This means employment as a school counselors in a K-12 setting, or employment in behavior therapy and college career counseling settings. Students in this program are trained to become future leaders in the educational field through supporting teachers, parents and children. Graduates are trained to perform a wide array of prevention and intervention services in the school settings through robust coursework and clinical experiences. The program follow standards set by the ASCA National Model and the National Standards for School Counselors.

The psychometric specialization through the psychology department ensures that graduates develop skills and knowledge related to school assessments, consultations, interventions, research and statistics. This program follows the standards established by the American Psychological Association’s Guidelines and Principles for Accreditation and the National Association of School Psychologists’ (NASP) Standards for Graduate Preparation of School Psychologist. Students learn the knowledge and skills to provide student behavioral, learning and performance examinations. This multidisciplinary program provides students with skills related to applied statistics, research methodology, educational evaluations and psychological measurements. The faculty usually has experience in applied psychometrics, experimental psychology and mixed methodology research. The program emphasizes qualitative and quantitative research approaches as well as the integration of principles from the fields of cognitive development and educational psychology.

Mississippi State University has over 360 registered student organizations that include everything from choir to newspaper to religious to theater. There are around 20 fraternities, 12 sororities and 30 honor societies. Mississippi State University is a leading educational institution that offers excellent research, teaching and learning opportunities.