Dear Mark Keenum, MSU Recruiters, whoever the hell recruits high school students

[HammerOfTheDogs]

Better get your heads out of your ***. My daughter goes to Miss. School for Math and Science. Anyway, she visited both Ole Miss and State this past month. While at State, she didn't see any other students, the people talking to her were a bunch of old men, and they were all dour and negative.

When she went to Ole Miss, she got to speak with a lot of students, the presentation was first-class, and she greatly enjoyed her experience.

Now I'm stuck with the prospect of my daughter wanting to go to Ole Miss...and all because you had a bunch of recruiters straight out of the Templeton/charles Lee era.

 

[The Usual Suspect]

Can't disagree with this based on the lead recruiter I have met...

 

[GutshotStr8]

My son got the opposite treatment. MSU is the first school to offer and have been all over him since they first came to his high school here in TX. OM sent him a letter this week saying he was guaranteed admission if he would just apply.

I thought that was funny.

Still waiting on the TX schools to respond.....

 

[AFDawg]

That's strange. Wasn't like that at all 10-12 years ago. You're right--they need to get that fixed.

 

[GutshotStr8]

One thing OM does waaay better than State though is bringing the heat to man their booth at the school fairs. They normally have the hottest girl of all schools representing.
Both were very good at follow up.

 

[cheewgumm]

Waht do your kids do to get recruited? Is it just test scores?

nm

My son got the opposite treatment. MSU is the first school to offer and have been all over him since they first came to his high school here in TX. OM sent him a letter this week saying he was guaranteed admission if he would just apply.

I thought that was funny.

Still waiting on the TX schools to respond.....

 

[State82]

You need to send this straight to Keenum's office.

There is no excuse for that kind of BS. I feel confident he would take action on this matter.

 

[grinnindawg]

Opposite of the experience we had last year at the group events.
The individual visit was more professors because he requested it, but it was still students showing us around.

Jaye Johnson, the young lady that recruited my son did a good job.

This guy and some folks on the page below need an email. [email protected]

http://www.admissions.msstate.edu/contactus/staff-list-student-recruitment.php

 

[WPDawg]

Did she setup a visit before hand? Very surprised based on our experience with my son a couple years ago. I asked him about current recruiting (he is involved with SA) and he was very surprised by your comments. Visit the Admissions site for MSU and get in touch with Roadrunners.

 

[Fletch F. Fletch.sixpack]

Just the opposite for my daughter. We are out of state and visited both Ole Miss and Mississippi State. MSU did a tremendous job of recruiting my girl and the chem engine folks where she wound up couldn't have been any nicer.

A very nice, very sweet African American young lady who was a student gave us the tour at Ole Miss. When she walked us down to the statue of the Confederate Solider on that circle thing they had, explained to us why they all get dressed up at football games, to commemorate how special event it was when they sent their young men off to fight in the Civil War. My daughter looked at me with that puzzled look that can't be defined by words alone.

 

[WPDawg]

When your kids are taking the ACT/SAT, they can put down up to 4 schools on the application for the test that they are interested in attending. This is one way to get their names in the MSU database.

 

[HammerOfTheDogs]

My daughter made a 26 on her ACT in 10th Grade. She's a genius....

...the academic equivalent of a 4* recruit with the potential of becoming a 5* by her senior year. State recruiters act like they don't have a freaking brain cell in their head. Heck, they didn't get any swag. I'm stuck with all the Ole Miss stickers she got from that skool...guess I'll have to decorate my toilet bowl.

 

[Ishmael]

I can't believe no one's said it yet ...

Your daughter [girls] go to college?

 

[Lawdawg.sixpack]

What did she make on the English portion?

 

[Rutherford B. Hayes]

Same here. My girl was valedictorian, and very disappointed she "only" scored 31 on the ACT. No one from MSU contacted her. I posted about it on this Board. Someone from the "recruiting " office then PM'ed me after a long thread about the failings of the recruiters. A while later a cursory contact was made to my daughter. Needless to say, she is not at MSU.

The kid around the corner was a National Merit Finalist and his mom told me they were shocked at how lousy the MSU recruitment was of their son. The kid ended up at MSU simply because of MSU's engineering school and his girlfriend is at MSU.

Keenum needs to overhaul this office.

 

[mudbugs817]

I did, and the the State folks responded. My daughter is a freshman this year. I contacted them after she had heard from every school on her ACT list except State, and all had already offered scholarships. Turns out it was simply an address input error. Once corrected, they were enthusiastic recruiters, and all of the folks she met wouldn't fall into the dour category at all. When we visited campus, and she was able to spend some time with Roadrunners and Dept. Heads, it was over. The stuff from the other schools went into the trash.

 

[BehrDawg]

Better get your heads out of your ***. My daughter goes to Miss. School for Math and Science. Anyway, she visited both Ole Miss and State this past month. While at State, she didn't see any other students, the people talking to her were a bunch of old men, and they were all dour and negative.

When she went to Ole Miss, she got to speak with a lot of students, the presentation was first-class, and she greatly enjoyed her experience.

Now I'm stuck with the prospect of my daughter wanting to go to Ole Miss...and all because you had a bunch of recruiters straight out of the Templeton/charles Lee era.

Email Dan Coleman at: [email protected]
He is head of student recruitment. I would also recommend that you cc: Dr Keenum.

 

[homeydclown]

Dr. Keenum will listen

I understand that our total number of students at MSU is down 59 overall from the previous year. Those are words from two that would know. Second hand that Dr. Keenum was really disappointed at the reduction in numbers of students since he predicted 22,000 a year from now. Need not say more but I suspect he will listen if you send him an email. He has put extra resources into recruiting students.

 

[RocketDawg]

It was the same way with my son in 1995. We had visited several schools, including Florida, FSU, Alabama, Vanderbilt, and for a look at a small liberal arts school, Birmingham Southern. He had applied and been accepted to all of them, most with scholarship offers. Then we visited MSU ... and there was not a friendlier and welcoming atmosphere anywhere. The Road Runners (many of whom were like the "hot" OM recruiter mentioned ... never hurts) basically stayed with him and others one-on-one, we went to simulated classes (I'll never forget the female physics professor ... extremely competent but personable and funny at the same time), and later on got passes to a FB game with Auburn that day. The overall atmosphere of friendliness, the available curriculum, the beauty of the campus, and the full-ride scholarship offer convinced him to go to MSU ... not because I went there.

I don't think he put MSU down on his SAT/ACT forms, but somehow they found them. His scores were 35/1540 so that probably helped. He later graduated MSU with a double major, and went on to grad school at Tulane and FSU and is now a PhD candidate at Georgia.

So MSU did it right back then ... not sure how they recruit now.

 

[RocketDawg]

I hope their recruitment efforts are directed toward the outstanding student, whether in state or not, and not directed toward merely increasing the student body enrollment. In other words, I prefer MSU to have quality, not merely quantity.

 

[HammerOfTheDogs]

Thank all of you for your suggestions. I've e-mailed the folks you mentioned

I'm glad none of you got on here and said something stupid like "You's nawt a reeeal Buudawg". To be fair, they've been sending mailings to my son (who's a Senior but not the genius my daughter is) almost weekly. He hasn't met anyone from State yet, but then again he only made a 21 on his ACT.

 

[Dawg1976]

No one recruited my ***. Of course that was 40 years ago and my ACT score was around 21. MSU gladly accepted my tuition checks though.

 

[Spanky.sixpack]

That's strange, especially because recently.....

MSU has supposedly been recruiting quite well, especially in the Memphis area. Enrollment being up supports that. Definitely email Keenum and give specifics so we can address this.

 

[Shmuley]

Wait, you're surprised that there are only old men recruiting your daughter? Girls don't play college recruiter, man. You know that.

 

[jethreauxdawg]

Same Here

Same here. My girl was valedictorian, and very disappointed she "only" scored 31 on the ACT. No one from MSU contacted her. I posted about it on this Board. Someone from the "recruiting " office then PM'ed me after a long thread about the failings of the recruiters. A while later a cursory contact was made to my daughter. Needless to say, she is not at MSU.

The kid around the corner was a National Merit Finalist and his mom told me they were shocked at how lousy the MSU recruitment was of their son. The kid ended up at MSU simply because of MSU's engineering school and his girlfriend is at MSU.

Keenum needs to overhaul this office.

My brother scored a 32 on the ACT, and State wouldn't talk to him. Even the guy working a booth at a college fair in Memphis basically refused to talk to him. After he was offered almost nothing for for scholorship, I called and spoke with someone in admissions. They pulled up his file and were surprised someone with such a high ACT had been offered so little. The guy told me that was a mistake and State would send him another letter with a better scholorship offer. That letter never came, and now my brother is being paid to go to Bama.

 

[The Peeper]

I got that if nobody else did......

 

[The Peeper]

Beat me to it Shmuley. This has karma and irony written all over it, women in college, women recruiters, etc. For what its worth, my daughter is a JR in hs this year and not a week goes by she doesn't get something in the mail, a phone call, a tshirt, an invitation to something etc, all from MSU and she's still a hs jr. Mutt, the recruiters must read The Pack.

 

[MainlyInMcCool]

1) Your daughter goes to MS School for Math and Science? She can definitely get into better colleges that both Mississippi State and Ole Miss.

2) I made a 32, did not receive a single thing from State until I decided to apply there.

 

[mstateglfr]

1- she should have felt at home with old men being negative. What's the complaint?

2- based on your worthless posts, your daughter has no place getting an education and keeping a man from enrolling.





ETA- we all get it, your daughter is smart. After multiple threads started that drop hints and now just flat out say it, we all get that she is smart. We are all in awe that you could take an inferior gender and make one of them smart.

 

[HammerOfTheDogs]

At least she's not playing sports, and taking an athletic scholarship away from a deserving man

1- she should have felt at home with old men being negative. What's the complaint?

2- based on your worthless posts, your daughter has no place getting an education and keeping a man from enrolling.





ETA- we all get it, your daughter is smart. After multiple threads started that drop hints and now just flat out say it, we all get that she is smart. We are all in awe that you could take an inferior gender and make one of them smart.

 

[grinnindawg]

Was she on a recruiting visit or some other university function?
Every one my kid went on he came home with a bag of stuff.
On his solo visit they were trying to hand us stuff as we walked out the door.

 

[CowbellYell]

This is incredibly unusual. I know several current students who serve this office as Roadrunners and/or Orientation Leaders, and I work on campus and live in Starkville, so I also know many of the Admissions and Scholarships employees. Working on campus has taught me a lot of things, but one of the things I was most surprised about was how dedicated their staff really is. We are the only school in the SEC that still provides private tours and meetings on campus on weekdays, and they write thousands of postcards to students all over the Southeast every year- best and brightest is always their motto.

I was working on campus last week when the MSMS students were there. Mutt, your daughter is obviously bright because these are some of the smartest kids in our state; however, I don't think she realized who these "old men" were. Dr. Keenum, Dr. Phil Bonfanti (Executive Director of Enrollment Services), Dr. Chris Snyder (Dean of the Honors College), and several other faculty members including the Director of the Volt Lab and the faculty team who oversees the EcoCAR2 competition team all spent time with the students. They also ate lunch inside Davis Wade Stadium and attended an energy conference with Gov. Bryant, after receiving tours of campus and meeting with these academic officials. Sounds pretty impressive to me!


I know Dr. Keenum wants higher numbers, and I don't blame him. I love MSU as much as any alum and I definitely want our school to do well, but I also agree with RocketDawg in that I want quality as well. I would say that your best bet is to contact their office directly and talk to them about recruiting your daughter, and your son for that matter. They're obviously doing something right over there- retention is over 80% and the average test score of an MSU student is a 24, which is 6 points higher than the state average in Mississippi (facts via The Clarion Ledger and the MSU homepage). They're all great people and I'm sure they'd love the chance to resolve this matter!

 

[godlluB]

Better get your heads out of your ***. My daughter goes to Miss. School for Math and Science. Anyway, she visited both Ole Miss and State this past month. While at State, she didn't see any other students, the people talking to her were a bunch of old men, and they were all dour and negative.

When she went to Ole Miss, she got to speak with a lot of students, the presentation was first-class, and she greatly enjoyed her experience.

Now I'm stuck with the prospect of my daughter wanting to go to Ole Miss...and all because you had a bunch of recruiters straight out of the Templeton/charles Lee era.

As one of the old men who gave a tour to your daughter, I'd like to point out that the MSMS visit was the day before Fall Break, so I suspect there were fewer than normal students on campus to help. If some of the tours were a little negative, it may have been because the tour groups were too large for some of the facilities to handle at once and not enough time was given for each group, so some of the tour givers were frustrated at not being able to take as many questions and show them as many things as we wanted too.

Now, having said all of this, this still sounds like a scheduling and management problem within the university, just please don't blame it all on us old guys.

 

[biteyoudawg]

As one of the old men who gave a tour to your daughter, I'd like to point out that the MSMS visit was the day before Fall Break, so I suspect there were fewer than normal students on campus to help. If some of the tours were a little negative, it may have been because the tour groups were too large for some of the facilities to handle at once and not enough time was given for each group, so some of the tour givers were frustrated at not being able to take as many questions and show them as many things as we wanted too.

Now, having said all of this, this still sounds like a scheduling and management problem within the university, just please don't blame it all on us old guys.

* ZING * Thank you sir for clearing up this accusation.

 

[jacksonreb]

mutt, just so you'll know. i see this type

of post on the ole miss boards all the time. about how msu is out recruiting us with regular students. enthusiasm, quality of the recruiters, etc. now i don't know if somthing has changed and maybe ole miss is doing a better job, but i think both schools may do a spotty job in that area. hit and miss and not a consistent experience for the regular students. unlike the highly organized pitches the athletes (esp football) get at most every sec school.

Better get your heads out of your ***. My daughter goes to Miss. School for Math and Science. Anyway, she visited both Ole Miss and State this past month. While at State, she didn't see any other students, the people talking to her were a bunch of old men, and they were all dour and negative.

When she went to Ole Miss, she got to speak with a lot of students, the presentation was first-class, and she greatly enjoyed her experience.

Now I'm stuck with the prospect of my daughter wanting to go to Ole Miss...and all because you had a bunch of recruiters straight out of the Templeton/charles Lee era.

 

[Rutherford B. Hayes]

Fine & dandy, but other schools recruited our high achieving kids a whole lot harder than did MSU. It is nice to know our recruiters are working hard. But the problem remains that other schools are doing a much better recruiting job than MSU. A Bulldog friend of mine has a National Merit son at Bama. Read the entire thread, National Merit and valedictorians are slipping through the cracks. Remember, we want out kids going to MSU. MSU has this advantage and is blowing it.

 

[johnson86-1]

Your daughter [girls] go to college?

I haven't even thought of that, been waiting for this to go downhill with the [i thought] inevitable "this spool is crooms without pointy digging tool" comment about a high school student.

 

[sleepy dawg]

26 isn't really that great for 10th grade. Definitely good, but not great. Most people never raise their score by more than a few points, and if they do, they are suspected of cheating. Most of the skills required to take the ACT are already learned by 10th grade anyway.

 

[dawgoneyall]

Can she cook?



Couldn't help it............

 

[TUSK.sixpack]

gurls go to college????? next thing ya know, they'll be lettin' em vote, too!