In 1873, Brigadier General Mark Lowrey founded a college for women entitled the Blue Mountain Female Institute. This Mississippi College was originally owned by the Lowrey family. It is now a coeducational liberal arts college operating under the control of the Mississippi Baptist Convention. Its current name is Blue Mountain College. Its curriculum promotes analytical reasoning through science and math, as well as communication skills, such as effective writing and speaking. It also concerns itself with spiritual understanding, inculcating Christian values into its students. Social and cultural studies round out the Blue Mountain curriculum.
William Carey University offers courses on three different campuses: Hattiesburg and Gulfport in Mississippi plus New Orleans in the neighboring state of Louisiana. The name of this Baptist school honors a missionary to India who translated the Bible into many Indian languages. The university has an excellent sports program. It fields intercollegiate teams in such sports as basketball, baseball and soccer. A varied program of intramural sports gives students an additional opportunity to enhance their athletic prowess. The faculty offers undergraduate education in a variety of fields, as well as graduate studies in education, business administration, psychology and nursing.
The history of Mississippi College in Clinton, Mississippi, dates to 1826. Unlike some other Southern Baptist colleges, Mississippi College survived the Civil War. Besides its undergraduate degrees, it offers master's degrees in such fields as chemistry, computer science and paralegal studies. The school website says its law school offers one of the least expensive law courses in the country. Mississippi College offers online instruction at a reasonable price, according to its website. Its basketball and baseball teams call themselves the Choctaws in honor of a Native American tribe once prominent in the Mississippi area.
Southeastern Baptist College of Laurel "exists to glorify God by providing quality post-secondary education from a biblical world view in a Christian atmosphere," according to its website. It is chiefly a college for students who want to become pastors or other church workers, but it offers a two-year course for students who wish to begin their college education in a Christian environment before transferring to a school that offers courses in their desired field of study. Southeastern Baptist Colleges is a small community where the individual student receives personal attention, according to its website.