Background

Shelbi Allen’s hometown is Ocean Springs, a town on the Mississippi Gulf Coast. Allen grew up near the coast and has been involved in coastal activities all her life. She used to attend a summer Sea Camp and eventually became a counselor where she teaches kids about marine biology. She also worked for the University of Southern Mississippi.

Financially, Allen comes from a high income family, but much of her parents’ income will not be able to cover the high costs of college, especially out-of-state. Because she comes from a high income family, she will not likely qualify for many aids or grants, and merit scholarships are rare. However, Allen has found an opportunity, through the Academic Common Market, that would practically pay for her to attend college out of state.

Intended Study

Having grown up on the coast, Allen plans to double major in Coast and Environment studies and Spanish. She is most interested in the coast because she grew up there, and she hopes to work in Central America, most specifically, Costa Rica. Allen also plans to earn a PhD in toxicology, more specifically, environmental toxicology.

College Choices

Allen has been accepted to Mississippi State University, University of Southern Florida, Florida State University, Eckerd and Louisiana State University. She will attend LSU this August.

Allen chose those colleges mainly for their coastal studies programs; however, LSU surpasses the Florida colleges in their “excellent Honors college,” scholarships through the LSU flagship scholarship, and the Academic Common Market. “For college preparation, I focused on the financial aspect with scholarships,” said Allen. In addition, the dean of the College of Coast and Environment studies teaches classes in environmental toxicology, so she is looking forward to having the dean as a mentor when she pursues her PhD.

Scholarships

The Academic Common Market is a program that enables students in Southeastern states “to pursue out-of-state college degrees at in-state tuition rates, through agreements among the states and colleges and universities.” A few participating states include Texas, Delaware, and Florida. Since there are no Mississippi schools that offer Coast and Environment studies, Louisiana colleges that do have the program will waive the out-of-state tuition for Allen, who said, “I’m going to LSU with in-state fees while still getting the out-of-state merit scholarships, which really takes the pressure off of me financially.” The rest of the cost is paid for by a work study.

Advice to Juniors

Allen’s advice is directed mainly at juniors who are set on attending college out-of-state. She said, “Don’t be so nitpicky about your major. If you’re that set on out-of-state, then just slightly change your major, so it’s cheaper, especially biology.” She also mentioned that anything in biology is useful for going to graduate school because those students would have already earned the prerequisites.  Allen originally wanted to study environmental microbiology, but coast and environment studies at LSU is similar, and it is cheaper. She heard about the program from Megan Levine, an MSMS 2015 alumna, who is currently studying Coast and Environmental studies at LSU through the Academic Common Market as well.

If you have any questions about the Academic Common Market and their application process, refer to their website or e-mail Allen at [email protected]!