Potential

Mississippians have never lacked for talent. Look nationally at the highest ranks of any field, and you will often find Mississippians represented in greater numbers than their share of the general population. Literature, sports, and music have yielded the most famous names, but you will also find Mississippians in the upper echelons of business, politics, journalism, and academia. 
 
Historically, Mississippi has been held back by its failure to develop its citizens’ talent: the state provided few academic resources to students who were not white and wealthy. But over the past generation, Mississippi’s education system has improved drastically. One in three young Mississippians are now graduating from a four-year university – still below the national average, but 50% more than a generation ago. 
 
Mississippi’s public university system has improved to the degree that it is drawing talent to the state: 3,000 students per year move to Mississippi to attend college, the 11^th-highest rate of out-of-state attendance in the country. Mississippi has three R1 universities, classified in the highest tier of research universities nationally. Only nine states have more, even though Mississippi ranks 36^th in total population. The people who can solve Mississippi’s brain drain are already in the state. All it takes is keeping them.