SMU? Really?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in Texas and have a sibling who went there; SMU has a good reputation in Texas and regionally, strong alumni network. This "oh it's a bunch of rich kids" is hysterical - like any top 20 is different?? Give me a break. There are fewer options in Texas for colleges generally, so SMU pulls a wider swath of kids in terms of ability than you might think, and many kids who can't get into UT now that you have to be top 5% of class basically. The sorority culture and pressure to look good for girls is I think the only big con - make sure your daughter will be comfortable with that. Very good option for a business major or pre-med; I bet she'll get merit aid. Very high chance she would stay in Texas though - there is just lots of gravity to stay there with network and most kids are going to be from there. There are lots of incredibly interesting smart educated liberal people in any Texas city. My friend base there is just as liberal and educated as my friend base here after 15 years in DC.

Curious compared to what...California? You have the UT system, Texas A&M (and it's orbit), SMU, TCU, etc.

SMU and TCU seem to need to pull quite a few kids from OOS, so seems like there are plenty of options for kids from Texas (and plenty of kids from Texas that end up going OOS).

Texas family and it’s a very common sentiment. If you’re liberal, it’s really just UT that is an overwhelmingly liberal campus, so all the kids from the city try to go to UT, but it’s a very tough admit for most applicants. The rest of the UT system is notably worse than Austin, so then you have TAMU which is pretty :/ for a liberal.

UT is auto admit if you are top 7% of your class...but is it really that hard in state if say you are in top 20% and have good grades and test scores?

Yes it is. Not pp but I know this.
It depends a bit on major but if you are not in top 6 percent, very unlikely to get engineering, business or cs. We have one or two a year. If you are communications or education with a lot of ec in that field, can drop down to 10 percent or so.
Top 6 percent is going to top 5 percent next year
In state non auto admission rate is same as out of state rate.

Sounds like a terrible system or, at minimum, a grossly competitive one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in Texas and have a sibling who went there; SMU has a good reputation in Texas and regionally, strong alumni network. This "oh it's a bunch of rich kids" is hysterical - like any top 20 is different?? Give me a break. There are fewer options in Texas for colleges generally, so SMU pulls a wider swath of kids in terms of ability than you might think, and many kids who can't get into UT now that you have to be top 5% of class basically. The sorority culture and pressure to look good for girls is I think the only big con - make sure your daughter will be comfortable with that. Very good option for a business major or pre-med; I bet she'll get merit aid. Very high chance she would stay in Texas though - there is just lots of gravity to stay there with network and most kids are going to be from there. There are lots of incredibly interesting smart educated liberal people in any Texas city. My friend base there is just as liberal and educated as my friend base here after 15 years in DC.

Curious compared to what...California? You have the UT system, Texas A&M (and it's orbit), SMU, TCU, etc.

SMU and TCU seem to need to pull quite a few kids from OOS, so seems like there are plenty of options for kids from Texas (and plenty of kids from Texas that end up going OOS).

Texas family and it’s a very common sentiment. If you’re liberal, it’s really just UT that is an overwhelmingly liberal campus, so all the kids from the city try to go to UT, but it’s a very tough admit for most applicants. The rest of the UT system is notably worse than Austin, so then you have TAMU which is pretty :/ for a liberal.

UT is auto admit if you are top 7% of your class...but is it really that hard in state if say you are in top 20% and have good grades and test scores?

Yes it is. Not pp but I know this.
It depends a bit on major but if you are not in top 6 percent, very unlikely to get engineering, business or cs. We have one or two a year. If you are communications or education with a lot of ec in that field, can drop down to 10 percent or so.
Top 6 percent is going to top 5 percent next year
In state non auto admission rate is same as out of state rate.

Sounds like a terrible system or, at minimum, a grossly competitive one.

Grossly competitive for sure. It incentivizes you to get all As while taking the max rigor. At our school, you can get max rigor factored into GPA different ways depending on the course - AP, DE and Honors both bump the same for purposes of GPA - foreign language does not get a bump. No incentive to take BC Calc instead of AB Calc. So kids who are hyper fixated on keeping their perfect GPA for UT-Austin don't fare well at schools like UVA where they don't have the max rigor across five subjects that they want to see. And here's the kicker...lately even if you get into UT as an Auto admit, you don't necessarily get McCombs business school I can think of a dozen kids with perfect GPAs who got auto admit but not McCombs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in Texas and have a sibling who went there; SMU has a good reputation in Texas and regionally, strong alumni network. This "oh it's a bunch of rich kids" is hysterical - like any top 20 is different?? Give me a break. There are fewer options in Texas for colleges generally, so SMU pulls a wider swath of kids in terms of ability than you might think, and many kids who can't get into UT now that you have to be top 5% of class basically. The sorority culture and pressure to look good for girls is I think the only big con - make sure your daughter will be comfortable with that. Very good option for a business major or pre-med; I bet she'll get merit aid. Very high chance she would stay in Texas though - there is just lots of gravity to stay there with network and most kids are going to be from there. There are lots of incredibly interesting smart educated liberal people in any Texas city. My friend base there is just as liberal and educated as my friend base here after 15 years in DC.

Curious compared to what...California? You have the UT system, Texas A&M (and it's orbit), SMU, TCU, etc.

SMU and TCU seem to need to pull quite a few kids from OOS, so seems like there are plenty of options for kids from Texas (and plenty of kids from Texas that end up going OOS).

Texas family and it’s a very common sentiment. If you’re liberal, it’s really just UT that is an overwhelmingly liberal campus, so all the kids from the city try to go to UT, but it’s a very tough admit for most applicants. The rest of the UT system is notably worse than Austin, so then you have TAMU which is pretty :/ for a liberal.

UT is auto admit if you are top 7% of your class...but is it really that hard in state if say you are in top 20% and have good grades and test scores?

Yes it is. Not pp but I know this.
It depends a bit on major but if you are not in top 6 percent, very unlikely to get engineering, business or cs. We have one or two a year. If you are communications or education with a lot of ec in that field, can drop down to 10 percent or so.
Top 6 percent is going to top 5 percent next year
In state non auto admission rate is same as out of state rate.

Sounds like a terrible system or, at minimum, a grossly competitive one.

Grossly competitive for sure. It incentivizes you to get all As while taking the max rigor. At our school, you can get max rigor factored into GPA different ways depending on the course - AP, DE and Honors both bump the same for purposes of GPA - foreign language does not get a bump. No incentive to take BC Calc instead of AB Calc. So kids who are hyper fixated on keeping their perfect GPA for UT-Austin don't fare well at schools like UVA where they don't have the max rigor across five subjects that they want to see. And here's the kicker...lately even if you get into UT as an Auto admit, you don't necessarily get McCombs business school I can think of a dozen kids with perfect GPAs who got auto admit but not McCombs.

McCombs is holistic. They’re split between auto and non-auto. My DD attends and most of her classmates are not auto admit.

[Anonymous]

I'm a 5th (6th?) Generation Virginian. I have no trouble admitting that I hope my kids ultimately end up here somewhere. I still think its a great state. Thankfully my teen has no desire to go any further than Virginia or states that border Virginia. I know people put their kids on planes to college, but I'm not doing that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:After not getting into ED Dartmouth, DS is thinking of applying (and likely committing) to SMU. Last year, while going on college tours, DS definitely loved the campus most, but me and DH are very concerned about job prospects of going to a non-elite school like SMU. DS definitely fits the student body profile, I have to admit. But there's something about this choice that is very disappointing.

You think people don’t get jobs unless they go to “non-elite” schools? The vast majority of people who go to “elite” schools end up with boring drone jobs. I guess they are losers?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a 5th (6th?) Generation Virginian. I have no trouble admitting that I hope my kids ultimately end up here somewhere. I still think its a great state. Thankfully my teen has no desire to go any further than Virginia or states that border Virginia. I know people put their kids on planes to college, but I'm not doing that.

I actually hope my kid goes West, preferably somewhere with mountains. But for a job, not college. Then we would follow her when we hit retirement, which wouldn't be long.

Glad she's choosing to stay in Virginia for college though. For financial reasons and because she's not ready for that kind of leap at 18.

[Anonymous]

Several kids from our Bethesda k-8 ended up going to SMU. I do find it odd considering there are lots of closer schools that are just as good.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Several kids from our Bethesda k-8 ended up going to SMU. I do find it odd considering there are lots of closer schools that are just as good.

Clearly, you do not understand the appeal of SMU and of Dallas, Texas. Wake Forest students are most similar to SMU students, but Dallas is a far better city than Winston Salem.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I grew up in Texas and have a sibling who went there; SMU has a good reputation in Texas and regionally, strong alumni network. This "oh it's a bunch of rich kids" is hysterical - like any top 20 is different?? Give me a break. There are fewer options in Texas for colleges generally, so SMU pulls a wider swath of kids in terms of ability than you might think, and many kids who can't get into UT now that you have to be top 5% of class basically. The sorority culture and pressure to look good for girls is I think the only big con - make sure your daughter will be comfortable with that. Very good option for a business major or pre-med; I bet she'll get merit aid. Very high chance she would stay in Texas though - there is just lots of gravity to stay there with network and most kids are going to be from there. There are lots of incredibly interesting smart educated liberal people in any Texas city. My friend base there is just as liberal and educated as my friend base here after 15 years in DC.

Curious compared to what...California? You have the UT system, Texas A&M (and it's orbit), SMU, TCU, etc.

SMU and TCU seem to need to pull quite a few kids from OOS, so seems like there are plenty of options for kids from Texas (and plenty of kids from Texas that end up going OOS).

Texas family and it’s a very common sentiment. If you’re liberal, it’s really just UT that is an overwhelmingly liberal campus, so all the kids from the city try to go to UT, but it’s a very tough admit for most applicants. The rest of the UT system is notably worse than Austin, so then you have TAMU which is pretty :/ for a liberal.

UT is auto admit if you are top 7% of your class...but is it really that hard in state if say you are in top 20% and have good grades and test scores?

It dropped to 6% and then 5%

https://www.texastribune.org/2024/09/16/ut-austin-top-five-percent-threshold

And that already fills 75% of the class, with the rest mainly "student"-athletes and OOS, so yes, the 10-20% are not getting in easily.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Several kids from our Bethesda k-8 ended up going to SMU. I do find it odd considering there are lots of closer schools that are just as good.

Clearly, you do not understand the appeal of SMU and of Dallas, Texas. Wake Forest students are most similar to SMU students, but Dallas is a far better city than Winston Salem.

This is a stretch, there is a significant difference between the stats of kids at these two schools.

Auburn, FSU and TCU are good comparisons to SMU.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:After not getting into ED Dartmouth, DS is thinking of applying (and likely committing) to SMU. Last year, while going on college tours, DS definitely loved the campus most, but me and DH are very concerned about job prospects of going to a non-elite school like SMU. DS definitely fits the student body profile, I have to admit. But there's something about this choice that is very disappointing.

Lol. Clearly you did not grow up on Turtle Creek.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Several kids from our Bethesda k-8 ended up going to SMU. I do find it odd considering there are lots of closer schools that are just as good.

Clearly, you do not understand the appeal of SMU and of Dallas, Texas. Wake Forest students are most similar to SMU students, but Dallas is a far better city than Winston Salem.

This is a stretch, there is a significant difference between the stats of kids at these two schools.

Auburn, FSU and TCU are good comparisons to SMU.

Yet, they are overlap schools (many who apply to SMU also apply to WFU & vice-versa).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Several kids from our Bethesda k-8 ended up going to SMU. I do find it odd considering there are lots of closer schools that are just as good.

Clearly, you do not understand the appeal of SMU and of Dallas, Texas. Wake Forest students are most similar to SMU students, but Dallas is a far better city than Winston Salem.

This is a stretch, there is a significant difference between the stats of kids at these two schools.

Auburn, FSU and TCU are good comparisons to SMU.

Yet, they are overlap schools (many who apply to SMU also apply to WFU & vice-versa).

Kids who are denied at Wake may go to SMU, just as kids who are denied at Duke or Vandy, may go to Wake. That doesn’t make them peer schools.

[Anonymous]

What in the world is SMU? Sounds like a community college. I'd be nervous OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Several kids from our Bethesda k-8 ended up going to SMU. I do find it odd considering there are lots of closer schools that are just as good.

Clearly, you do not understand the appeal of SMU and of Dallas, Texas. Wake Forest students are most similar to SMU students, but Dallas is a far better city than Winston Salem.

This is a stretch, there is a significant difference between the stats of kids at these two schools.

Auburn, FSU and TCU are good comparisons to SMU.

Yet, they are overlap schools (many who apply to SMU also apply to WFU & vice-versa).

Kids who are denied at Wake may go to SMU, just as kids who are denied at Duke or Vandy, may go to Wake. That doesn’t make them peer schools.

My understanding is that this thread is not about peer schools; it is about similar students and similar campus cultures. The original post in this thread, however, is unclear and presented in a poor fashion.