Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD has received admission to some Southern schools that have these types of demographics, and reading this thread is a little disheartening. But it will be good for her to learn discernment and how to tolerate all kinds of people while still being herself, if anything. We're still waiting on scholarship and financial aid info to decide on where we'll send her.

Does anyone know if SMU has changed since this thread was started?

There are still rich people at SMU, but the majority of students are a normal mix, especially outside the Greek system. SMU gives good merit scholarships, which has drawn a lot of kids who need them. We have a DS there and the experience has been great.

I went to SMU. We’ve gone back for football games, etc, and my impression is that the student body is more economically diverse than it used to be. The “Commons” system is new since I was there, and I think that’s lessened the importance of the Greek system somewhat. I was one of the “poor” kids when I was at SMU, but I had a great time, and some of the richest kids I knew there were the nicest. TBH, it was the “sort of” rich that were the snobs. The upside of the wealth is that they are generous with financial and merit aid, the campus is beautiful, and the building continues. Every alumni magazine I get has multiple stories about 8 and 9 figure donations for new buildings and programs (the most recent has three). SMU is fairly unique in that there aren’t that many medium-sized universities in the middle of a big city that have very traditional, safe, campuses. Dallas is booming, and I think SMU is a school on the rise.

Anonymous wrote:Especially if you only have two kids, it's really not hard for your college kid(s) to "look rich" when most of their peers are dressed in sweats and hoodies. Especially so if grandparents established a trust to pay for 100% of their college expenses. So, sure sweetie, you can swipe $x,xxx on the Amex every month. Who cares.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD has received admission to some Southern schools that have these types of demographics, and reading this thread is a little disheartening. But it will be good for her to learn discernment and how to tolerate all kinds of people while still being herself, if anything. We're still waiting on scholarship and financial aid info to decide on where we'll send her.

Does anyone know if SMU has changed since this thread was started?

There are still rich people at SMU, but the majority of students are a normal mix, especially outside the Greek system. SMU gives good merit scholarships, which has drawn a lot of kids who need them. We have a DS there and the experience has been great.

Anonymous wrote:A lot of wealthy oil money moved from Texas/the Plains/California to Florida in the mid 20th century and continues to this day. Even by then, there were trust funds funded by oil revenues.

One of my ex's grew up in West Palm Beach. Both of her parents grew up there too - both parents are attorneys. All the family money came from Texan oil claims, initiated by some great grandparents in the early 20th century. The grandparents were WASPs and moved WPB to join that scene in the 1960s. Two generations later and they are Floridian locals.

You'll come across this story over and over again in the South.

Anonymous wrote:I was in a sorority at UT-Austin 10 yrs ago... All seemed based on who you knew. The ones with money were those who had come from private HS and stayed in private off campus dorms stayed together and seemed to go to one of the "top 6" sororities. Occasionally one from that background would land a middle tier sorority. Otherwise most middle to bottom tier sororities were determined by looks, brains and your personality, and a little bit on who you knew.

My sorority was middle tier and definitely didn't see any of the flashy bags others talk about. Maybe that wasn't the big thing then. Most seemed more obsessed with sorta high end clothing brands (not anything outrageous). I had a hard time delineating who came from money. Almost everybody seemed to have some... as you have to in order to afford the dues... but not to the point of private planes etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The original question of this thread (from 2015!!) seems to be whether southern wealth can ever compare to the type of wealth found in NYC prep schools, and the answer is yes. Wealth is not limited to NYC. Is this that hard to understand?

I know and do business with plenty of wealthy people from the South. They're not a bunch of genteel planters sipping their mint julips on the porch. They made their money in areas like the real estate boom in the South (which only dates back to when Northerners started moving down there in droves), banking, oil & gas, industry and so on. It's tough to see how a guy who made his millions building retirement communities in Florida can be accused of making his money on the legacy of slavery.

Modern Southern rich people are like rich people everywhere else in the US. Sure, places like Charleston and New Orleans may have some people with old family names and histories, but they're more a quaint curiosity, rather than important movers in the modern economy.

Some people on this thread are coming off as pretty parochial, and it's not the Southerners.

What wealthy southerners would think about a NYC prep school grad thinking that wealth resides solely in NYC....

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The original question of this thread (from 2015!!) seems to be whether southern wealth can ever compare to the type of wealth found in NYC prep schools, and the answer is yes. Wealth is not limited to NYC. Is this that hard to understand?

I know and do business with plenty of wealthy people from the South. They're not a bunch of genteel planters sipping their mint julips on the porch. They made their money in areas like the real estate boom in the South (which only dates back to when Northerners started moving down there in droves), banking, oil & gas, industry and so on. It's tough to see how a guy who made his millions building retirement communities in Florida can be accused of making his money on the legacy of slavery.

Modern Southern rich people are like rich people everywhere else in the US. Sure, places like Charleston and New Orleans may have some people with old family names and histories, but they're more a quaint curiosity, rather than important movers in the modern economy.

Some people on this thread are coming off as pretty parochial, and it's not the Southerners.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:According to Forbes, 37 billionaires live in Texas. Micheal Dell leads the list at 17+ billion. That doesn't count the poor nine-figure folks. The fracking boom has been led by hundreds of independent oil companies. Texas is awash in serious money.

I went to one of the schools you mentioned. I had sorority sisters who shopped for their clothes at Paris fashion week. Yes, it is "new" money, but there LOTS of it.

Update: the most recent Forbes report shows 41 billionaires in Texas, led by one of the Waltons, at $30 plus billion.

The Walton’s reside in Arkansas and well worth over 200 billion dollars.

Anonymous wrote:The original question of this thread (from 2015!!) seems to be whether southern wealth can ever compare to the type of wealth found in NYC prep schools, and the answer is yes. Wealth is not limited to NYC. Is this that hard to understand?

Anonymous wrote:Especially if you only have two kids, it's really not hard for your college kid(s) to "look rich" when most of their peers are dressed in sweats and hoodies. Especially so if grandparents established a trust to pay for 100% of their college expenses. So, sure sweetie, you can swipe $x,xxx on the Amex every month. Who cares.

Anonymous wrote:There is a lot of oil money in the south