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orguy wrote:
Who cares what a high school counselor thinks. Most of them probably have education degrees and went to a UTD or TAMU commerce type school to begin with. As a group high school counselors are often jealous of the privates and/or state flagships simply because they did not have the opportunity to go to one themselves.

It is puzzling how a counselor would rank SMU so low. They have to just be dumber than people with that SMU degree.

Pony ^ wrote:You guys are crazy if you don't think UGA is a good school. Incredibly hard to get into too.

Only recently though, because of the Hope Scholarship

orguy wrote:

gostangs wrote:Speaking in generalities, most high school counselors are former teachers that didn't like teaching, and in the Texas area they mostly went to A&M or some such average big state school. They value different things then are offered by top academic schools, and tend to steer kids where they think they can get in.

This is an area we need to figure out - because it is hurting our ranking pretty dramatically.

Education Degree equals Basket weaving. Reaching out to these folks is difficult. Most were C students in High School who decided to major in Education simply because they could magically overnight become "A" students. The education major is a joke. So sorry SMU brought that degree back.

The best High School teachers I had were folks with real degrees in things like Physics, Math, English Literature, Biology, Economics, Languages etc. Not education majors.

You may be correct in regards to High School teachers. I maintain that early education...Pre-K through early elementary is where you can make huge strides. In most cases, that is where the foundation for future success is set. A degree in Education is beneficial at this level.

Pony ^ wrote:You guys are crazy if you don't think UGA is a good school. Incredibly hard to get into too.

In state?

tristatecoog wrote:

Pony ^ wrote:You guys are crazy if you don't think UGA is a good school. Incredibly hard to get into too.

In state?

Out

Well I guess that depends on what you think is incredibly hard. It is not all that tough actually. Anyone Texas who gets in UT or SMU can get in Georgia.

gostangs wrote:Well I guess that depends on what you think is incredibly hard. It is not all that tough actually. Anyone Texas who gets in UT or SMU can get in Georgia.

Not true

Ya'll aren't giving Georgia enough credit...it's not an easy school to get into now.

Sorry ECM .... UGA isn't that hard to get into. Both my kids - 2012 and 2015 got into UT and UGA. UGA is a little bit of a safety school for kids wanting UT.

Maybe it's the case of UGA is trying to get full freight out of state kids - don't know.

Let's debate with numbers....

Fall 2016 - University of Georgia
The 5,475 first-year students enrolling at UGA in August 2016 represent the most academically prepared entering class in UGA history. Some numbers have been rounded for clarity or consistency. While the following information about the Class of 2020 describes some of their more important statistics, we are also aware of the great diversity of interests, backgrounds, abilities and talents that we have not measured or that cannot be described succinctly.

Applications Received: 22,980
Applicants Admitted: 12,239
New First-Year Students Enrolled: 5,475
Acceptance Rate: 53.26%
Yield Rate: 44.73%

High School Core Grade Point Average
Middle 50% of All Enrolled First-Year Students: 3.91-4.17
Overall Average of All Enrolled First-Year Students: 3.98
Middle 50% of All Enrolled Honors Students: 4.02-4.29
Middle 50% of All Scholarship Students: 3.97-4.3

Standardized Tests
SAT-I Middle 50% of Admitted First-Year Students: 1850-2140
ACT Middle 50% of Admitted First-Year Students: 27-32
Overall ACT Average for Admitted First-Year Students: 29
SAT-I Middle 50% of Admitted Honors Students: 2130 - 2240
ACT Middle 50% of Admitted Honors Students: 32 - 34
SAT Middle 50% of Admitted Scholarship Students (CR&M): 1300-1480
ACT Middle 50% of Admitted Scholarship Students: 30 - 34
https://www.admissions.uga.edu/prospect ... fy-profile

Fall 2015 - University of Texas at Austin (The latest available)
In-state applicants Acceptance Rate: 45%
Out-of-state applicants Acceptance Rate: 29%
Average SAT: 1,274

Texas Students Automatically Admitted: 1250
Texas Students Not Automatically Admitted: 1324
Out-of-State Students: 1318
International Students: 1328

Average ACT: 29

Texas Students Automatically Admitted: 28
Texas Students Not Automatically Admitted: 30
Out-of-State Students: 30
International Students: 28

Graduated in top 10 percent of class: 71.5%*
Graduated in top quarter: 91.7%*
https://admissions.utexas.edu/explore/freshman-profile

Fall 2015 - Southern Methodist University (The latest available and Fall 2016 was better than Fall 2015)
Applications Received: 12,992
Applicants Admitted: 6,360
New First-Year Students Enrolled: 1,374
Acceptance Rate: 48.9%
Yield Rate: 21.6%
http://www.smu.edu/Provost/IR/Statistics/Trends/2015

Doesn't look good that we admit 6000 to enroll 1400 today when a few years ago it was 4,000 for the same. Student quality continues to go up but what's going on with the yield?

SMUstang07 wrote:Doesn't look good that we admit 6000 to enroll 1400 today when a few years ago it was 4,000 for the same. Student quality continues to go up but what's going on with the yield?

The argument I was trying to make is that SMU admission officers are just bad at identifying the students that want to attend the university. SMU numbers are in line with schools above us. SMU accepts students like if it was a public school.

According to the Second Century Strategic Plan 2016-2025, SMU isn't even making it a goal to reduce it. "Increase the number of undergraduate applications to 20,000 by 2025, maintain an admit rate below 50 percent, and improve the yield rate". Page 3. http://www.smu.edu/-/media/Site/AboutSM ... ashx?la=en

How is that a 10 year goal when we already have it below 50 percent? So SMU paid a management consulting firm to regurgitate stuff we already know. This is why we need new leadership. I love Dallas, but SMU isn't trying to aggressively capitalize on Dallas' economic growth and become another premier school for Texas and the Southwest. The strategic plan tells me that the university doesn't believe it can be competitive in a reasonably short time period. In 10 years, an aggressive goal would be to lower the acceptance rate to 30-35 percent--SMU is already at 48.

SMU has similar numbers to Wake Forest (27) but SMU continues to lag behind. SMUs applications rate will jump if the university looked more competitive in terms of admissions.

Wake Forest: http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/coll ... oolId=1575
SMU: http://www.collegedata.com/cs/data/coll ... oolId=1147

Like it or not - we are definitely linked to UT. If a big state school is viewed as better why would you pay at least 2X more for SMU? Getting tied with them in this ranking is definitely a great step - i would guess we will rise above them in a year or so, and at least be able to tell in state kids - hey, we are more expensive but you get what you pay for. That should help apps and yield.

Current leadership got our numbers up so not sure why you think it is vital we have a change. The issue is we don't communicate our student quality very well to counselors or our peers - thus the "below reality+ rankings from them. That has got to be stepped up. Quiet isn't getting it done.

gostangs wrote:Glad it the right direction but it's a slow climb

UT is sure gonna be sore. Their admission rules are sinking them.

No idea how UGA is 56. They are not on par with SMU or UT.

Hope Scholarship helps UGA get quality in-state students

I think gostang is correct. If SMU can rise into the mid 40s and UT slips into the 60s then the perception will be SMU is better and maybe worth more money. I have 2 T UT and the Austin scene is pretty incredible as are the UT business and engineering schools.
But if you want to stay in Texas, can't get in or don't want Rice, then we could be a great alternative to UT provided we are higher ranked. Getting kids that otherwise would default to Texas would be a big boost.