U.S. News & World Report

[CoxMustangFan]

I read none of that.#toomanywords

LOL...short version:

- Tulane is AAU
- Public schools have had funding cuts
- Tulane does $160m in research
- New Orleans hit hard; Tulane old money
- SMU has spend $ on buildings (not research)
- Baylor has greatly improved engineering (TCU still sucks)
- SMU will really spike over next 6-8 years
- US News ("snooze") not that important

[gostangs]

i would argue with that last point. Love it or hate it, USNR is the one most people use when discussing rank, so you figure out how they keep score and then go play the game. More research, more effort communicating our SAT gains (reputational) and also we need to be a bit more predatory when ranking our peers. i also like rod's ideas about managing class size.

[tristatecoog]

Biggest moves in TX:
UTD +5 (to 140)
UH +2 (187)
UT and Rice +1

Down moves:
BU -1 (72)
A&M -2 (70)
OU -2 (108) hon mention
SMU -3 (61)
TCU -6 (82)
TX Tech -12 (168)

I thought TX schools would have done better.

[Pony^]

So, how were SMU's 2015 entering class metrics -- sat/act scores, acceptance rate?

[SMU Pony Mom]

So, how were SMU's 2015 entering class metrics -- sat/act scores, acceptance rate?

Doesn't look like the Common Data Set for 2015 has been posted yet. Should be soon I would think. Just google "SMU Common Data Set". Right now only 2014 shows up.

[gostangs]

Not 100% sure, but I have heard SAT of 1310 (second highest in tx). Don't know on acceptance rate but trending very positive.

[friarwolf]

1309 SAT and acceptance rate under 50%. Good numbers but going for selectivity resulted in our smallest freshman class in quite a while..........

[PonySnob]

1309 SAT and acceptance rate under 50%. Good numbers but going for selectivity resulted in our smallest freshman class in quite a while..........

Not sure that's a great thing given all of the dorm space that they have to fill up.


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[smusic 00]

I think it was over 80% 20 years ago. That's amazing.

[CalallenStang]

1309 SAT and acceptance rate under 50%. Good numbers but going for selectivity resulted in our smallest freshman class in quite a while..........

Not sure that's a great thing given all of the dorm space that they have to fill up.


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With students required to live on campus until they are juniors, they likely won't have too much trouble filling that dorm space

[Pony^]

1309 SAT and acceptance rate under 50%. Good numbers but going for selectivity resulted in our smallest freshman class in quite a while..........

Not sure that's a great thing given all of the dorm space that they have to fill up.


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They can always supplement with more transfer students.

[PonySnob]

1309 SAT and acceptance rate under 50%. Good numbers but going for selectivity resulted in our smallest freshman class in quite a while..........

Not sure that's a great thing given all of the dorm space that they have to fill up.


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They can always supplement with more transfer students.

True

[Planter's Punch]

When future students look at sites like college board to get a gauge of SMU's SAT scores, do they give the range from the previous 1st year class, or is it from all enrolled students?

[tristatecoog]

When future students look at sites like college board to get a gauge of SMU's SAT scores, do they give the range from the previous 1st year class, or is it from all enrolled students?

US News only uses first time in college freshmen. Hopefully transfers aren't a huge part of the student body, but it's a smart way to get the basics done and not have to live on campus two years. You miss out on the first couple years' fun but save a lot and still get an SMU degree.

[smudubs]

1309 SAT and acceptance rate under 50%. Good numbers but going for selectivity resulted in our smallest freshman class in quite a while..........

I am just sharing this because I find it interesting and is pretty relevant to this topic. As some of you know, my son is going through the college application process. The early admission deadline came and went November 1, 2015. My son did not apply early admission to SMU. Yesterday he received an email from the school extending his deadline to apply to November 8th and waiving his application fee. He scored a 2300 on the SAT and is a National Merit Scholar semifinalist. He receives more correspondence from SMU than any other school, so this is the type of student SMU is recruiting. Interestingly, the other in-state schools "recruiting" him most are A&M and Rice. Baylor has stopped sending information. TCU hasn't sent him anything. And UT has done nothing more than invite him to a football game hosted by the black alumni association. I share this because it demonstrates, in real time, what schools within in the state are doing to recruit top students and suggests that SMU is doing more than our in-state peers.

Likewise, the out of state "peer universities" aren't reaching out to him. Most correspondence we receive is from the Ivies; MIT; Stanford; USC; a number of elite, private liberal arts colleges; Ohio State, Michigan, Alabama, Oklahoma, and New Mexico. The state schools are money whipping us with the National Merit Scholarships. For example, OU is offering five years tuition waiver, an annual stipend, admission to their honors program with small classes, and other perks. They had more National Merit Scholars enroll last year than any other school in the nation and have quietly moved up the list of schools he's considering.

Finally, to answer the question of why he didn't apply to SMU by the November 1st deadline--he was turned off by last week's tweets, the frat parties, and the comments people made regarding those issues on boards like this. I know the thread on this topic was deleted, but I share this because potential students, or their parents, read what people post on boards like this and discuss it with their children who are considering applying to the university. So while we can post whatever we want on these public forums, we should do so with the knowledge that it can negatively impact the university as a whole.