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Spent some time over the weekend with relatives whose daughter who is a high school senior. She makes good grades, goes to a fairly affluent public high school and both parents are SMU grads. They're on a college sightseeing tour now of the typical "hot" colleges for Dallas-area kids: TCU, Baylor, Oklahoma, etc.

The worst visit they've been on? SMU. Hands down. They said SMU's presentation to potential students was so boring, they almost fell asleep. Boring presenters: Bookworm professors and nerdy students who droned on about academics and being a triple major, blah, blah. Boring presentations: The SMU slideshow/video was filled with shots of labs and lectures, but not one pic from an athletic event or of students having fun.

They couldn't believe how bad the SMU presentation was. At places like Baylor and TCU, the student presenters were enthusiastic about the school, not just academics. They showed pictures of campus life -not just labs - and they made potential students feel wanted. During the SMU visit, it was all about what SMU offers academically and nothing else. Does SMU believe that's the only factor in choosing a college?

I can only think that SMU has such a solid reputation as a party school that it feels a need to focus on recruiting students who care only about academics, just to maintain some balance in the student body. SMU knows it's going to get the kids looking for a good time, no matter what, so it focuses its resources on recruiting academic types.

Either that, or SMU has its head up its rear. Again.

Please send comments and critiques to the admissions office.

I urged my relatives to do this, but being busy parents of a high school senior, I'm not sure they will get around to it. I thought I would relay their concerns on this forum, hoping to see if it connects with anyone.

And that web video posted above: That's pretty old. This is what you get when you google "SMU's admissions office":

http://smu.edu/audience/prospectivestudents/

Pretty sure most kids in Texas understand that SMU is just a tad bit more fun than Baylor....

SMU has a [deleted] right now for all things academic...and maybe this is part of recruiting a group of students that would help rankings.

baylor is a "hot" school? BAYLOR???

i wouldn't recommend anyone to go here right now, i had more freedom in HS...at this pace we are headed Baylor's way

Baylor is a hot school among girls -- and parents of girls afraid their daughters might get exposed to the wrong element.

That's the complete opposite of what I found when I was school shopping back in 2005. Baylor was clearly some sort of cult compound, UT was a snore, and TCU was a joke. SMU was really friendly and the facilities they showed us were immaculate. I mean, the tanning pool. Damn.

They should've gone to a Fiji party...

f4shionablecha0s wrote:That's the complete opposite of what I found when I was school shopping back in 2005. Baylor was clearly some sort of cult compound, UT was a snore, and TCU was a joke. SMU was really friendly and the facilities they showed us were immaculate. I mean, the tanning pool. Damn.

I came through visiting in '06 and i saw the same thing

SMUfiji43 wrote:They should've gone to a Fiji party...

to get molested?

GHB

NickSMU17 wrote:GHB

Over the past 20 years, the quality of incoming freshman has increased dramatically along with their drive and focus. If they think they'll be bored and are looking to be entertained, maybe they should go to a different school.

PhantomPhi wrote:Over the past 20 years, the quality of incoming freshman has increased dramatically along with their drive and focus. If they think they'll be bored and are looking to be entertained, maybe they should go to a different school.

there is absolutely nothing wrong with desiring something more than academia, my opinion is that a vast majority of people cannot be satisfied with that alone. its really embracing at the lack of on campus activities that are available to students after 5pm, there is really no reason to be on campus past 5pm in general