US News rankings released Tue, Sept 13

[SoCal_Pony]

Good point about CA vs Texas schools.

If Texas wants to maintain, grow its economic might, this has to be a priority. I can say I have met and worked with many UCI & UC-Santa Barbara B-school graduates, not that impressed with them. USC should be our target. Private, Wealthy, Conservative, Quality B-School (Niemi hire so important) in thriving economic city.

Also, look at the Boston metro area. Harvard, MIT, Tufts, Boston University, Northeastern, Boston College & Brandeis. That's 7 schools all in Top 40.

[Pony^]

Regarding California schools:

California has very high state income taxes (versus no income tax in Texas), and even higher sales taxes than Texas; consequently, California funds their public universities much more generously. California's public university system is rather unique, I believe the only other state to have more than one public university in the top 50 is Virginia (UVA and William and Mary).

I don't believe that Texans will ever tolerate the tax burden that the residents of California accept. Therefore, as in the Northeast, Texas' private schools will have to step up to become the elite schools in Texas. We have seen movement in this direction over the past twenty years, but the Texas private schools, for the most part, still have a long way to go.

Further, UT has approximately 40,000 undergrads and Texas A&M approximately 50,000. None of the California schools are that big. So perhaps the size of the Texas schools along with the top 10% (or whatever the current percent at Texas) law hinders their movement into the U.S. News Top 50.

[smusic 00]

I believe this past year it was top 8% and that really hurts their overall numbers.

[tristatecoog]

Student selectivity is only 12.5% of the ranking criteria.

http://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/articles/how-us-news-calculated-the-rankings

Maybe at UT class sizes are getting larger and resources per student have declined. Maybe raise tuition rates and give commensurate aid to those in need.

[gostangs]

Class size hurts the UT and A$M crowd - as well as student graduation rates within 6 years. Also pretty hard to move up student quality when you admit 10,000 undergrads a year.

[East Coast Mustang]

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

Hope Scholarship has really helped them- if you graduate from HS in Georgia with a certain GPA/SAT and maintain a certain GPA in college (used to be a 3.0, might be higher now) you can get your full tuition paid for, I think. Pretty good deal!

[East Coast Mustang]

Someone should send a clipping of these updated rankings to the Big 12...and spill something where Tulane is

[Pony^]

So, does this make you want to reconsider your opinion of high school counselors:

US News High School Counselor Ranking:

Each year, we ask guidance counselors from a nationwide sampling of public high schools in the U.S. News Best High Schools rankings that were gold, silver or bronze medal winners, as well as from the largest private independent schools nationwide, to tell us which National Universities and National Liberal Arts Colleges they think offer the best undergraduate education to their students. They rate the universities on a scale of 1 to 5 (with 5 being the top score) or mark "don't know" if they are unfamiliar with a particular college. The three most recent years of survey results, from spring 2014, spring 2015 and spring 2016, were averaged to compute the high school counselor reputation score used in this ranking.

The High School Counselor Ranking accounts for 7.5% of the U.S. News Ranking.

20. Rice
42. UT
49. TX A&M
56. Baylor
67. SMU
98. TCU
117. TX A&M Corpus Christi
117. UT Dallas
141. TX A&M Commerce
141. TX A&M Kingsville
141. UT Arlington
173. Texas Tech
173. UTSA
196. Texas Woman’s Univ.
196. UH
220. UTEP
247. Sam Houston State
247. Texas Southern
247. Texas State
247. Univ. of North Texas
287. Dallas Baptist
287. Lamar

Schools tied at #67:

BYU
Drexel
George Mason
Indiana University
Marquette
Mercer
Miami (Ohio)
Michigan State
Rutgers Newark
SMU
UC Santa Barbara
Univ. of Illinois
Univ. of Massachusetts
Univ. of Miami
Univ. of Rochester
Univ. of Washington

http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/national-universities/high-school-counselor

[gostangs]

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.

[whitwiki]

Also how would a counselor even verify quality of education? Very few actually know their kids after they leave high school.

[deucetz]

SMU is just bad at reaching out to people--both future students and counselors. A private school that is supposed to be elite, doesn't have a 50 percent acceptance rate. It means the students SMU accepts use the school as a safety school. I wish we would just poach our admission staff from Rice so we can learn their methods. SMU needs fresh ideas. It hard to game the system like you do in the East Coast. Texas admissions is a different beast--all the schools are below their perceived value beyond Rice in terms of US News Rankings.

To help with counselors opinion, SMU could do community outreach, that will take years to develop. They would have to work with counselors to host events etc. Obviously you start with North Texas, expand to the rest of Texas, and then the hot spots where alums and students are located outside of Texas.

The easiest way to reach out to counselors in North Texas, would be to use the Simmons School to create an affordable continuing education course for teachers and counselors in the Dallas area. I would say a Masters, but unless it is highly subsidized, teachers and counselors will just take the cheaper public school option. People will promote the school where they attended, if they had a good experience.

Below are the degrees Simmons' offer:

Teaching & Learning
Master of Education (M.Ed.)
Master of Education in Reading and Writing
Master of Education (M.Ed.) with Certification
Master of Education in Special Education (M.Ed.)
Master of Bilingual Education (M.B.E.)

Education Policy & Leadership
Master of Education - Principal Certification
Master of Education - Urban School Leadership
Master of Education - Higher Education

Dispute Resolution & Counseling
Master of Arts in Dispute Resolution
Master of Science in Counseling

Applied Physiology & Wellness
Master of Science in Sport Management

Graduate Liberal Studies
Master of Liberal Studies

[deucetz]

Also let us review SMU’s Undergraduate Admission Staff. This will give us a better look at the qualifications of the people tasked with most of the criteria the US News reviews and granting students admission to the University. https://www.smu.edu/Admission/ConnectWi ... lors/Staff

Their SMU profiles aren’t very informative. Most of the information came from their Linkedin profiles. From reviewing all of their profiles, you will notice that they mostly do not have experience with high profile/selective departments from peer or aspiration institutions. If you review the admissions teams in the top 20, you will see a vast difference in terms of experience and educational qualifications. It seems part of SMU's issue, is that we don't take our admissions department very seriously.

How do we expect a team full of under-qualified Admission Officers to compete with schools that are above us in terms of US News rankings? This team will not be able to get the job done. I blame R. Gerald Turner for not staffing a competitive Admissions Office. A more competitive Admissions department could have been assembled. The majority of people assigned to grant students admission to SMU didn't even graduate from institutions that are at SMU's peers caliber or better. While I do not believe education is all that is needed to determine a person's competency, I think not having a reputable work experience tells me all I need to know. Now I wonder how many Academic departments are filled with under-qualified faculty and staff? If SMU wants a competitive US News ranking, the most important thing is to create a staff that have worked at schools we want to overtake--hopefully from the top 25.

Below is the information I gathered of the senior members of the staff:

Dean of Undergraduate Admission ad interim
BYRON LEWIS- No useful information found via SMU. His linked in states, He went to Truman State University for a year, then University of University of Missouri-Columbia for 2 years, then Free-Hardeman University for 2 years and graduated with a Marketing degree. He received a Masters of Ministry, Counseling from their as well. He did 2 years Instructional leadership, not sure if this is a master’s degree, from Tennessee Technological University. Before he came to SMU, he was a Director of College Counseling at Greater Atlanta Christian School. He was an Associate Director/Assistant Dean, and an Associate Dean for about 8 years before his current assignment.

Senior Associate Director of Undergraduate Admission/Director of Diversity Recruitment
ROD JACKSON-I couldn’t find much information via SMU or Linkedin. He has been with the office since 1998.

Associate Director of Admission/Director for International Admission
JEREMY BROWN-He is a 2002 graduate of Walla Walla College. He was an Associate Director of Admissions from Saint Michael’s College for 5 years before he came to SMU.

Assistant Director of Undergraduate Admission
ABBY CHU-She is a 2012 graduate of Northwestern and is receiving her MBA from SMU. She has worked for SMU since her graduation at Northwestern.

Associate Director of Undergraduate Admission/Director of Strategic Partnerships
ABBI PFISTER-SORIA-She is a 2002 graduate of Lynchburg College and received a Masters in Arts in Education from Virginia Tech. Before SMU, she was an Admissions Counselor at Lynchburg College for 2 years.

Associate Director of Undergraduate Admission/Director of Transfer Admission
JEN LASAGNA-She is a 1998 graduate of Texas State University. She received a Masters of Arts from The University of Texas at Arlington. She has been at SMU for about a year.

Regional Director of Undergraduate Admission -- Houston area
JOE LOPEZ-From his linkedin, he is a 2001 graduate of Earlham College. He worked as an Associate Dean of Admissions and Minority recruitment at Earlham for 9 years. He was the Southwest Regional Director of Admissions at Northeasters before he came to SMU.

Regional Director of Undergraduate Admission -- Rocky Mountain Region
TALI KOERNER-No helpful information on SMU or linkedin.

Regional Director of Undergraduate Admission -- Alabama, Florida, & Georgia
CAROL MORRIS-She is a Tulane University graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in Business/Corporate Communication. She has worked at SMU for 26 years.

Regional Director of Undergraduate Admission -- Southern California
RICK DIAZ-He has worked at SMU for 25 years according to his Linkedin profile.

So we have officers for: Houston, Rocky Mountain Region, Alabama, Florida, Georgia, and Southern California. I wonder what the strategy is for the rest of the United States? Or do we concede that we can't get students form others states. I would have at least thought we would focus on bordering states such as New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana. In addition, staff focused on the Midwest, Northeast, and east coast.

[Pony^]

You left off Wes Waggoner -- associate vice president for enrollment management in the Office of the Provost.

https://www.smu.edu/News/2016/wes-waggoner-22feb2016

http://blog.smu.edu/forum/2015/07/01/wes-waggoner-named-interim-smu-avp-for-enrollment-management-effective-july-1-2015/

http://www.smu.edu/News/2011/wes-waggoner-appointment-20sept2011

[orguy]

Regarding California schools:

California has very high state income taxes (versus no income tax in Texas), and even higher sales taxes than Texas; consequently, California funds their public universities much more generously. California's public university system is rather unique, I believe the only other state to have more than one public university in the top 50 is Virginia (UVA and William and Mary).

I don't believe that Texans will ever tolerate the tax burden that the residents of California accept. Therefore, as in the Northeast, Texas' private schools will have to step up to become the elite schools in Texas. We have seen movement in this direction over the past twenty years, but the Texas private schools, for the most part, still have a long way to go.

Further, UT has approximately 40,000 undergrads and Texas A&M approximately 50,000. None of the California schools are that big. So perhaps the size of the Texas schools along with the top 10% (or whatever the current percent at Texas) law hinders their movement into the U.S. News Top 50.

Much rubbish here. Do a little research on what has happened to Higher Education in California thanks to a former Republican Governor that loves to pump people up.

Additionally, what does size have to do with anything? what about schools like University of Illinois or Michigan? Outstanding academic institutions with very large enrollments.

[orguy]

Good point about CA vs Texas schools.

If Texas wants to maintain, grow its economic might, this has to be a priority. I can say I have met and worked with many UCI & UC-Santa Barbara B-school graduates, not that impressed with them. USC should be our target. Private, Wealthy, Conservative, Quality B-School (Niemi hire so important) in thriving economic city.

Also, look at the Boston metro area. Harvard, MIT, Tufts, Boston University, Northeastern, Boston College & Brandeis. That's 7 schools all in Top 40.

What does "conservative" have to do with anything? It is not USC's business school that has put them near the top of the rankings. Try research oriented disciplines like Engineering, Science, and Medicine. Throw in a location that attracts top notch wealthy students from all over the world and you have a recipe for success. Not to mention a historically good football program. No longer the "University of Spoiled Children".

Regarding Boston; Northeastern really should be removed from that list. A school that was mired in overpriced mediocrity for years and simply targeted the US News algorithm as a way to improve its stature. Still a quite sniff able school in the Boston area. Taking wealthy European students with high SAT's does not make an elite University (though it seems US News disagrees).