Forbes: SMU # 81 for all Colleges & Universities

[Mustangs_Maroons]

we are already ahead of A&M. That will not change - their student quality has stayed flat for years. They might get passed by Baylor soon.

Hate to give you the bad news but A$M had 40,000 more applicants than last year because of the move to the SEC and Johnny Manziel's success. Additionally, they are moving up their required GPA to get into several of the schools significantly. Right now, for instance, it takes a 3.0 to average GPA to get into the business school. I believe that is going up to at least 3.2 next year and it could be higher than that.

1) There is no way they are getting 40k more applicants in one year
2) One should not confuse number of applicants with the quality of those applicants. In short, if someone decides to apply to A&M because they are now in the SEC, I am willing to bet that these aren't top-caliber kids to begin with. No top high school candidate will all of a sudden decide to apply to A&M because of its football success one season from being in the SEC

[tristatecoog]

Florida should already have 100K applicants per year since they were already in the SEC, beat Aggy last year and Tim Tebow recently won the Heisman, in addition to some hoops titles.

[gostangs]

Proof is in the pudding. A&M's average SAT score is pretty flat and has been for some time. They are definately easier on admission than any of the top three (Rice, SMU and UT). Any student SMU accepts could get into A&M - and the reverse is not true unless you are talking about the A&M engineering school. And you cant even think about getting into the SMU business school with a 3.0.

Their ranking is not going to move much.

[Water Pony]

Alabama has documented 1 million applicants, each personally reviewed by Nick Saban, who is looking for quality walk-on's for his highly recruited "student-athletes" beat up during spring practice.

[Pony^]

Proof is in the pudding. A&M's average SAT score is pretty flat and has been for some time. They are definately easier on admission than any of the top three (Rice, SMU and UT). Any student SMU accepts could get into A&M - and the reverse is not true unless you are talking about the A&M engineering school. And you cant even think about getting into the SMU business school with a 3.0.

Their ranking is not going to move much.

Heck, UT Dallas has tougher admissions standards than A&M, without football.

[gostangs]

Other schools of note (forbes ranking) :

Rice - 33
UT - 66
SMU - 81
A&M - 122
Tulane - 128
Tulsa - 152
U Dallas - 169
Baylor - 235
TCU - 245 (wow)
Houston - 344 (double wow)
UTD - 367
Tech - 447 (waaaaay down in a hole)

Pretty revealing. We have closed the gap on UT quite a bit. I would guess we pass them here and in USNWR within 3 yrs. We were down with A&M just a couple of yrs ago - they have stayed put and we left them.

Now all we need is just need some recruiting in football.

[StallionsModelT]

Those rankings are very revealing and really make it clear just how far SMU has come in the last 10 years. We love to give RGT grief over athletics, but there is no doubt that the man has totally transformed SMU with the arrow pointed straight up for the future.

I agree that in the next 2-3 years we will pass UT on both the Forbes and USNWR rankings. The real question is where will we eventually find our place? What sort of big picture agenda items does the university have to strive even farther? IMO, three things need to be done for us to be considered a Top 35-40 national institution.

1. Endowment growth to over $2B - after this massive wave of construction is completed in 2015/2016, this should be the #1 focus of the university

2. 20,000 applications per year - I think this is doable within the next several years. We will then have 20,000 highly qualified applicants seeking acceptance for about 1,600 spots. This should lower the acceptance rate to below 40% which is where it needs to be.

3. Research research research - This is one area where SMU falls woefully short. We must increase the dollars we invest in research and see a tangible return on that investment.

[gostangs]

i think we only have 1400 a class typically. Would like to see us move slowly up to 1600-2000.

Agree with all of that, and would add i dont see how we get to the research numbers when it needs to be without some sort of medical school affiliation - since that is where most research takes place. At 25M a year we are about half way where we need to be.

I dont think anyone realizes what a big deal the 2 year on campus deal is - those dorms make SMU feel much more "national school" in size, and will really increase the connection to the school.

[StallionsModelT]

gostangs,

The new dorms are absolutely crucial to one of the integral aspects of the SMU Unbridled fundraising effort which is CAMPUS VIBE. How many days have you wandered over to the SMU campus (while school is in session) and seen little or no foot traffic or viable energy? Building these dorms strategically overlooking 75 will make SMU more visible for outsiders and more inclusive for insiders. There is no excuse for students living in the new dorms not to attend sporting events at Ford or Moody when it is literally right outside their doorstep. I can't tell you how many people have stopped and told me how impressive the new dorms look from the highway.


Also, when the tennis facility and data center are completed, I have heard that SMU intends to totally remodel the shopping development where the bookstore is located to encompass the Red Georgian brick style of the rest of the campus which will make everything feel even more symbiotic.

Pretty amazing things going on at SMU.

[PonySnob]

gostangs,

The new dorms are absolutely crucial to one of the integral aspects of the SMU Unbridled fundraising effort which is CAMPUS VIBE. How many days have you wandered over to the SMU campus (while school is in session) and seen little or no foot traffic or viable energy? Building these dorms strategically overlooking 75 will make SMU more visible for outsiders and more inclusive for insiders. There is no excuse for students living in the new dorms not to attend sporting events at Ford or Moody when it is literally right outside their doorstep. I can't tell you how many people have stopped and told me how impressive the new dorms look from the highway.


Also, when the tennis facility and data center are completed, I have heard that SMU intends to totally remodel the shopping development where the bookstore is located to encompass the Red Georgian brick style of the rest of the campus which will make everything feel even more symbiotic.

Pretty amazing things going on at SMU.

They are getting ready to start remodeling the shopping center in the next several weeks - eliminating much of the parking lot while its taking place.

[StallionsModelT]

Someone mentioned a few weeks ago to me that SMU should change the mascot to a crane (construction) b/c that's pretty much all we've seen on campus for the last several years!