Gerald Turner on CSpan

[EastStang]

Here in Virginia we have this weird phenomenon where two state schools are better academically than any private schools (UVa and W&M). The private schools are mostly small liberal arts variety. And by the way the SMU architecture is remarkably similar to UVA. In Texas, we are competing for students with UT and A&M as well as Baylor, and TCU. UH, UTEP, UNT, are on a slightly lower plane academically. Nationally, we should probably look at other Christian/Private Universities. Certainly Miami, USC, and Notre Dame are schools we should emulate. Duke, Northwestern, Rice, Tulane, Vanderbilt and Stanford are essentially Ivy League schools not in New England. As much as we would like to put ourselves in that group (and some of our programs are elite), we are not in that group. I think the University has some soul searching in that department. It would like to be in that group and that is a laudatory goal. With our resources, location, and will, I see us moving ever so slowly in that direction.

[StallionsModelT]

"UH, UTEP, and UNT are on a slightly lower plane academically."

Um, slightly?! I NEVER considered any of those schools and neither did any of the kids that I know who went to SMU. If you walk around our campus you will find that most of our students considered the following:

USC (Overwhelmingly #1)
Vanderbilt
Texas - Austin
Duke
Northwestern
Tulane
Miami
Baylor
TCU
A&M

[Pony_Law]

"UH, UTEP, and UNT are on a slightly lower plane academically."

Um, slightly?! I NEVER considered any of those schools and neither did any of the kids that I know who went to SMU. If you walk around our campus you will find that most of our students considered the following:

USC (Overwhelmingly #1)
Vanderbilt
Texas - Austin
Duke
Northwestern
Tulane
Miami
Baylor
TCU
A&M

Are the current students demoralized to the point they don't even consider Emory university (my undergrad alma matar)? Honestly, Emory is a school SMU should model itself after (with the exception of sports, Emory is D3 with no FB). Emory is the Best school in the Southeast and everyone in Atlanta, NO, Florida, MS, and Al knows it. SMU should shoot for the best non-math school in TX (Rice will hold that, and thats find as that captures 90%+ of the socialy awkward) and completely dominate the job markets in all Major cities in TX.

[StallionsModelT]

Pony Law,

My bad. I did know several kids who considered Emory. Absolutely Emory is a school that SMU should be proud to be linked with.

[NickSMU17]

Here in Virginia we have this weird phenomenon where two state schools are better academically than any private schools (UVa and W&M). The private schools are mostly small liberal arts variety. And by the way the SMU architecture is remarkably similar to UVA. In Texas, we are competing for students with UT and A&M as well as Baylor, and TCU. UH, UTEP, UNT, are on a slightly lower plane academically. Nationally, we should probably look at other Christian/Private Universities. Certainly Miami, USC, and Notre Dame are schools we should emulate. Duke, Northwestern, Rice, Tulane, Vanderbilt and Stanford are essentially Ivy League schools not in New England. As much as we would like to put ourselves in that group (and some of our programs are elite), we are not in that group. I think the University has some soul searching in that department. It would like to be in that group and that is a laudatory goal. With our resources, location, and will, I see us moving ever so slowly in that direction.

We stand Toe to Toe with Tulane...You really need to see the past 3 or 4 years incoming freshman classes very impressive...

[friarwolf]

Emory is one of the schools benchmarked by SMU........

[StallionsModelT]

Nick,

IMO we have passed Tulane. Dallas >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> New Orleans.

[leopold]

If we stand toe-to-toe with Tulane, then it's partially due to Hurricane Katrina, and the $200M+ she cost that poor school.

[RednBlue11]

so they get some kind of benefit of the doubt? no way, it happened... they are inferior to us, that's real.

[EastStang]

The problem is one of perception. Tulane still has the perception of being an Ivyish school even if it isn't especially among the Boomer generation. I'm glad to hear that we are passing them up. But, it will be awhile before that message gets universally accepted by the public at large.

[mustangxc]

Here in Virginia we have this weird phenomenon where two state schools are better academically than any private schools (UVa and W&M). The private schools are mostly small liberal arts variety. And by the way the SMU architecture is remarkably similar to UVA. In Texas, we are competing for students with UT and A&M as well as Baylor, and TCU. UH, UTEP, UNT, are on a slightly lower plane academically. Nationally, we should probably look at other Christian/Private Universities. Certainly Miami, USC, and Notre Dame are schools we should emulate. Duke, Northwestern, Rice, Tulane, Vanderbilt and Stanford are essentially Ivy League schools not in New England. As much as we would like to put ourselves in that group (and some of our programs are elite), we are not in that group. I think the University has some soul searching in that department. It would like to be in that group and that is a laudatory goal. With our resources, location, and will, I see us moving ever so slowly in that direction.

UH, UTEP, UNT are not in the same stratosphere as SMU. Tulane is not in the same stratosphere as Rice, Duke, and Stanford. You could arguably tack USC or Georgetown onto that group, but certainly not Tulane at this juncture.

[RednBlue11]

WHAT!?!? nobody born in the 80's or 90's thinks that Tulane is an elite school.

i got into Tulane w/o even applying...they just sent me an acceptance in the mail cuz I asked for info.

it was one notch up from being my ultimate safely school, but Ole Miss had that distinguished honor.

[StallionsModelT]

By the year 2020 I see the TX rankings shaking out this way.

1. Rice - always will be #1
2. SMU - we pass UT somewhere around 2016-2017 in most national publications and become of the Top 40 schools nationally.
3. UT - 10 percent rule is KILLING that university. They've been treading water for a decade
4. Aggy - will close the gap on UT quickly.
5. Bible Aggy - really good school but I don't see them getting into the Top 50 nationally.

[Pony_Law]

Here in Virginia we have this weird phenomenon where two state schools are better academically than any private schools (UVa and W&M). The private schools are mostly small liberal arts variety. And by the way the SMU architecture is remarkably similar to UVA. In Texas, we are competing for students with UT and A&M as well as Baylor, and TCU. UH, UTEP, UNT, are on a slightly lower plane academically. Nationally, we should probably look at other Christian/Private Universities. Certainly Miami, USC, and Notre Dame are schools we should emulate. Duke, Northwestern, Rice, Tulane, Vanderbilt and Stanford are essentially Ivy League schools not in New England. As much as we would like to put ourselves in that group (and some of our programs are elite), we are not in that group. I think the University has some soul searching in that department. It would like to be in that group and that is a laudatory goal. With our resources, location, and will, I see us moving ever so slowly in that direction.

is William and Marry better than Washington and Lee?

[Topper]

I chose SMU over Sewanee, Tulane, Duke and UT because it let me enter as a sophomore due to my SATs and my GPA. I knew a lot of pretty brainy classmates who got this same sweet deal. ( I was on the margin of the program). Does the school still have this program? In all honesty I don't think it is something that really adds to academic repuation of the university. This was in the late 70s. TCU had a similar deal, but no way was I gonna be a frog.