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I say Stanford and Vanderbilt. Both are private, similar sized student body with very strong academic reputation and strong athletics (Stanford moreso than Vanderbilt). I'd like to say USC as well, but we are better academically and it's much bigger than we are.

What are the similarities? Differences? What things would we need to improve on to get there?

Discuss.

Better connections to bigger conferences. We should follow any of their models, but even then its all about who you know. After the DP, we lost everything, and trying to rebuild in the world of college athletics, its about money and ratings.

ojaipony wrote: I'd like to say USC as well, but we are better academically and it's much bigger than we are.

????

USC is ranked #23. SMU is #62.

And why do we need to be "aligned" with anyone? Be great on our own.
If you want to be like another school, you should have gone there instead.

huskerpony wrote:

ojaipony wrote: I'd like to say USC as well, but we are better academically and it's much bigger than we are.

????

USC is ranked #23. SMU is #62.

And why do we need to be "aligned" with anyone? Be great on our own.
If you want to be like another school, you should have gone there instead.

Definitely true, but it wouldnt be a bad strategy to look at the development of other schools. Like for new nations, companies, etc, looking at prior empires, giants, successes, are a benefit to a program like ours. It would be wise to see what paths are the best for us, and what to avoid to not make the same mistakes as the institutions that are being examined. No doubt, SMU needs to be authentic and remain that way.

According to Gary Patterson, we've been looking at TCU as a model.

I would want Alabama. Who cares about school, size or religious affiliation, I just want to win.

I think there is a good chance that SMU gets in the same sentence with some of those schools, but right now we aren't really in that group. Stanford is one of the top ten universities in America. Vandy, Duke, and USC are all Top 30. SMU has a long way to go to catch those schools. However, SMU has made a quantum leap in the last decade. When I was a freshman back in 2002 the campus was obviously still gorgeous, but vastly underutilized for a top tier institution. Since that time there have been so many capital improvements to the campus that I wouldn't know where to start. Along with that, SMU has transformed from a very good regional private to a nationally/internationally known and respected institution. SMU is a completely different university in 2011 than it was in 2001.

The tough thing is now that we are on the cusp of Top 50, the wiggle room to move up the ladder gets a lot tougher. My vision for SMU is that hopefully by 2020 we are somewhere at or near Top 35 in the national publications and we pass UT-Austin. IMO, the hierarchy of Texas education should look like this in 10 years:

1. Rice
2. SMU
3. UT-Austin
4. A&M
5.Baylor

...20 TCU ...30 UH. In Texas

When our endowment is between 5 & 10B, then we'll have the wherewithal to align ourselves with the school of our choice.

My opinion ... 3 things gets us into the national awareness/conversation as a top tier brand / reputation in line with Stanford / Vandy ...

#1 - $5B+ endowment (funds for reinvestment in capital improvements/marketing/research funds and grants

#2 - Top 15 football program for 3+ years in a row (national awareness ... nothing does it more, IMHO, than a top football program - basketball would help, but we are a bit further from that being a reality than we are football IMHO)

#3 - GWB Presidential Library - regardless of your political leanings, this is huge - just for the 9/11 historical implications alone

Huskerpony, relax. I am very happy to have gone to SMU. This is a discussion, not an argument.

ponyte wrote:I would want Alabama. Who cares about school, size or religious affiliation, I just want to win.

Disagree, should use the attributes to our benefit, school size, religious affliation are all benefits in their own way. Trying to suggest we be like alabama is like telling a midget to be a giant. Instead use the advantages of being small rich private school to take down the dumb, poor, large school like bama (no offense to those who support it- an assumption of big schools).

To others, not to sound like an a-hole again, but emphasizing the business school for now will get us attention nationwide. We need the business school to expand its contacts and then use the school to be a gateway for the other schools. Agree with GWB library, I forgot the school that denied Nixon's Library, but the completely regretted the decision, fortunately we didnt stoop to that idiotic behavior (barely). SMU has a lot of assets and some are continually growing every year.

Football ( the main point of website) will benefit from everything we do academically. I believe we are upgraded to research status school, a huge plus. We are moving faster than any of us have anticipated with thanks to our alumni who really dont get enough credit. We have a bright future ahead in all categories.