<p>Hi, I am currently a senior from the Mid-Atlantic area and I visited SMU during their family weekend this past October. I really fell in love with the gorgeous campus and everyone I met was so friendly and welcoming. It seemed like SMU had very strong, well rounded academic programs with wonderful, intelligent professors. Even though their sports teams haven't been doing the best, there was still a lot of school pride and sense of a close-knit community. </p>
<p>I want to be a double art major and psychology major. I'd consider myself to be a very down to earth, hard working student. I'm very open and accepting/respecting of other people's sexual/religious/political views. I love sports and I can really get into the whole school spirit and tradition vibe at school. I'm looking for a quality education out of my college experience and making life long, genuine friendships with my peers and professors. On my tour I truly felt SMU fit the book, but now I'm not too sure.
As I looked online and did more research, it sounds like SMU is just a "5th year of high school". I understand that a majority of the students come from better off families and the campus is not nearly as diverse as it claims to be. But I am worried - are all the students really as shallow/snobby as they are said to be?
Does your greek house really define your social status at the school?
I'm not really interested in rushing because of how expensive it is... but I'm worried if I don't rush I won't have many friends.
Do you feel as if you are getting the best education for your money?</p>
<p>If someone -either a current or prior SMU graduate, or someone familiar with the school- could please give me an honest review of SMU as a whole, that would be extremely helpful. Thank you!</p>
<p>Hiya Enzo! I’m a first year student at SMU and I’ll try to answer your concerns to the best of my abilities. </p>
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<li><p>Yes, like most private colleges, the majority of students that attend SMU are from well-to-do families that can afford to pay the tuition. While it may have the stereotype of being “Southern Millionaires University”, I don’t think SMU shoves its wealth into anybody’s face. While there are some bratty members of the community, they are vastly outnumbered by the majority of less obnoxious students here. </p></li>
<li><p>Unfortunately it is true that SMU is not as diverse as the admissions department would like it to be. While efforts are being taken in the right direction, it’ll be awhile before SMU can truthfully claim that it holds a diverse campus (racially at least). </p></li>
<li><p>I don’t know how qualified I am to speak about Greek life, but from what I’ve seen, your house really doesn’t affect one’s social standing all too much. Yes there are “upper” and “lower” tier houses, but it’s not that big of a deal with most people. </p></li>
<li><p>It may seem like Greek life dominates at SMU, and it does socially, but the majority of people don’t rush (about 2/3 of men and 3/5 of women) and you’ll be fine if you don’t either. </p></li>
<li><p>SMU is expensive. REALLY expensive even compared with a lot of other private universities. It can be a daunting commitment to spend so much money here as opposed to your local public school. That being said, I have no doubt that it is absolutely worth it as long as you’re prepared and takes advantage of what SMU has to offer. Small class sizes, accessible professors, one of the best post-graduation employment rates, and SMU’s willingness to throw money at students who want to pursue projects make it worthwhile. </p></li>
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<p>If I didn’t address anything you wanted to hear or need anything clarified feel free to PM me!</p>
<p>Thank you so much for all of your feedback! I really appreciate it. I’m still waiting to hear back from other schools and from SMU as well. Hopefully it all works out. </p>
<p>You say that: “I’m very open and accepting/respecting of other people’s sexual/religious/political views”, but in your next sentence you seem concerned that SMU may have too many people that are"well-off", white, or conservative. Why is that okay? I’m not sure how the school could be “less diverse than they say they are”. Stats are stats. Also, you shouldn’t assume that because a person is not a URM they offer no diversity in life experience or thought.</p>
<p>My daughter has gay and minority friends there, and they are actually in the Greek system.</p>
<p>Also, their basketball team just missed the NCAA play offs and came in 2nd in the Invitational Tournament last season.</p>
<p>The professors do go out of their way to help the students, and their art program is excellent.
It is not a 5th year of high school, that’s ridiculous and hilarious. Students are very serious about their education and getting internships and JOBS after only 4 years. There is pressure to have goals and plans.</p>
<p>You should trust your own instincts. If you were there for family weekend, that is pretty much what it is about, and should make your decision based on that, not what SMU bashers may be posting on some blog.</p>
I’m a female senior at SMU and will also answer your original questions:
Don't pay much attention to the things you read online (unless it is on official SMU website). I almost let those stereotypes scare me away from attending, and I'm so glad I did not! Yes, there are some very wealthy people here. I'm my opinion, NOT the majority - 80% of students receive financial aid. Students at SMU are really friendly and helpful; even those with a lot of money are surprisingly down to earth.
-Does your greek house really define your social status at the school? It seems to matter a lot to a handful of people. Because there is deferred recruitment (rush in Jan.), everyone ends up with greek and non-Greek friends. If you are greek, you’ll have friends in other sororities too. That set up means it is less tied to social status, and that it will only be one part of your identity at SMU (you’ve joined other clubs before you go greek). I didn’t go greek and I’ve still had a great experience at SMU, have amazing friends (a few are greek), and can participate in tons of social activities (on and off campus).
-Do you feel as if you are getting the best education for your money? Yes. My professors have done amazing things in their fields, my classes are small and interactive, the facilities and resources are superb, and my peers drive me to be my best. I’m a business major, have worked 3 internships (one abroad), and already had an awesome job lined up by Thanksgiving of this year (my senior year)!
Hope that helps! Feel free to DM me any other questions.
As per diversity- My SMU friends include students from Norway and Argentina, students from across US (Alaska, ohio, Tennessee, Colorado, etc), and people from all different sexual/ethnic/political/religious backgrounds