BBA - SMU Cox or Indiana Kelley

What are the pros and cons of these two schools for Finance and Consulting?

My son attended SMU Cox and had a great experience, and got a great job right after graduation at one of the best firms in his chosen field. I don’t really know much more than that about the pros and cons. SMU is raising its academic bar, both in the regular admissions cycle and also with admission to Cox. Last I heard, you need a 3.5 GPA to be admitted to Cox, which is not that easy to achieve.

Direct admit is the most appropriate answer.

Two great business schools. If you receive direct admission to Kelley, take it !

From 2020 onwards, SMU is directly admitting students to Cox school. My son did not make it to the BBA Scholars program but he is still a direct admit. The school seems to have resources, alumni connections, good placement etc. but is not highly ranked, which I am not sure why? maybe the whole ranking needs to be taken with a grain of salt

Yes, he is a Direct Admit and also to Hutton Honors

If he gets in Kelley, definitely go there.

Kelley for sure.

@DG Why?

“maybe the whole ranking needs to be taken with a grain of salt”

When you look at the rankings, you need to consider the factors that are used in the ranking formula, and whether those factors are important for your consideration. Is the ranking specifically for your kid’s probable major at the undergraduate level? If job placement is a factor in the ranking formula, are those jobs in the location where your kid believes that they want to begin their career, and in the field that the kid believes they want to begin in?

And it really, truly, is OK for the potential student to contact the departments and career centers at each institution, and ask about job placement. They know where their grads end up.

As a direct admit to Kelley & to Hutton Honors, Indiana may be the better choice unless your son prefers to work in Texas.

I have recruited at Cox for 15 years and have been a executive mentor for the same amount of time. The students are very polished with less variation in quality than I see from large public universities. Cox grads are well represented at MBB consulting but more so at the next tier. They also do well with IB, especially in Texas, and in corporate America where I recruit.

What truly separates Cox is the experience during college. My wife is a professor in Dedman College and spends a lot of time with undergrad research, grad school recs and even checks in with students when they don’t show up for class or are slipping. Good luck with your decision!

@tristatecoog This is great information and matches what I have heard from others. What confuses me is the low rank SMU Cox has ( USNWR 50) vs Indiana (10)…

A rank of #50 is not low when one considers the total number (almost 500) of undergraduate business programs in the US considered by US News.