<p>Hey guys,</p>
<p>I just wanted to create a thread so people could shoot questions at a current student about SMU. I'm happy to answer anything about admissions, student life, academics, and more!</p>
<p>John</p>
<p>Hello, and thank you for helping! Do you know what % of deferred students may get in? I found a site that said 45 got off the wait list last year, but can’t find any thing about SMUs deferred list. A few universities post it. I know it changes every year.
Thanks again.</p>
<p>Hi John,</p>
<p>I was wondering if you could give us a bit of information regarding the sororities on campus. My dd has been accepted into the BBA Scholars Program, but she is concerned with the reputation of so much emphasis on sororities. Are the sororities more of a supportive environment, or is there a lot of materialistic pressure? I realize that you don’t have first-hand experience; however, any information you can provide would be very helpful! Thanks so much!</p>
<p>I’m definitely attending SMU next fall so this is really helpful, thanks! You can probably bet I’ll be around asking some questions.</p>
<p>First, I’d just like to know about you, what you’re studying, and what made you decide on SMU! Would you pick SMU if you had to make the choice all over? What other schools were you interested in?</p>
<p>Also, how long do you usually spend on homework/studying in an average night? Is it pretty easy to balance a social life with academic life? What are your favorite things to do around Dallas? What are your feelings on the prevalence of Greek life on campus? Do you think it’s a necessity?</p>
<p>See, I’m already full of questions…</p>
<p>@Archie14 I don’t have the answer to that yet but I have asked and will try to get you a definitive response. </p>
<p>@Juniormom - I’m going to ask a girl to come on and give you a clearer answer than I’m able to as a guy. I have lots of girlfriends in the sorority system so based on my observations and conversations I would tell you that it’s impossible to characterize every girl in every house as either having the correct motivations for joining or being a great sister. That said, I will say that there is incredible closeness and sisterhood in every house and people’s sorority sisters tend to become their best friends and they seem to truly love one another. Are there stupid dramatic fights sometimes between girls? Yes, but that’s life. </p>
<p>The great thing about our Greek system is that you have an entire semester to figure out if it’s right for you and to figure out what house you would fit in best. You get time to get to know the older girls that you think you would want to call your sisters. Moreover, because we have a semester before people rush everyone has friends in every house and that aren’t affiliated at all. I think this results in a less-divisive atmosphere than if were all divided up immediately upon arriving at SMU. Speaking personally I don’t think I would have gone through recruitment if I had to do it off the bat, and I never would have found the group of guys that are my best friends. Long answer I know, but I’ll have a girl come and give their perspective</p>
<p>@STLCardsGirl - Glad you’ve decided to come to SMU! You’re gonna love it and FYI there are a ton of people here from Saint Louis</p>
<p>I am a junior majoring in Accounting and History (was also a Spanish minor) from Nashville, Tennessee. I visited over thirty schools and decided after my first few that I wanted a mid-sized school (visited one that was 2,000 people and one that was over 20,000) that was in a city (I’m from Nashville and used to city amenities so just didn’t want to be in a college town), in the South (thought I wanted to be in Chicago but visited in February). </p>
<p>From there I applied to five schools SMU, Vanderbilt, Georgetown, Tulane, and Tennessee. I narrowed it down to SMU, Vandy, and Tulane and spent my spring break doing back-to-back programs where I stayed in the res halls, ate the food, went to classes, and decided that SMU was the right choice for me.</p>
<p>What made the choice for me was a combination of loving Dallas, the gorgeous campus, the top tier business school, super friendly people, a great scholarship offer, and an intangible “feel.” I love that SMU has the big school amenities and sports, but has a small liberal arts college feel in a lot of my classes. I would ABSOLUTELY make the choice again and would labor over my decision less. I was afraid of the negative stereotypes I heard about the people and if I would fit in. That ended up being so ridiculous… and I sometimes feel like I know everybody and I fit in SO well. Seriously, this is a wonderful, fun, motivated group of people that are amazing. </p>
<p>It really depends on the homework/studying thing. Sometimes it’s very little and sometimes I go until LATE at night. That said a normal night is a couple hours at the library, but I’ll admit that I’m not an incredibly efficient studier unless there’s a deadline approaching. It’s very possible to balance class, involvement, and a social life here. I’m currently taking 18 hours, president of the largest student organization, a tour guide, involved in a couple other groups on campus, and in a fraternity. I still am able to have a full social life and do well in classes. </p>
<p>I love going out to eat with my friends here. Dallas has TONS of amazing restaurants. I enjoy going to Rangers/Cowboys/Mavs/Stars games when I can (and using student discounts there). I really enjoy going to movies and that’s a good way to relax. If you like shopping, Northpark and Highland Park Village are meccas for fashion lovers, White Rock Lake is a couple miles from campus and it’s like an oasis, Uptown has awesome nightlife… It’s really whatever you and your friends are in to. </p>
<p>I am in a fraternity, however I would say that the 2/3 of guys who don’t go Greek also are very happy and fulfilled here. You don’t need to go Greek to have the SMU experience, but for many people that’s a choice they make. It’s nice to have an entire semester to figure out if going Greek is for you or not. Speaking personally, my life would be so different without my brothers. They make me a better person, and we’ve made incredible memories together. </p>
<p>Whew. More questions??</p>
<p>Hi John! I signed up for Destination SMU and I was wondering if there is anyway to stay in the dorms or is that not possible at all? Also on the topic of dorms, what dorm would you consider to be the best? Thank you!!</p>
<p>@nabdullat Overnight hosting is extremely limited and will be assigned as a first come first serve basis. However we cannot guarantee that all requests will be accommodated. Email your counselor with any requests. Hope that helps!</p>
<p>Can you or should you bring a car to school Freshman year?</p>
<p>John, Got it ! Thank You !</p>
<p>For the deferred student question, it is not possible to know what % of students get in.
The numbers change each year.
I guess we’ll have to b patient. Good luck to everyone!
Thanks again John!</p>
<p>To the mom who was curious about sororities:</p>
<p>My name is Annie and I am a fellow student with John at SMU as well as a sorority woman. Every chapter is different but we all value scholarship very highly. We have fairly rigorous academic requirements for membership and we also promote our members by providing them with internship and leadership opportunities. </p>
<p>If DD is interested in a sorority she would certainly be able to balance the social and philanthropic side of Greek life with her desire to do well in school. It is really all about finding the right fit! She will also have all of first semester to meet some down to earth, grounded girls in all of our chapters before she goes through recruitment in January.</p>
<p>Let me know if she has any other specific questions or if I can help in any way!</p>
<p>Since you’re majoring in Accounting, you are a part of Cox I would assume. I’m interested in majoring in something business related as well. I’m a little concerned about the 3.3 GPA requirement for the business subset. I’m a hard worker so should I have any problems meeting the requirement for all my classes? Have you heard of people not being admitted to Cox because of this requirement?</p>
<p>Someone else asked a question about freshman and cars that I am also curious to hear information about.</p>
<p>And then I’ll throw the classic question out there: If you could change one thing about SMU, what would it be?</p>
<p>@stlcardsgirl- I am a sophomore in the business school, so I have both been admitted into the business school and have seen my friends go through the process. The great thing about the 3.3 GPA requirement is that it provides a clear goal for you to work toward. The professors are extremely accesible and understanding and are willing meet with you one-on-one frequently to help you succeed. If you put in hard work and meet with your professors when you have questions you will be fine! Obviously some people do not meet the requirements, but it is often because they did not put proper work in or realized that business was not the particular path that fit them best.</p>
<p>As a freshman, I did not have a car. Shopping, movie theaters, and grocery stores are all within 10 minutes of walking. If you need to make a Target run there is always someone with a car! I never had an issue getting around when I didn’t have one, and it saved me a lot of gas money.</p>
<p>If you have any additional questions please feel free to ask!</p>
<p>A few questions…</p>
<p>How big of a culture shock is for students from the Northeast?
Do transfer students typically live on campus or off? How difficult is it to get off/on-campus housing?</p>
<p>I would say that if you’re a hard worker it should be no trouble to make the subset grade. I have heard of a couple people not making it, but it’s not really that common. Just don’t take your eye off the ball and make sure to go to class/do homework/etc.
Someone else asked a question about freshman and cars that I am also curious to hear information about. I like that the subset is very cut and dried and you don’t have to “apply” per se; if you make the grades, you’re in.</p>
<p>I wish more people stayed in the residence halls longer. Everyone loves their time in the res halls freshman year, but then a good number of people move to the edge of campus and get apartments after that. I’m really excited about and jealous of the new residential commons we’re building because I think having a sophomore residency requirement will be good for the school in a number of ways. </p>
<p>@smorgasbord I think one of the biggest misconceptions is that SMU is a “Texas school.” We may be in Texas, but only about 45% of the school is from in the state, and people don’t come in in cliques or knowing each other. I say that to say that our students are from all over and two of our top ten feeder states (CT and NY) are the NE and they’re our fastest growing region. I think you’ll feel quickly at home here, and the biggest change you’ll experience is a hot summer/mild winter, eating more Tex-Mex, and finding yourself saying “y’all” after about a year down here.</p>
<p>Now that we have some more admitted students on the site I thought I would bring this back up… Who has questions for current students?!</p>
<p>Thanks for answering questions johnangle! What did you think of AARO and Mustang Corral? Also regarding freshman housing are some dorms more social than others?</p>
<p>Hey I forgot to respond to this one! AARO and Corral are great and have different goals. AARO gets you very acquainted with the university and its opportunities, and you come away all signed up for classes. Corral is an amazing eperience because you meet so many of your peers and is a great way to make friends. I knew no one coming into SMU but came out having met so many people. It just made the transition much easier. Last year over 90% of entering first years went to Corral, so you’ll be in a small group if you don’t! Plus, you’ll get to meet me in person since I’ll be a Corral leader for my last year (sad)!</p>
<p>Thanks for opening this thread and offering to answer questions like this! I see several comments here about the business program at SMU, but I was wondering if you had any comments on the quality or characteristics of the pre-med and engineering programs. How strong is the preparation for med school? Do many students major in engineering while completing a pre-med curriculum? Do students in these programs still have time to study abroad? Thanks so much for any info at all to John or any other current students who can reply!</p>