I was accepted into both of these schools, and my cost of attendance would be about the same.
I am hoping to major in Political Science/Economics, potentially going to Law School after undergrad.
What school would be best?
I cannot speak to GWU, but I graduated from SMU with a double major in history and polisci way back in '98. I earned a Fulbright in the UK where I completed a Master’s degree before going to law school at Georgetown. I have been in private practice for fifteen years. Personally, SMU was the right choice for me. My advice would be to go to the school with the better fit for you, study hard for the LSAT, and succeed in college. A high LSAT score and strong GPA are what law schools are looking for (though as a lawyer, I generally don’t recommend people go to law school, but that is a discussion for another day). DC and Dallas are two entirely different cities. Presumably, you have thought about which one culturally fits you better (see, you are thinking about it now). Go to that school.
Also at SMU look into the Tower Scholars program It is for someone such as yourself and is a special public policy minor. As for my friends I had a few recently get accepted/ attend ( a few graduated last year) Yale (this girl was between Harvard, Yale, and a full ride to UVA) , Duke, Cal berkley, pepperdine, SMU (duh) and Ut-Austin