Is anyone a graduate of or familiar with the Management Science degree offered in the Lyle School of Engineering at SMU.
My D has been accepted to SMU with a decent scholarship and an additional one specifically from the school of engineering. At this point, she is not exactly sure where she wants to go to school or what she wants to major in. She is back and forth between business and engineering and the Management Science program looks like a compelling option (especially with a BBA minor) that offers elements of both disciplines. Thank you in advance for any feedback or constructive opinions.
Full disclosure, she is also considering Barrett Honors College at ASU, Alabama, and Texas A&M.
My daughter is also considering Alabama and Texas A&M. She just crossed ASU off the list today (we are in AZ). We haven’t considered SMU, thinking it is too expensive but we will be near it next week and could tour it if it actually is affordable. Mind telling me what kind of scholarship award she got?
We are in Arizona too and my daughter has received what sounds like similar scholarships from SMU and Lyle. The scholarships are bringing the cost down to a manageable level for us. She has also been accepted to Barrett (with instate tuition and scholarships this is, by far, our cheapest option). I am actually a graduate of the SMU Engineering school (many many years ago) so that is why SMU has been part of her college list. The list of your daughter’s other options seems VERY different from what she would experience at SMU (HUGE state school vs. a smaller private school). I can see the advantages of both but since we are near ASU (and my husband is a graduate of their engineering program) I know that she would get an extremely different experience. I am not familiar with the Management Science program but SMU’s business program is great. I have been impressed with everything I have seen from Lyle, we toured last September and might make another trip back there. She would get great internship opportunities in Dallas… I think it is going to come down to how she feels on campus - is she looking for the feel of the big state university?
@cosmonewman, $22.5K (per year) from SMU and $9K (per year) from Lyle, and there is still the hope of a small amount of need based aid. Definitely too expensive at full price tuition, but getting a little more manageable.
@azmom, thanks for the feedback. Lots of stuff to consider here. Out of all the schools she visited, SMU is the smallest one that made the final cuts. She thought the other private schools were too small or just didn’t appeal to her to her for various other reasons. She probably could have received higher scholarships from TCU, but she just didn’t like it as much and SMU is considered academically superior in most departments.
We are TX residents, so the net net R&B and tuition at ASU Barrett (WP Carey) would be about $28K per year after a $14K (max OOS amount ) scholly and no need based aid. There is the possibility of some additional scholarship dollars decreasing that a little more. SMU starts out at about $50K (tuition only) and she has received $31.5K worth of scholarship offers ($9K of that from Lyle) plus I think we will quality for a small amount of need based aid through CSS. Based on the FAFSA, we have an EFC of $30K FYI.
She just loved the overall feel of ASU, and especially Barrett and WP Carey. Without the honors college, ASU would not be as attractive and would most likely not be in play. The “best of both worlds” small private school feel (Barrett) and attention within the environment and all the options a large university has to offer is very appealing to her.
She is going to call the SMU admissions office after the break to see if the there are similar scholarship opportunities in the Cox School of Business as the one Lyle has offered her. I suspect there may not be, which is a game changer for us. Without the additional dollars that Lyle has offered her, SMU is not really a financial option for us without a decent amount of need based aid. That’s part of the reason I am trying to get more information about the Management Science degree. It appears to be an engineering based business degree (oversimplifying), but because it is housed in the engineering department not the business school, there may be more dollars available. She’s been on the SMU campus several times, but will take a more formal tour of the university and the Lyle engineering school very soon, so maybe that will answer some of our questions.
@darwinwasright - Sounds like you are doing all you can to make this come together. ASU/Barrett is an excellent choice, especially if she loved the feel. Unfortunately, it is just sooo close to home that it isn’t very high on my daughter’s list. I get it though, I also grew up near ASU and the experience of leaving AZ for SMU was a good one for me. If she stays in state, she is more likely to go to UofA (Honors College) just to leave town. We weren’t even going to tour ASU but checked it out over spring break. We all left very impressed. My husband does a lot of recruiting work with ASU Engineering and would really only want our daughter there if she was in Barrett - due to the size. A formal SMU/Lyle tour should hopefully clear up your questions. I hope she likes it!
My roommate is in management science he really enjoys it and has gotten a fair amount of interviews through it. It competes for jobs with business students and engineers and is a great intermediary for the database and excel entry jobs many students will start with. He chose it over mechanical engineering at virginia tech and has enjoyed his experience in the program. The students take finance, marketing, management, accounting, economics, and computer science so it really is like the best of both worlds.
@jamesk2014 , Thanks for the insight