Which school would be better for studying business? SMU has great job selection for graduates but Chapman has a 4+1 MBA program. All help is greatly appreciated!
Where do you want to live after graduation? In Texas, Chapman is not well known, SMU is not popular in California. I have family in CA and TX and have had similar discussions. A big consideration: there are more jobs in Texas.
I too have family in both TX and CA. Oil bust is scaring a lot of my TX family right now.
Visit both schools and see how they feel to you, talk to a lot of students and professors. S1 had a great job waiting for him, in his field, based on his wonderful business internship in CA – same company offered him a “real job” upon graduating with his biz degree in 2013. Never had any trouble finding a good salary/job in CA, that’s for sure. S2 is a current Chapman junior, completed a really solid internship last summer, plans to work there again this summer and boss has already suggested a job after graduating. It’s all what YOU put into it, IMO. Can’t say enough good things about Chapman, and it’s in a beautiful place, too. Hard to top Orange County, CA.
How do you feel about Greek life? It’s significant at SMU; don’t know if it’s a factor at Chapman.
With respect to @LongRangePlan’s concern about the oil bust, keep in mind that the Texas economy is highly diversified. I do worry about petroleum engineering majors, but business majors in general should be fine.
No matter what, don’t do a general business major. Have a concentration. If there’s Honors, do Honors in business (or general honors plus honors in business.) Focus on quantitative skills with as many math (calc, stats…) classes as you can fit, plus a couple of not-required classes in a field that’ll help you stand out (could be 3 art history classes, 3 philosophy classes, 3 sociology classes, 3 French classes, 3 Asian Studies classes… you get the idea)
Many business majors have a very similar profile so having both quantitative skills and an unusual interest will greatly help you.
Then keep your GPA above 3.0 to get good internships, go see professors during office hours during your first week on campus and keep going (will help grades AND recommendations), and get involved on campus.
Whether you attend SMU or Chapman, if you do this, you’ll be successful.
So the difference will come to “fit” - go do an overnight at both. Sit in on classes, eat in the cafeteria, listen to what the students are talking about, ask them what they do on Wednesday night (if the answer is “party”, probably not a good sign…!), read the paper to see what’s going on and what agitates the campus, see if you can imagine yourself there.