<p>Looking to go into finance. Which one would be better?</p>
<p>Umich by far, if your not texan and rich you will hate SMU.</p>
<p>You mean SMU at Dallas? The difference is like the distance between them.</p>
<p>Yes SMU in Dallas</p>
<p>“Umich by far, if your not texan and rich you will hate SMU.”</p>
<p>I agree for finance career Michigan has the advantage.</p>
<p>However, not sure if serious about the rest. SMU’s location/area is vastly superior to Ann Arbor. SMU is located in the middle of Park Cities (Highland Park/University Park), one of the most affluent and nicest neighborhood anywhere in America. It is where Mark Cuban and Jerry Jones live. It is basically the Beverly Hills of Dallas. In fact, the same city planner/architect who designed Beverly Hill designed Highland Park. Plenty of gourmet, non-big box neighborhood shops/bistros. The culture here is also vastly better; no self-righteous liberal PC police all over the place like in Ann Arbor.</p>
<p>Going broader, Dallas is vastly superior to any cities within 2 hours of Ann Arbor. It is a true driving city with plenty to do; plenty of great restaurants (basically non-existant in Ann Arbor). The young analysts at my firm have set a mission of hitting every restaurant on the following list in 2 years, and we have not been disappointed by any one of them. I have tried all of the top 18s and a bunch of others and each of them would be the best restaurant in Ann Arbor by a mile.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www3.dmagazine.com/media/100bestrestaurants2013/100BestRestaurants_Dallas.pdf[/url]”>http://www3.dmagazine.com/media/100bestrestaurants2013/100BestRestaurants_Dallas.pdf</a></p>
<p>And did I mention the weather? I won’t even bother :p</p>
<p>There are a bunch of highly regarded hedge funds (well three highly regarded and quite a lot decently known ones) and certain trading shops focused on energy; they don’t really recruit SMU hard though. But it’s not impossible, one of our interns past summer was a 2400 SAT score Harvard admit who opted to attend SMU on their presidential scholarship instead.</p>
<p>bearcat your full of ****. everything you explain clarified how what i said was true…</p>
<p>Yeah, Bearcats may have put up the worst post ever on college confidential. I received a Masters from SMU and thought the school was very mediocre. It had a real high school feel to it, in fact it mostly seemed like grades 13 through 16 of Highland Park high school. Although I got my Master’s there, I took a few senior level courses and was very unimpressed by the undergrads in my classes. I received my Bachelors from ASU, my master’s from SMU and law degree from Texas. Without question, I thought SMU was worst of the bunch. D is now at Michigan and absolutely loves it. I think you would be insane to go to SMU over Michigan.</p>
<p>Dallas is superior to Ann Arbor?! LOL!!! I lived in Paris, Berlin, London…arguably the three greatest cities on the planet, along with NYC and Tokyo. Adjusted for size, of course, Ann Arbor holds its own with any of those cities. Add a couple of world class restaurants (I agree with you on this point), and the city would be complete, but let us be honest, how many students can afford eating at Rosewood?! Dallas is a great shopping city, and it is indeed very nice, but Ann Arbor has its own appeal that is hard to duplicate, and is, according to most anyway, a vastly more appropriate place for college students.</p>
<p>Ann Arbor, in no way whatsoever, holds its own with NYC, Tokyo, etc.–even adjusted for size. Dallas (Highland Park) is a far, FAR superior city. Oh, and for some context I’m a senior at Michigan. </p>
<p>If you think you have a real shot at getting into Ross, I’d say 100% go Michigan. Overall, Michigan is definitely the superior school over SMU in terms of academics.</p>
<p>jts, I am not going to debate cities with you, but this is a no-brainer either way. Even Michigan LSA is a better option than SMU, but Ross is just in a different league altogether.</p>
<p>I lived in Dallas for 9 years and Ann Arbor for 14 years. University Park and Highland Park in Dallas are nice area that are almost as nice as Ann Arbor. Dallas is a big city but it is not like Chicago. One thing that is similar to Chicago is the horrible traffic. If you do like living in a city, that’s fine. But Dallas is not so great a city itself. From my long experience with both Ann Arbor and Dallas, they are very different in many aspects. But I do find many more things I like for Ann Arbor than Dallas. YMMV.
For the schools, the difference is even far more obvious.</p>
<p>I don’t think this is as much of a slamdunk as the UM fans might think. Yes UM is highly rated and feeds undergraduates to job interviews in Chicago, Pittsburgh and Cleveland but there are other factors to consider:</p>
<p>At SMU, you will have very small classes where you will know your classmates, know your professors and your professors will KNOW YOU. Really. </p>
<p>Networking is a huge part of professional success and SMU is great at it! The private school culture breeds students and alumni to take care of each other. You will have some amazing contacts from SMU, I can guarantee that. </p>
<p>Brand name schools do open doors around the country for job interviews. I’m talking about the Ivies, Stanford, Northwestern, Notre Dame, Vanderbilt, etc. But even some of these schools are stronger in their region. USC will be more helpful in California, Vanderbilt in the Southeast, etc. So yes, SMU would be very helpful in Texas and even California where they recruit many of their students. But the bottom line is what type of resume will graduate with. Which school will connect you to the best internships and offer hands on experience while in class? I don’t know much about Michigan but you will leave SMU with very rich experience. </p>
<p>I do have a friend who graduated from UMichigan with a Film major, went to L.A. to find a job and is still unemployed six months later. Your school name doesn’t get you a job. It’s the resume you built while in college and the contacts you make. </p>
<p>If you want a big rah rah school where the football stadium is packed and lots of loud and crazy fans, SMU is not your answer. There is nothing like a UM football game!</p>
<p>UM also will be more diverse: rich, poor, Greek, non-Greek, ethnicities, etc. SMU is very white and very Greek. It’s not as affluent as its reputation, but the students sure like to think they are. Rumor has it that Walmart, Heinz and other big name children attend SMU. Do you want them at your school? Not sure. Do you want their family’s connections, school donations, etc? Probably.</p>
<p>You might want to consider value. College is the the largest purchase you will make second to a house. Which one is the best buy? Will you go onto grad school? </p>
<p>I can’t tell you which way to go. Just know that you aren’t comparing apples to apples. They are two very different schools. And both EXCELLENT choices! Congratulations!</p>
<p>Rice1961, Michigan alums are equally as involved as SMU alums. When was the last time two alums donated over $100 million to SMU? This year alone, Charles Munger and Stephen Ross donated $110 million and $200 million to Michigan respectively. Michigan may be a public university, but it possesses qualities of elite private universities. For example, Michigan’s endowment is the 6th largest among US universities. SMU’s $1.3 billion endowment is impressive, but Michigan’s $8.5 billion is significantly more impressive. When adjusted for size and state appropriations, Michigan is a much wealthier universities than SMU. </p>
<p>Also, the OP has explicitly said that he intends to go into finance. Last year, 50% of Ross graduates accepted employment offers in NYC, many of those with major financial institutions. For example, 16 joined JP Morgan, 8 joined Goldman Sachs and 6 joined Morgan Stanley. At SMU, only companies like EY, D&T and PwC will hire more than 5 graduates on an annual basis. </p>
<p>I would agree that SMU would be a great option if the OP had expressed desire to work in Dallas after college, but he made no such statement. As such, I give the clear edge to Michigan.</p>
<p>Alexandre- I would much prefer a more western state like Texas/California to New York/Pennsylvania</p>
<p>Also, here’s the top companies hiring from SMU’s Alternative Asset Management Program</p>
<p>Selected Job Placement for 2011 & 2012:
• UBS Investment Bank - Consumer Products and Retail Group
• Citi - Global Energy Investment Banking Group
• BofA Merrill Lynch - Energy Investment Banking
• MHT Partners - Middle-Market Investment Banking
• RBC Capital Market - Energy, Oil and Gas Investment Banking
• JP Morgan Chase - Mid-Market Investment Banking Group
• Evercore Partners - Middle Market Investment Banking
• Houlihan Lokey - Investment Banking Financial Analyst
• Deloitte Consulting - Valuation
• Credit Suisse - Oil & Gas Investment Banking
• Goldman Sachs - Specialty Lending
• Invesco - Quantitative Research Analyst
• Westwood Holdings Group - Institutional and Mutual Fund Investing</p>
<p>SMU has also raised $800 million donations in the past few years, and they are well on their way to $1 billion for SMU Unbridled 100</p>
<p>Again, just trying to get some opinions, thanks!</p>
<p>Lots of good points Alexandre!</p>
<p>cooldude17, I am not sure how financial institutions recruit analysts for their Western offices specializing in the Energy sector, I assume it is pretty random. Usually, at the entry level, most people go with the best learning option available, which usually means NYC for those interested in finance. Regardless, Ross will be a vastly better option than Cox.</p>