<p>My S loves SMU and has been accepted as a BBA Scholar to Cox. We have visited SMU twice and he knows he loves it. He has been accepted to Wake Forest and you don't get accepted into the business school until after your sophomore year. We also have not had a chance to visit Wake yet, but plan to soon. SMU is a stretch for us a financially and we are still waiting for Wake Forest's financial aid package.</p>
<p>We were wondering if anyone else was looking at both of these schools and can help us with any insight since we have not been to Wake yet. We know Wake Forest has a great reputation, and we know the business school is very competitive and my S may not get into the program. I am asking on this page since I am assuming you will also know about Cox and can help us with pros and cons. Thanks!</p>
<p>FYI-my son is also loves music and has been accepted to Meadows which is part of the reason he is leaning towards SMU</p>
<p>I’m curious to hear what you have to say about these two schools. They are very similar to me but I have a girl. Both gorgeous and affluent. Here’s my opinion on both:</p>
<p>WF is a bit more remodeled, kids live on campus for 3 years, is more academically elite (at least in feeling), seems more academically prestigious, the business school just hired the career services person from Stanford, does not have a party school reputation although all college kids party, frat and sorority houses are in dorms on campus, campus is gated, and off the beaten path, students are from all over the country, its affluent but doesnt feel like a rich kids school, Winston-Salem is hard to get to by airport, kids go to football games. Seemed like ALL the kids are Honors students. </p>
<p>SMU feels like a rich kids school, huge endowment, DFW is super accessible and the school is easy to get to, beautiful Greek houses, doesn’t seem to have the same academic reputation as WF, lots and lots of money thrown around, no poor college kids here, kids go out to Dallas clubs, kids live on campus for 2 years, school is tied closely to Dallas, great alumn network, school in a nice neighborhood with lots to do around it, sporting events have a weak following but basketball will beef up, you should end up with a better financial aid package from SMU. </p>
<p>I think my daughter will have these two choices next year and it will be a tough decision. It WFU were where SMU was, it would be an easy pick. They both have pros and cons though. I’d love to hear others thoughts on these two!!</p>
<p>To,games.</p>
<p>My daughter was accepted to both schools two years ago. She had always thought that she would go to Wake because we have family close by and she loves the area. In the end, she chose SMU and has been very happy there. When we visited Wake for her “official” college visit (she had been there many times on visits to family in North Carolina), we all felt it was very similar to SMU in student body (one difference-Wake has a surprising number of students from NJ and the NE while SMU has a surprising number from California). The campuses are also similar in “feel”-- both very pretty in their own way. She liked the dorms at SMU better (at least, from what she could see during the Wake visit), but that wasn’t such a significant factor. (Next year, SMU will be opening their new Commons area-- and it looks really impressive. My daughter has said that she would have loved to have had the opportunity to live there.) The thing that made the difference to us was cost. SMU is expensive but less so than Wake and SMU also gave her a very generous academic scholarship. Wake didn’t offer a penny. And, during the visit, one of the Wake officials indicated that, by the time of graduation, we could expect to pay $60,000 a year. We did not see anything at Wake that merited the difference in what we would be paying. She has been very pleased with SMU and the opportunities in the Dallas area.</p>
<p>One other thought about SMU— its location in Dallas (and Texas) is a plus, employment-wise. Over the Easter weekend, several of my son’s friends who are about to graduate from SMU were in town and I was impressed that every one of them had a job lined up for after graduation. The economy in Texas is doing really well and the colleges here seem to do a good job of placing their graduates in jobs after graduation. (To be fair, not just SMU. This is just anecdotal, of course, but in addition to the two from SMU. there were kids visiting from TCU, UT and A & M, and all of them already had a job. I was very happy for them— and their parents!)</p>
<p>Thank you for your input. As it turns out, we are not going to visit Wake Forest as their scholarship offer was not enough to offset the very high cost of attending. My son loves SMU, he received a nice merit and departmental scholarships so he has decided that is where he will be going next year. </p>
<p>The business opportunities in Dallas and the economy in Texas did factor into our decision to look at SMU in the first place. That and the alumni network we have heard so much about. Getting a job after graduating is his goal and I think SMU will get him there!</p>
<p>We are so relieved that the decision has been made!</p>