<p>I've been accepted as a biomedical engineering student to both SMU and UT.</p>
<p>SMU has offered me a generous financial package including the Hunt Scholarship which will allow me to study abroad for free and pays for half of my tuition.</p>
<p>I received no financial assistance from UT.</p>
<p>In addition I am a minority, and I am a little concerned about the diversity at SMU.</p>
<p>Your thoughts?</p>
<p>SMU Engineering students will be required to take two semesters of a foreign language for those entering this fall.</p>
<p>Required for Engineering majors- are you sure?</p>
<p>That is what was stated on another thread. You should contact the Engineering dept at SMU - this is new for next year.</p>
<p>Yes, it is required for incoming freshmen but not transfers until 2014.</p>
<p>Can’t go wrong either way. It’s really a matter of what sort of experience you want. I assume you’ve visited both schools and have come away with some idea about what each campus is like. What appeals more to you - the large state school or the small private experience (absolute pros and cons to both).</p>
<p>I think UT is one of the biggest wasted-resources in the state. UT has one of the largest endowments in the world and its research and rankings are mediocre. I am NOT impressed with the UT administration. They gave their football coach a 5 million dollar salary, who graduates 42 % of his team, and they had HUGE cuts in their liberal arts. UT could be one of the world’s best universities with its size and endowment and it is not.</p>
<p>Look at the SMU Guildhall and President Turner! SMU is one of the best managed Universities in the US, and they are going places. With a full-ride, I would pick SMU in a heart beat.</p>
<p>I’m a little confused about the logic of selecting a university based on perception of athletics compensation or endowment appropriation.</p>
<p>If you are using what UT pays its football coach as a justification picking SMU biomed over UT, then you might want to reconsider. First, the UT’s athletics department is 100% self-funded. Mack Brown’s $5m salary is paid from athletic department proceeds: ticket sales, TV revenues, Longhorn Foundation donations, etc. Neither the university general fund nor the endowment are used to compensate any of the Texas football coaches. In addition, UT football revenue nears $100M per year; Mack Brown earns 5% of that.</p>
<p>Let’s compare that to SMU’s June Jones, who earns $1.7M. SMU’s football revenue is $13M per year. June Jones earns 13% of SMU football revenue. Isn’t he the overcompensated one?</p>
<p>ref: [College</a> football elite spend to win - Memphis Business Journal](<a href=“http://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/news/2011/09/01/college-football-elite-spend-to-win.html]College”>http://www.bizjournals.com/memphis/news/2011/09/01/college-football-elite-spend-to-win.html)
ref: [How</a> Profitable is Football in Conference USA?](<a href=“http://businessofcollegesports.com/2011/04/26/how-profitable-is-football-in-conference-usa/]How”>http://businessofcollegesports.com/2011/04/26/how-profitable-is-football-in-conference-usa/)</p>
<p>To pick SMU over UT because you believe it misapporpiates its $14B endowment is also questionable. UT uses its endowment for various scholarships and to attract/fund some of the most capable and qualified faculty in the country. I encourage you to sweep through the faculty listings of some of the various UT colleges. They are quite impressive. In addition, UT is one of the highest ranked public schools in the country.</p>
<p>That all said, UT is not for everyone. Its sheer size can be overwhelming. You will likely have little to no interaction with faculty until your junior or senior year. There will likely be more classes that exist for the sole purpose of thinning the crowd.</p>
<p>At SMU, it is a virtual certainty that, by the time you graduate, you will know nearly all of your professors. Second, the intimate setting and smaller class size makes it so you won’t get lost in the crowd.</p>
<p>You should also consider your post-graduate options. If you want to go to graduate school, where do you want to go? Do either of SMU or UT feed into those graduate schools? Do they both present the student with similar job opportunities? Heck, I’d flat out ask the folks at both UT and SMU.</p>
<p>I know it sounds trite, you get out of an education what you put into it. It’s definitely worthwhile to engage both UT and SMU to make sure all of your questions are answered.</p>
<p>Don’t think sports are not important at SMU, even if they have a lack-luster football team and advertise extensively in an effort to fill their stadium, while UT sell-out games. Try parking on campus (for class) on a game day, even if you PAY for a parking permit. Sports trumps academics at most universities - SMU included. Further proof: my child attends SMU and will have limited/restricted parking (read this as “no parking”) on a FINAL EXAM day. Why? Because SMU is hosting a high school game. Does that indicate that SMU is more interested in academics than sports? I, for one, do not think so.</p>
<p>Well when we were touring UT they were hosting the state hs basketball tournament and parking was limited that day - every University hosts athletic and academic events on their campuses - it is called community outreach and a way to get hs students and their parents on their campuses to see what they have to offer.</p>
<p>Wrestlingmom, thank you so much for defining community outreach for me. You clearly are of superior intellect.
I’m curious, were you touring on a day UT held final exams? I have friends who sent their children to UT… they never reporting not being able to park when they were taking a final.</p>
<p>I just finished my final today - there’s plenty of parking. They sent an email yesterday telling us you can park wherever you want w/ an SMU parking pass. It was seriously a total non-issue.</p>
<p>A non issue? Really? Funny that I was approached by SMU parking police while parking at La Madeline (public parking for customers) two and a half hours before the high school football game.</p>
<p>Clearly many posters here are content with SMU. I acknowledge that SMU has much to offer and may be a perfect fit for some students. However, prospective students have the right to know other opinions. They have a right to make a well-informed decision based on accurate information. No school is perfect. I would caution readers to beware of posts that represent any university in such a way.</p>
<p>As for the game in question, the added stress of searching for parking because of a meaningless high school football game (in addition to the normal stress of driving in Dallas traffic) was unnecessary and ludicrous. If anyone feels it was a non-issue, that person has not read the email nor talked to the university administration. The general consensus is that future conflicts will be avoided, and that the academic calendar will be reviewed prior to scheduling such an event. If the college is acknowledging that it was a problem, then, yes, it was a problem.</p>
<p>As a student at SMU, I did receive and read the email regarding parking. As johnangle said, it was a non-issue. The university did not require any students to relocate their vehicles and no student was denied access to parking typically reserved for students. There were no restrictions/limitations placed on student parking during the exam day. Not a single one of my class mates complained about not being able to find parking. </p>
<p>Perhaps the SMU PD officer approached you to make sure you knew that the parking was for customers only so as to ensure your vehicle was not towed. </p>
<p>Hopefully, your interest in UT versus SMU has less to do with parking and more to do with the quality of the experience that each university offers. Previous posters are correct in their advice - consider what kind of college experience you are looking for. There are benefits and concerns for each kind of school (state v. private, large v. small). Try and spend as much time as you can on each campus speaking with students, staff and faculty. This will give you a better idea of what it’s like to be a student there and might make your choice a little easier! Good luck!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Huh. I know this is a somewhat old thread. No posters in 4 months. But I felt compelled to add my family’s perspective.</p>
<p>I LOVE SMU. I think it is an amazing school that has afforded my son the most incredible opportunities that will pay dividends for a lifetime. I am very grateful to the school and the wonderful faculty who give so much of their time and talents to their students. The world has been my son’s oyster there! I have almost nothing but wonderful things to say about it!</p>
<p>BUT, parking IS definitely an issue! It WAS a huge issue on the game day/FINAL EXAM day mentioned above. For my son and for MANY of his friends! My son was 25 minutes late for his final after repeatedly circling several designated lots for a spot. He left his apartment 20 minutes earlier than usual just to allow the extra time to park. Little did he know that it would take 45 minutes to find a legal space! Most of his classmates were in the same boat, and they passed each other in the lots as they all searched frantically for parking. All were complaining to their teacher that day. The teacher was in complete agreement and had his OWN problems parking that day!</p>
<p>My son spoke directly to a few high-level members of the administration about the problem, and about how it comes across as though they value athletics over academics when they make such choices, and THEY were also in agreement with my son’s perspective! It was perceived by all he spoke to that it was a mistake that they were kind of forced into making. Every single administration official he spoke to acknowledged that it WAS a huge problem, in retrospect, and that SMU should, at all costs, avoid such mistakes in the future.</p>
<p>This was not the first time that my son had a problem with parking, though the vast majority of days he can easily find a space in his one of his designated areas. (Ways to get in and out of campus, on the other hand, have been vastly restricted this year.) When the administration elects to restrict student parking for special events, my son has a lot of trouble parking. As do his peers. </p>
<p>Just wait until the Bush Library opens up later in the month. Yowza. THAT is going to be a nightmare! But, I can see the necessity for restricting parking in that once-in-a-lifetime case. Much more understandable than restricting student parking because of run-of-the-mill athletic events.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I really can’t understand why a current student would say that parking on that particular day was not an issue. Either the student is knowingly portraying an inaccurate picture (I doubt that), or the student was not in touch with this huge “student relations” issue on campus. (LOTS of students WERE affected by this snafu, and many were very vocal about it. Many of the faculty were vocal about it as well. And as I recall the administration actually sent out some sort of letter of apology, though I might be remembering that part wrong.)</p>
<p>It’s a great school. I would highly recommend it to anybody. But it’s not perfect. And it does make some weird student parking decisions. Particularly this year and last during all of their impressive construction initiatives. Road closures this year have also been a problem. I suppose that’s to be expected during so many wonderful projects. But we are left to wonder if there might have been a better way to allow for entry and exit onto the campus.</p>
<p>SimpleLife is spot on regarding the upcoming presidential library opening. Students are sharing their thoughts on The Daily Campus as well as on social media sites. SMU has the potential for greatness, but MUST prioritize the needs of faculty and students.</p>
<p>Let’s get real for a few minutes.</p>
<p>I am a current student, and had a final exam on the day in question. As I mentioned before, my parking and normal routine to get to class was in no way affected. Nor did any of my classmates or the professor mention having any issues. That’s not a false representation of my experience. That’s exactly what happened. Everything I stated previously regarding the parking (in terms of access for students) during the final exam is also true and can be verified by, again, READING the email that was sent to students.</p>
<p>Yes, the administration did send out an email acknowledging that this was poor planning on their part. But to come onto this website and portray this as some sort of momentous event that drastically effected the outcome of your student’s experience at SMU is ridiculous and is really starting to bother me. </p>
<p>Talking about the George W. Bush Library and the closures surrounding that event is a completely different issue althogether. That was an issue of national security, not convenience for students. SMU went out of their way (and spent a lot of money) finding and reserving remote parking for students (which were even covered in case of inclement weather), paying for shuttles to run constantly back and forth, and providing free DART passes so students could take advantage of our great light rail system, that runs right by campus. SMU did everything possible to make parking as easy they could, given the secruity parameters of having FIVE CURRENT AND FORMER PRESIDENTS ON A COLLEGE CAMPUS IN A MAJOR METROPOLITAN AREA (re-read that sentence in case you didn’t grasp the full weight of the scale of security that entails). And I will state, again, that I had absolutely no problems getting to campus over those three days. I rode the shuttle at my usual time and got dropped off actually closer to my classes than the normal drop off point (which is farther south on the Boulevard). </p>
<p>Can we let this overdramatic thread die already? Please and thank you.</p>
<p>Claire, I agree - that’s why I decided it wasn’t even worth engaging any more. Complaining about parking because Carter, Bush, Clinton, Bush, and Obama took your spot is beyond short-sighted in my opinion. </p>
<p>There is also another 1000 spot garage opening fall of 14 to help out btw.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>How ironic, claire. This thread has been idle for just over 3 weeks, without a “peep” (pun intended) from anybody. And you wrote 3 paragraphs to get the last word and ask if we can let it die already. Hahhaaa.</p>
<p>I spoke up because you said this,</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>… as though parking was a non-issue for everybody on campus, and “as though” (as in, it’s a direct quote) “no student was denied access,” and as though none of your classmates complained. I didn’t originally take your last line to mean that none of the people in your particular classes complained – but that none of the people in your graduating class complained. Did it ever occur to you that people with final exams at other locations and other times than yours had problems parking? </p>
<p>It didn’t sound to me like you were speaking of your own, personal experience, it sounded like you were speaking for the campus as a whole, as if parking wasn’t an issue for anybody during that fiasco. But it was an issue for some. On a final exam day. That’s why I spoke up. I don’t like it when people make things all rosy, unless the rosiness paints the true picture. SMU is really great. But this was a problem for some.</p>
<p>And you posted after it had been idle for over four months. Who’s more interested in getting in the last word? “Hahhaa”</p>
<p>No student was denied access to any of the usual student parking lots and garages. Show me an shred of evidence that your, or any other student, was turned away from or not allowed to enter any of those designated areas. It didn’t happen.</p>
<p>You directly accused me of being purposefully dishonest, I believe that deserves a response. I’m sorry I don’t have the time to obsessively check college forums, I’m too busy actually having a life.</p>