Texas Christian University research dollars 7,872,00 / SMU research dollars 32,401,000.
No one is disputing that SMU spends more money on research, @PaloAltoDad. What I’m disputing is the idea that research is the only data point that makes one university better than another. That’s your opinion, I understand, but it’s an opinion, not a fact. Many factors go into determining the value of a school. I think your characterization of TCU is uninformed and unfair. We will just have to agree to disagree.
TCU has been pretty clear that the athletics funding has come from private donors and not from the general fundraising. The school has put a lot of money into other facilities, and having looked at many, many schools, I am hard-pressed to think of another school with such nice facilities. No question that athletics is fueling TCU’s growth and prestige. The Frogs are on TV almost every Saturday in the fall, and that definitely helps.
To me, the difference comes down to academics. It’s pretty clear that SMU has some strong programs at Cox (equal to or better than Neeley), and I think that Dedman beats AddRan. TCU has no engineering school (just a department), so chalk that one up to SMU. TCU is now adding a med school component, but it is still in it’s infancy.
Time will tell, but for now, I think that TCU still has some catching up to do on academics. @PaloAltoDad makes some solid points.
As a parent of a D applying to both schools trying to gauge her chances of acceptance, there is a paradox between these two schools that I can’t figure out. By every source I’ve seen, SMU has consistently higher average and middle-50 reported SAT scores than TCU. Yet TCU has a lower acceptance rate than SMU. TCU doesn’t report their high school GPA’s so I can’t compare those two sets. Does anyone understand why this might be?
@UTSquared - perhaps because TCU is more well known (athletics, etc.). This may increase the number of students applying which would result in a lower admission rate.
@momoftres SMU is famous for its athletics - they made a 30 for 30 about them! :))
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Strictly IMHO, but if you look at a school like Boston College, back in the 80’s, they were a 2nd tier school for Catholic kids from New England–not quite up to the standards of Notre Dame or Georgetown. Then Doug Flutie beat Miami, BC won some bowl games, upset Notre Dame on national TV a few times, and their applications skyrocketed. Now, Boston College is highly sought after and their USNWR ranking has soared along with their admission rates.
I can see TCU parlaying their athletic success (football, baseball and basketball) into the same trajectory as BC. Applications are certainly way up. It will take a few years, but you can also look at it as currently buying low on the long-term value of a TCU degree.
That may be, I know Alabama has had skyrocketing application numbers during the Saban era. The counterargument is that your example is more of a Boston thing. Back in the 80’s Boston U and Northeastern weren’t anything special either. Now they are very selective.
We’ll see, SMU gave DD a strong merit aid package, just got the acceptance from TCU.
Interesting, same Net Price SMU and TCU
@AnotherPassword I am not surprised. I think SMU tries to at least get down to the cost of TCU to be competitive. I’ve been thinking about that a lot, and my D isn’t even applying until next year. Which one you going with?
Both are great schools and the Dallas Fort Worth area is fantastic! Can’t go wrong but the TCU students a sharp group — very impressive!
It truly is about personal opinion both schools are good but I like TCU better simply for that tight community feel you get from it i feel like FortWorth is more involved with TCU then Dallas is with SMU and yes Academics are important but so is a good social college experience which is what students want and I feel like TCU you can get a slightly better college experience if ya catch my drift
@3mamagirls We ended up going with SMU. She was admitted as a BBA Scholar so automatic admittance to Business School. This eased the pressure on her to not have to go throgh the hoops to get into Neely.
In speaking to SMU and TCU, I found it much easier to get answers from SMU staff, as an example we had a technical issue on the Texas Residency form application. I had to call TCU, talk to the Finance Dept, who said take a screenshot of the error and send it to them so they could send it to tech support and they would get back to me middle of next week.NOT a good answer when we are facing decision time for several colleges.
There were many more events to give my DD a feel for the SMU vs TCU which seemed a little lacking on outreach and events.SMU is after all a marketing juggernaut. We were invited to a Cox Business School orientation which inclued a mock class from their economics professor in addition to each business school head explaining what they learn and the outcomes of picking certain lines of business education. We also attended a general school orientation, a Boulevarding Party, another orientation so my wife could attend since she missed the 1st, an admitted students event, etc.
Not that that is a reason to choose a college, but they do actually give you ample information regarding every aspect of the application and admission process. In abundance.
Also, we live NE of Dallas so it’s about a 40 minute trip to visit (won’t she be happy).
All that and it really comes down to this for us: Take for example the fact that I am an IT Professional in Dallas. When I attend events in my particular field of IT, I find that I meet a lot of the same people, meaning this is a relatively small and tight knit group. SMU was very keen on pointing out the fact that that is what you are indeed being introuduced into on the business side. Those students will find, despite the size of Dallas, that there is in fact a relatively small group of individuals in their business field and it is VERY important to get into this circle. It is after all who you know as much what you know. SMU is big, in our opinion, on botht he WHO and the WHAT.
@AnotherPassword Thank you for your discussions. My D saw both schools and loved both for very different reasons, and had additional tours of her intended department. We are finding few additional schools that she is really interested in. We know quite a few people at TCU, but hardly any at SMU, so I am trying to get other perspectives. The draw keeps coming back to the connections that we perceive SMU to have vs. TCU as far as job opportunities.
Many people on this board seem to “fight” over which is the better school for whatever reason (rivalry?) vs. getting into discussions on the pros and cons of each school and the programs themselves. Thanks for your reasoning - it’s exactly what I keep looking for in these posts. My D is interested in advertising/journalism, both of which are offered at each school in one form or another. TCU has a great Communications Dept, and SMU through Meadow. I am having a hard time trying to find information which is the “better” program, PLUS the connections and social atmosphere. It’s got to be a great combination.I think going boulevarding would be fun for her, but we are out of state so have to piggy-back that on to another tour of some sort.
Oh yes - and she needs to get into the schools first. Looking at the way this crazy year went for so many students…
@3mamagirls - I have a S in his first year at SMU and a senior D who is most likely going to TCU in the fall. I also don’t understand why people are so negative when just trying to discuss. Both schools are very good. Each has a different “personality”, different strengths/weaknesses. A lot depends on the intended major - look at what opportunities are available for students in the major, what they do after graduating, etc. One school may just feel more comfortable to your D.
It’s a very personal decision. I have twins. One loved both TCU & SMU. I think it would have been a very tough choice for her but SMU doesn’t offer her major so that sure made things easy. The other one thinks they are similar enough that she wants the winning football team. Most kids should just go with their gut.
Where did your son decide to go?