<p>Make no mistake that SMU is extremely conservative, extremely preppy, and there are a much larger percentage of kids whose parents won’t even notice paying the full pricetag at it than at a lot of schools. I know of several families whose kids are going there and they are the kind of people who just make so much money that it’s beyond my comprehension. There is nothing whatsoever immoral or wrong about that, hell I wish we were! ~ but the end result is that the mix is definitely, noticeably, heavier on the (I hate to say it) stereotypical rich Greek kid than most other Texas schools, even UT at Austin, which has a lot of those but also has so very many other eclectic kids in the mix to even it out.</p>
<p>If you get accepted into the Meadows and can afford it I would definitely consider it because it is a very good program and you have to weigh the pros and cons of everything. And I think it’s true that to an extent, theater kids are their own animal and from campus to campus seem to nevertheless share a lot of qualities.</p>
<p>Has your son done an overnight?</p>
<p>If you are concerned that your son might have a few issues with fit I’d consider an overnight visit. It might not be any big deal to him or it might. I don’t know just how different it is for boys, but for girls, I know that certain types of scenes would render my daughter fairly miserable - and she is NOT a miserable angsty kind of kid, she fits in everywhere. But to my absolute aghast shock and disbelief, there is unkindness and cliqueishness and snobbery in the world. ha. It’s not that my daughter is anti Greek, either - she’s sort of interested in investigating one. </p>
<p>But my aunt has worked for a private dormitory in Austin at the desk for several years now and all of the girls there are very. very. wealthy. girls who have a lifestyle that, if you don’t have that kind of income also, just renders any kind of hanging out, unlikely. They go to lunch and come home with five thousand dollar Prada bags like my daughter would go to Starbucks. The dry cleaners lose a garment that costs hundreds of dollars and it’s no big deal to them. </p>
<p>My parents were close friends with a couple who had a lot of money like that - because they went to the same temple - but my stepdad had grown up with the husband, so they were still friends, and my parents are sort of genteely impoverished. (ha. He’s a lawyer, not one who makes a ton of money either, but they are educated and respectable - just not wealthy.) Well, the first wife sadly died, and he remarried a woman with even more money than he has, and they spent most weekends at their new house in Malibu now and while they are very cordial, the fact is, they do not now socialize with my parents because it just can’t work that way when you have such disparity in income. My parents cannot afford to jet set with them.</p>
<p>I’m not making any moral judgments at all here, I’m just pointing out a fact of life that people don’t tend to hang out with other people who are of drastically different socioeconomic status.</p>
<p>I’m sure there’s some poor slobs like kids from my family :lol: hanging out there at SMU and having a blast, but if your kid is sensitive to that kind of thing, I’d be sure to visit it and not blow that off as a factor in their happiness there.</p>
<p>It’s just really a fit thing, and it might not make a whit of difference to your son, in which case it would be a fantastic option for him.</p>
Hopefully, someone with first-hand experience will chime in here.</p>