Southern Methodist University

Location and Contact Information

The campus is in a large suburb.

Overview

Southern Methodist University, or SMU, was established on April 17, 1911. The university is presently owned by the South Central Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church. The main campus of SMU encompasses more than 200 acres in Dallas, Texas. In addition, the university has campuses in Plano and Taos, New Mexico. SMU has several degree and certificate programs and attracts students from around 100 different countries. The academic divisions of the university are organized into the following schools and colleges:

• Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education & Human Development
• Cox School of Business
• Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences
• Dedman School of Law
• Lyle School of Engineering
• Meadows School of the Arts
• Perkins School of Theology

SMU has officially recognized many fraternities and sororities which are governed by the Interfraternity Council, Pan-Hellenic Council, National Pan-Hellenic Council, and National Multicultural Greek Council. In addition, the college has one Christian fraternity and one Christian sorority.

For more information about SMU, please read BrainTrack's exclusive interview with the University's career director.

Highlights (vs. Other Schools)

• United Methodist religious affiliation.
• Many students concentrating in religion and philosophy, business and management, drama and performing arts, media, law, mathematics, computer science and engineering, engineering, and music.
• Large number of programs of study offered.
• High faculty salary.
• Large number of students.
• High percentage of students are from out-of-state.
• High SAT scores (combined Verbal and Math).
• Good faculty-to-student ratio.
• High male/female ratio.

School characteristics:

• The school is private, not-for-profit.
• Academic calender: Semester.
• Carnegie classification: Doctoral/Research Universities, Extensive.

Features of note:

• The school offers a faculty tenure system.
• There are one or more libraries on-campus.
• Campus housing is available.
• Students have meal (board) plans.
• Students may study abroad.
• Distance learning is available.
• Part-time classes are available.
• ROTC.
• Athlete financial aid is awarded.

Similar Schools

Based on proprietary BrainTrack computer comparisons against all other US colleges, these schools appear to be most similar to SMU:

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Degrees Awarded (in 2009-2010)

Faculty

Tenure (2009-2010):

Students

Student enrollment was 10,965 in 2009-2010 (8,786 full-time equivalent).

About 47% of the freshmen class in 2009-2010 was male and women were 53% of the class.

Undergrads are 55% of enrolled students, graduate students are 35%, and those seeking first-professional graduate degrees represent 10%.

Students under 25 years old represent 64% of the student body. About 8% of the school is at least 40 years of age.

Among freshmen students, 100% are full-time and 0% are part-time.

Admissions Summary (2009-2010)

SAT Test Scores:

Room and Board

SMU provides on-campus housing for 2,210 of its 8,786 (full-time) students (as of 2009-2010). The school requires freshmen to live on campus.

Students may purchase a meal plan which includes 21 meals weekly.

Athletics

School sports include football, basketball, baseball, and track. The school is in the Conference USA for major sports.

The school offers financial aid for athletes. Of students receiving athletic financial aid, 25 male students received the aid (men were 61% of those receiving aid) and 16 women were awarded financial aid based on athletics (representing 39% of students receiving such aid) .

Graduate School Focus

SMU offers graduate (post-Bachelor) studies. The highest degree offered is the Doctorate (Research/Scholarship & Professional Practice).

Graduate offerings include continuing professional education.The school's Graduate School Carnegie Classification is Comprehensive Doctoral (No Medical/Veterinary).

Programs of Study

(Number of degrees in 2009-2010 in parentheses)

ART STUDIES (7 awarded)

• Arts Management

BUSINESS AND MANAGEMENT (863 awarded)

• Accounting
• Business Administration and Management
• Entrepreneurship/Entrepreneurial Studies
• Finance
• Financial Planning and Services
• Labor and Industrial Relations
• Management Information Systems
• Management Science
• Marketing/Marketing Management

COMPUTER SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING (100 awarded)

• Computer Engineering
• Computer Science
• Computer Software Engineering
• Computer/Info Tech Services Administration & Management

CONSERVATION AND RESOURCE MANAGEMENT (1 awarded)

• Environmental Science
• Environmental Studies

DRAMA AND PERFORMING ARTS (44 awarded)

• Dance
• Drama and Dramatics/Theatre Arts

EDUCATION AND TEACHING (119 awarded)

• Bilingual and Multilingual Education
• Education
• Education/Teaching Individuals - Specific Learning Disabilities
• Music Teacher Education

ENGINEERING (279 awarded)

• Civil Engineering
• Electrical, Electronics and Communications Engineering
• Engineering Science
• Engineering
• Engineering/Industrial Management
• Environmental/Environmental Health Engineering
• Manufacturing Engineering
• Mechanical Engineering
• Operations Research
• Systems Engineering

ENGINEERING TECHNICIAN (59 awarded)

• Telecommunications Technology/Technician

FAMILY AND SOCIAL WORK (21 awarded)

• Facilities Planning and Management
• Public Policy Analysis

FINE ARTS (52 awarded)

• Art History, Criticism and Conservation
• Fine/Studio Arts

LAW (391 awarded)

• American/US Law/Legal Studies/Jurisprudence (LLM, MCJ, JSD/SJD)
• Law (LLB, JD)
• Programs for Foreign Lawyers (LLM, MCL)
• Tax Law/Taxation (LLM, JSD/SJD)

LIBERAL ARTS (668 awarded)

• African-American/Black Studies
• Anthropology
• Applied Economics
• Creative Writing
• Econometrics and Quantitative Economics
• Economics
• English Language and Literature
• French Language and Literature
• General Studies
• German Language and Literature
• Hispanic-American,Puerto Rican & Mexican-American/Chicano Studies
• History
• Humanities/Humanistic Studies
• International/Global Studies
• Italian Language and Literature
• Italian Studies
• Latin American Studies
• Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities
• Liberal Arts and Sciences/Liberal Studies
• Medieval and Renaissance Studies
• Multi-/Interdisciplinary Studies
• Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution
• Political Science and Government
• Social Sciences
• Sociology
• Spanish Language and Literature
• Women's Studies

MATHEMATICS (66 awarded)

• Computational Mathematics
• Mathematics
• Statistics

MEDIA (302 awarded)

• Advertising
• Animation, Interactive Tech, Video Graphics and Special Effects
• Journalism
• Public Relations/Image Management

MUSIC (68 awarded)

• Conducting
• Music History, Literature, and Theory
• Music Performance
• Music Theory and Composition
• Music
• Piano and Organ
• Voice and Opera

PHOTOGRAPHY AND COMMERCIAL ART (27 awarded)

• Cinematography and Film/Video Production
• Film/Cinema Studies

REAL ESTATE AND CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT (11 awarded)

• Real Estate

RELIGION AND PHILOSOPHY (118 awarded)

• Divinity/Ministry (BD, MDiv)
• Philosophy
• Religion/Religious Studies
• Religious/Sacred Music
• Theology/Theological Studies

SCIENCE (79 awarded)

• Biochemistry
• Biology/Biological Sciences
• Chemistry
• Geology/Earth Science
• Geophysics and Seismology
• Physics

THERAPY AND COUNSELING (109 awarded)

• Clinical Psychology
• Mental Health Counseling/Counselor
• Music Therapy/Therapist
• Psychology