SMU

So I visited Dallas yesterday to interview at Southern Methodist University's (SMU) Cox School of Business. I was actually quite impressed with the campus and the people. Everyone was very friendly, I don't think I walked past a single person who didn't say hello. Of course, I was wearing my suit (and no one else save the professor was) so I probably stuck out as a prospective student (that and the fact that the program is sort of small, so everyone knows everyone).

I really enjoyed the class I sat in on, and was once again able to answer (correctly) a question that the professor posed to the class (which hopefully makes me stick out at least to the student ambassador, though I hope that the professor was so taken by my mad skills that he walked up to the admissions director and was like, 'let that kid in').

What impressed me the most though was the students involvement in other services that the program provides, such as their "Business Leadership Center" where students can take seminars on all sorts of subjects - to either get a taste of a potential class to enroll in, to supplement their own coursework, or just to get titles such as "Dean's Circle" on their resume. SMU also has the American Airlines Global Leadership Program (AAGLP) where they pay just about all your expenses (sorry, bar tab not included) and send you abroad for two weeks after your first year (to Europe, India, China, or Latin America) to learn about businesses working in those countries (or from those countries). It's a graduate requirement, which I think is pretty interesting (most schools have no required international component). Also, the Dallas area is apparently very much behind SMU and a lot of executives serve as mentors for the MBA students, which is pretty helpful when you're trying to build a business network.

I could definitely see myself at SMU.