Southern Methodist University Business Programs

Southern Methodist University is a private not-for-profit institution located in Dallas, Texas. Dallas is considered a suburb and offers tranquility and safety near the excitement of a city center.

Southern Methodist University Rankings

SMU landed the #79 spot in our 2023 ranking of best colleges. We analyzed 1,477 colleges and universities across the nation to determine this ranking. This puts it in the top 10% of all schools in the nation. Out of the 76 colleges in Texas, it is ranked at #5.

These rankings may look different from those published by other outlets, because we use an outcomes-based approach rather than a subjective one. We get our data from a number of places, including the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and the College Scorecard. For more information, check out our rankings and methodology page.

SMU has also been awarded the following overall awards by our latest rankings.

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#38	Best Business Graduate Certificate Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#58	Best Business Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#72	Best Business Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Program Level Awards

These are highlights of some of the most noteworthy awards granted to specific programs at SMU.

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#3	Best Taxation Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#8	Best Real Estate Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#9	Best Public Relations & Advertising Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#14	Best Finance & Financial Management Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#18	Most Popular Management Sciences & Methods Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#29	Most Popular Finance & Financial Management Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#34	Best Marketing Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#45	Best Business Administration & Management Master’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#49	Most Popular Economics Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#60	Best Accounting Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Awards From Around the Web

The following table lists some notable awards SMU has earned from around the web.

Rank	Ranking Name	Source
#8	Best Public Relations & Advertising Schools	College Factual
#11	Best Finance & Financial Management Schools	College Factual
#42	Best Accounting Schools	College Factual
#64	Best Business, Management & Marketing Schools	College Factual
#73	Best Business Administration & Management Schools	College Factual
#98	Best Schools	Course Advisor

Where Is Southern Methodist University?

Contact details for SMU are given below.

	Contact Details
Address:	6425 Boaz St, Dallas, TX 75275-0221
Phone:	214-768-2000
Website:	www.smu.edu
Facebook:	http://facebook.com/smudallas
Twitter:	http://twitter.com/smu

How Do I Get Into SMU?

You can apply to SMU online at: https://www.smu.edu/Admission/Apply

Admission Requirements for SMU

Submission	Required?
High School GPA	required
High School Rank	recommended
High School Transcript	required
College Prep Program	required
Recommendations	required
SAT or ACT Scores	required
TOEFL	required

How Hard Is It To Get Into SMU?

With an acceptance rate of 53%, SMU does not let just anybody through their doors! Make sure you spend enough time polishing up your application so you will make a great impression.

Approximately 48% of accepted students are men and 52% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 53%, and the acceptance rate for women is 52%.

Average Test Scores

About 40% of students accepted to SMU submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 630 and 710. Math scores were between 620 and 740.

SMU received ACT scores from 55% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT English scores ranged between 29 and 35. Math scores were between 26 and 31. Composite scores were between 29 and 33.

Can I Afford Southern Methodist University?

The overall average net price of SMU is $54,761. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group.

The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.

Student Loan Debt

While almost two-thirds of students nationwide take out loans to pay for college, the percentage may be quite different for the school you plan on attending. At SMU, approximately 23% of students took out student loans averaging $11,378 a year. That adds up to $45,512 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at SMU is 2.1%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you'll be able to pay back your student loans.

Southern Methodist University Undergraduate Student Diversity

There are 6,827 undergraduate students at SMU, with 6,616 being full-time and 211 being part-time.

There are also 5,546 graduate students at the school.

Gender Diversity

Of the 6,616 full-time undergraduates at SMU, 51% are male and 49% are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

The racial-ethnic breakdown of Southern Methodist University students is as follows.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	534
Black or African American	307
Hispanic or Latino	828
White	4,229
International Students	377
Other Races/Ethnicities	341

Geographic Diversity

Texas students aren't the only ones who study at Southern Methodist University. At this time, 43 states are represented by the student population at the school.

Over 99 countries are represented at SMU. The most popular countries sending students to the school are China, India, and Saudi Arabia.

Online Learning at Southern Methodist University

In 2019-2020, 3,839 students took at least one online class at the school.

The following chart shows how the online learning population at SMU has changed over the last few years.

This school is the 3rd most popular in Texas for online learning according to the online graduations recorded by the Department of Education for the academic year 2019-2020.

Online Affordability Rankings of SMU

During the most recent year for which we have data, the full-time undergraduate tuition at Southern Methodist University was $58,540 for both in-state and out-of-state students. The following table shows how SMU is ranked for affordability for both in-state and out-of-state students among colleges and universities that are not mostly online.

Major	Tuition for In-State Students	Tuition for Out-of-State Students
Office Administration	#1	#1
Real Estate	#16	#16
Real Estate	#16	#16
Entrepreneurship	#41	#41
Entrepreneurial Studies	#47	#47

Online Growth Rankings of SMU

The average growth rate over the last four years of online students at Southern Methodist University was 136.5%. This is the #290 largest growth rate of all schools that are only partially online. This refers to all students at SMU regardless of major.

The table below shows how the average growth rate over 4 years at SMU ranks compared to all other partially online schools that offer a specific major. Note that the majors may or may not be offered online at SMU.

Major	Growth Rate Rank
Office Administration	#1
Real Estate	#4
Entrepreneurship	#4
Real Estate	#4
Finance	#6
Entrepreneurial Studies	#7
Finance & Financial Management	#10
Marketing/Marketing Management, General	#16
Marketing	#22
Accounting	#34
Accounting	#47
General Business Administration and Management	#129
Business Administration & Management	#165

When we speak of partially online, we are referring to schools whose online population is less than 50% of its total student body. Mostly online refers to those with online populations greater than or equal to 50%.

Southern Methodist University Business Concentrations

The table below shows the number of awards for each concentration.

Major	Bachelor’s	Graduate Certificate	Master’s	Doctor’s	TOTAL
Management Science	0	0	422	0	422
Finance	297	0	0	0	297
General Economics	195	0	0	0	195
Accounting	81	0	63	0	144
Office Administration	37	0	80	0	117
Marketing/Marketing Management, General	74	0	0	0	74
Advertising	44	1	10	0	55
Real Estate	39	0	0	0	39
General Organizational Communication	28	0	0	0	28
Taxation	0	0	26	0	26
Public Relations	24	0	0	0	24
General Business Administration and Management	17	0	0	0	17
Econometrics & Quantitative Economics	0	0	14	3	17
Applied Economics	0	0	10	0	10
Tax Law/Taxation	0	0	7	0	7
Financial Planning & Services	5	0	0	0	5
Entrepreneurship	0	0	0	0	0
Insurance	0	0	0	0	0
General Management Information Systems	0	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	841	1	632	3	1,477

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• National Center for Education Statistics
• Image Credit: By Jeffrey Beall under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.