Southern Methodist University Data & Information Overview

If you want to know more about Southern Methodist University, such as what majors does it offer, how diverse it is, how well it ranks, and more, this is your one-stop resource. All you need to do to learn more about a stat is click on its tile, and you'll be taken to another page that analyzes that data more closely. Also, you can use the links below to scroll to any section of this page.

• Rankings
• Admission and Acceptance
• Faculty
• Retention and Graduation Rates
• Diversity
• Cost
• Student Debt
• Average Earnings
• Location
• Majors
• Online Learning
• Related Schools

How Well Is Southern Methodist University Ranked?

2021 Rankings

College Factual analyzes over 2,000 colleges and universities in its annual rankings and ranks them in a variety of ways, including most diverse, best overall quality, best for non-traditional students, and much more.

Southern Methodist University was awarded 120 badges in the 2021 rankings. The highest ranked major at the school is health and physical education.

Overall Quality

According to College Factual's 2021 analysis, SMU is ranked #114 out of 1,715 schools in the nation that were analyzed for overall quality. This puts it in the top 10% of all schools in the nation.

SMU is also ranked #6 out of 85 schools in Texas.

See all of the rankings for Southern Methodist University.

Is It Hard to Get Into SMU?

Acceptance Rate

Southern Methodist University has an acceptance rate of 49%, which means the school is serious about who it admits. Take your time in putting together a strong application that highlights why you are a good fit for SMU.

Average Test Scores

About 36% 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 640 and 730.

SMU received ACT scores from 72% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT Composite scores ranged between 28 and 32.

Learn more about Southern Methodist University admissions.

Southern Methodist University Faculty

Student to Faculty Ratio

At SMU, the student to faculty ratio is an excellent 11 to 1. That's much better than the national average of 15 to 1. This indicates that many classes will probably be small, and students will have ample opportunites to work closely with their professors and classmates.

Percent of Full-Time Faculty

Another measure that is often used to estimate how much access students will have to their professors is how many faculty members are full-time. The idea here is that part-time faculty tend to spend less time on campus, so they may not be as available to students as full-timers.

The full-time faculty percentage at Southern Methodist University is 68%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.

Retention and Graduation Rates at Southern Methodist University

Freshmen Retention Rate

The freshmen retention rate of 91% tells us that most first-year, full-time students like Southern Methodist University enough to come back for another year. This is a fair bit higher than the national average of 68%. That's certainly something to check off in the good column about the school.

Graduation Rate

The on-time graduation rate for someone pursuing a bachelor's degree is typically four years. This rate at SMU for first-time, full-time students is 67%, which is better than the national average of 33.3%.

Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Southern Methodist University.

Excellent Overall Diversity at SMU

During the 2017-2018 academic year, there were 6,479 undergraduates at SMU with 6,273 being full-time and 206 being part-time.

SMU Diversity Score

College Factual computes an overall diversity score for each college and university that takes gender, ethnicity, geographic location, and age into account. Schools with the best mixtures of students with respect to these factors are ranked the highest, and those that cater to just one or two student groups are ranked the lowest.

With an overall score of 97.38 out of 100, SMU is one of the most diverse schools in the nation.

Get more detailed information on diversity and student demographics at Southern Methodist University.

How Much Does Southern Methodist University Cost?

The overall average net price of SMU is $36,575. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group. See the table below for the net price for different income groups.

Net Price by Income Group for SMU

$0-30 K	$30K-48K	$48-75	$75-110K	$110K +
$28,924	$23,256	$28,401	$31,664	$44,440

The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.Note that the net price is typically less than the published for a school. For more information on the sticker price of SMU, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.

Student Loan Debt

Almost 66% of college students who graduated with the class of 2018 took out student loans, but that percentage varies from school to school. At SMU, approximately 25% of students took out student loans averaging $9,927 a year. That adds up to $39,708 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at SMU is 2.7%. 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.

Get more details about paying for Southern Methodist University.

How Much Money Do SMU Graduates Make?

Although some majors pay more than others, students who graduate from SMU with a bachelor's degree go on to jobs where they make an average salary of $60,700 in their early years. That's great news for SMU students since it is 53% more than the average college graduate's salary of $39,802 per year.

See which majors at Southern Methodist University make the most money.

Location of Southern Methodist University

Southern Methodist University is a private not-for-profit institution located in Dallas, Texas. The suburban atmosphere of Dallas makes it a great place for students who want the amenities of city life without actually living in the middle of a constant hustle and bustle.

Get more details about the location of 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

Southern Methodist University Majors

During the most recent year for which we have data, students from 88 majors graduated from Southern Methodist University. Of these students, 1,942 received undergraduate degrees and 2,268 graduated with a master's or doctor's degree. The following table lists the most popular undergraduate majors along with the average salary graduates from those majors make.

Most Popular Majors	Bachelor’s Degrees	Average Salary of Graduates
Finance & Financial Management	256	$68,100
Economics	185	$59,000
Accounting	98	NA
Public Relations & Advertising	97	$41,900
Mathematics	93	$60,500
General Biology	85	$26,500
General Psychology	82	$26,400
Health & Physical Education	79	$45,600
Marketing	69	$53,900
Business Administration & Management	68	NA

Learn more about the majors offered at Southern Methodist University along with which ones have the highest average starting salaries.

Online Learning at SMU

Online learning options are becoming more and more popular at American colleges and universities. Online classes are great for students who have busy schedules or for those who just want to study on their own time.

In 2017-2018, 1,104 students took at least one online class at Southern Methodist University. This is a decrease from the 1,190 students who took online classes the previous year.

Year	Took at Least One Online Class	Took All Classes Online
2017-2018	1,104	501
2016-2017	1,190	503
2015-2016	759	420
2014-2015	563	296
2013-2014	427	217

Learn more about online learning at Southern Methodist University.

Related Schools

If you’re considering Southern Methodist University, here are some more schools you may be interested in knowing more about.

• American University
• Hendrix College
• Pitzer College
• Trinity College
• Tulane University of Louisiana

Curious on how these schools stack up against SMU? Pit them head to head with College Combat, our free interactive tool that lets you compare college on the features that matter most to you!

Notes and References

Footnotes

*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.

References

• National Center for Education Statistics
• College Scorecard
• Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System
• Image Credit: By Jeffrey Beall under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.