<p>Back to the OP, SMU, my alma mater, is stereotypically a “rich, white, preppy, snobbish school” but there are plenty of people who don’t fit the stereotype and I made many life long friends. It IS overwhelmingly Greek unless you are in the school of fine arts (they tended to have their own thing going), but Dallas was a great escape from the confines of the campus. There are a ton of great restaurants and bars, many more than when I was there. It is a pretty good school with a pretty good reputation. About 1/2 of the student body is from out of state, it seemed like a great number of people from the midwest go there, many people from the Chicago area and St. Louis. The facilities are great, it is a pretty campus in a pretty part of Dallas. Classes in my major were small, but intro classes and core classes could be pretty big. Everyone goes into Dedman College (L.A.), takes a core curriculum, then declares a major during soph year. That’s about all I can think of now. I know many kids there and they are, for the most part, happy.</p>
<p>Noteiverse - Some other schools for you to consider based on your criteria (conservative, smallish, political science and liberal arts, leaning to south and midwest). Similar to SMU in a major southern city but less expensive than same - University of Tulsa in Tulsa, Oklahoma (lots of merit dollars) and Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas. Similar to Furman but in a larger city - Trinity University in San Antonio (lots of merit dollars). Larger than Hanover College in Indiana (but still smallish) at around 4,000 students - DePauw University (lots of merit dollars) and Denison University in Ohio (also lots of merit dollars). All have relatively conservative student bodies, usually with strong fraternities and sororities. Also, consider the honors colleges at large state universities that are relatively conservative - University of Oklahoma in suburban Oklahoma City, University of Arkansas, University of Mississippi, and a number of other flagship state universities in the South. Though you said money is not an issue, having a number of extra thousand dollars in someone’s pocket because of lower tuition and similar opportunities may make someone in your family happy.</p>
<p>Intelligent Design a science?</p>
<p>Sweet Barbara.</p>
<p>Southpasadena - From a state of Texas partisan (and Plano resident) to a California partisan, let me even out the playing field a bit. Inexpensive housing in Texas is a wonderful advantage over California to any young adult starting out their working life. It is impossible for a young adult to afford a single family residence anywhere along the California coast and fifty miles inland (from San Diego up to north of San Francisco). The Dallas Morning News in the last week compared on various criteria - ethnic, income, ages, population size etc. - Pasadena, California to Pasedena, Texas (outside of Houston). The average home price in Pasedena, California ($286,000) to Pasedena, Texas ($70,000). (I know that Pasedena, Texas is more akin to Long Beach, California in terms of heavy industry, types of jobs, etc., but Long Beach also is well into the $200,000 plus range for tiny one story homes.) Compare Plano, Texas to Irvine, California. White collar jobs, upper middle class and middle class, well planned, good infrastructure, low crime rate, good schools,etc… Plano’s average home is a bit over $200,000. Try in the half million plus range for Irvine. A half million gets you a 3,000 - 3500 square foot custom home in the best upper/upper middle class neighborhoods in Plano. </p>
<p>Okay, I’ll take as a joke your reference to housing being so cheap that you can’t tell the good neighborhoods from the bad in the Dallas area, but I still say “Come on!” </p>
<p>You’re right that the hot weather in the summer can be like an oven in Dallas, and that coastal California in general has it all over Texas for scenery, physical beauty, etc. But the “American dream” of owning your own home with two cars in your two (or three car) garage still can happen in Texas and much of the South and Midwest, but California?..forget it!</p>
<p>Thanks for your input! I’ll look into those!</p>
<p>Hmmm. I like the University of Tulsa a lot, but I’m not sure I’d throw it into the “conservative” and “similar to SMU” category. Then again, Steve Largent did go there.</p>
<p>Addedum to my Texas to California housing price comparisons - I googled up from Money magazine the median home prices for Santa Ana-Anaheim-Irvine ($682,300) and Irvine would be on the pricier end (i.e. above that average). For Dallas-Plano-Irving try $155,500 on for size for a median home price and Plano would be on the pricier end in the low $200’s. $682 K gets you a McMansion in Plano, so young folks…“come on down!” to Texas. We may be flat in much of Texas (topographically), but I promise (once you join the workforce), you won’t be flat broke. Enjoy the house and pool in Plano, Texas and lots of other Texas towns and cities in your $200 - $250 K priced home.</p>
<p>But the thing in plano is that every one is stuck up, thinking that they are extremely rich and looking down upon other people. I lived in west plano where all the mansions where. These houses cost less than a simple craftsman home in a ghetto area of los angles such as highland park where a 1300 sq ft house is costing 600,000-650,000. This is an area where large gangs such as 43 ave’s (like 18 street) are huge with thousands of members. I love the price of homes, they are extremely cheap, but note the quality, it really isnt that great. Now plano is one exception, its a city full of people migrating from the east and west, its not a true texas city. I could possibly be the area that i lived, i also checked out Irving, north park, other areas, i picked the area with most asians since that is what i am and that is what i am used to, bad mistake. It can be a good area for some, i hated it, just be careful, TX is either like it or hate it, no in betweens really, but true texans are really nice and helpful, i found that out on my several trip back home when my tires decided to become flat and they helped me out.</p>
<p>You trully cant tell the ghetto from a typical suburban neighborhood. The older areas inside dallas yes, but surrounding neighborhoods now. I looked at some crime statistics from some nice looking apartments in addison which seemed like a nice area, but it was so cheap, lots of unusual pple where moving in. Prostitution, rampant drug use, domestic violence, everything. You really cant tell unless your in an older part of the dfw area, such as oak park, but newer areas of dallas ( my mom moved to one 7 miles outside downtown with a friend since i came back to so cal) it looked like an upper middle class down here, but i can tell you it is not. I saw gang members driving up and down, heard parties every night, police sirens, police chases, robberies, and the thing is i was there for only a few days</p>
<p>southpasadena - Thanks for clarifying your remarks. Texas can be a “love it” or “hate it” state. And you’re right, some of the wealthier folks in West Plano love to flaunt it.</p>
<p>They love the flaunt that is what i hate, you go into the parking lot of plano west high, you see lexus lexus hummer lexus bmw. School wise, it was totally different, i attended my last semester of high school there, hated it so much i stopped attending and got sent to a special program school where i finished in 1 week. I had kids that would talk to me becuase they love cali and want to move there and some that would try to bully me even though i am bigger, i just dont understand them. I am 6’2", looked like a big d end for a high school football team, yet i had these little midgets driving raised trucks trying to push me around. After talking to a lot of pple, i found out it was just the school not because i am in TX. But there are other areas like West Plano including north park which is right by SMU. Irving was more down to earth, much more diverse as well, but to close to airpot</p>
<p>Southpasadena - Crime in large/huge apartment complexes can indeed be more prevalent than nearby residential areas in the Dallas area, Texas, and many other parts of the country, including California. This is especially the case if the many of the apartment dwellers are just “passing through” as you have noted. </p>
<p>Please note that overall the crime rate - both violent and property crime - in Plano and similar cities with large apartment communities is very low and compares very favorably to Irvine and nearby cities in California. For instance, I believe Anaheim, California and its more mixed ethnic and income make-up would be very similar to Irving, Texas in its crime rates; whereas, Irvine in Orange County, California and Plano are very similar. The point is that I believe that a lot of your experiences relative to crime and noise would have occurred in Anywhere, U.S.A., not just Texas.</p>
<p>Also, I believe flaunting wealth (and the “I am better than you” is not in any way peculiar to West Plano). Think of Newport Beach, Malibu, La Jolla, and similar havens of extraordinary wealth in California and I believe you would experience very similar (though obviously unacceptable) treatment. Remember the old TV series “90210” set in a Beverly Hills High School? That is an example.</p>
<p>i know about orange county, i know how they flaunt wealth, but the fact is that they trully are wealthy, in Plano you can just be middle class and have a huge mansion and fancy cars. They are buying mansions in TX for 600,000, over here the ghetto has prices reaching 600 and above. Im talking about them not heaving “real” wealth, they just think they do</p>
<p>About the apartments, i am talking about them being decieving, a seemingly nice area can be worse than it seems. However here, a bad area, well it looks bad. Irvine sometimes looks like outer parts of dallas, but there is a vast difference in crime statistics. Houses look the same, obviously irvine houses are better well maintained, but overall similar</p>
<p>Only thing i took back from TX that i loved was i found that i appreciated so cal more and i got to experience my first snow storm, 6" in 2004, now that was fun</p>
<p>Too long under-rated, Wofford is increasingly becoming nationally renowned as a real academic “up and comer.” A dramatically surging endowment, a lush and luxuriant campus, stellar academics, increasingly drawing eminent new faculty members, students are now coming from all across the nation and abroad. Deeply devoted to racial, ethnic, cultural diversity. Conservative? Absolutely not in the currently “pop” manner suggested by the comments below. But perhaps admirably so in the classical way: being deeply thoughtful before making important life decisions, rather that impulsively leaping to action. Both students and faculty are genuinely warm and engaging. Students are across the board highly motivated, creative and highly successful after graduation.</p>
<p>Historical notes: Wofford graduates have included the Founders/Presidents of Duke University, Vanderbilt University and the Candler School of Theology at Emory University. A former President of Wofford went on to serve as President of Southern Methodist University (cleaning up that university’s corrupt athletic program), Drew University and then the Chancelor of the entire University of North Carolina system (including the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill).</p>