I don’t know about any auto admits at SMU. Hadn’t heard that. But I might just not know. But I suspect you’d get SMU on your own merits.
You can study any major for law - from
Exercise to history to business to engineering.
You mention business but now history.
What is it you want to study ? That’s what you should study but if you want to work in finance, I’d study that. But history might or might not be more conducive for law. More reading and writing. Perhaps you can double or minor.
Would you say Harvard is T14 because their class is represented by 174 schools. Cal State LA and Northridge, Oakland U in Michigan, Fairleigh Dickinson, Georgia State , U of you name it - Arkansas, Alabama, Wyoming and on and on.
Your gpa and test taking will get you into law school. You’re a great test taker. Going to Michigan or Gtown on its own - won’t.
Where you go to school likely won’t impact where you work. My son went to Bama. We are in Franklin TN and it’s not why he chose it but it was cheaper than UTK. Culverhouse is a great b school.
Had an offer outside Providence. He ended up with a Cleveland company but in Utah. NY is another possibility for future rotations - he has 4 six month rotations. You could go to NYU and end up in TN. Don’t pick a school thinking - so I can work there.
For a corporate finance gig, any school mentioned will be just fine including UTK. Today more hiring is done on indeed and LinkedIn plus handshake - you can get anywhere from anywhere, especially for a corporate finance gig.