SMU Cox vs. Tulane Freeman

College Search & Lists
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My DD was accepted EA to Tulane and SMU with direct admit into Cox. I have scoured the internet and LinkedIn to seek some information on what types of internships and post-grad jobs the students from Tulane Freeman and SMU Cox are getting. I’ve heard great things about career services at both schools.

I see a lot of threads comparing the social scene and culture between the schools, but not many on post-grad outcomes and ROI for undergraduate business students. I suppose few people are starting or commenting on conversations once they are past this phase. From my limited anecdotal scouring of LinkedIn primarily (for several hours on each school) it appears that SMU Cox students are securing much more competitive internships and post-grad jobs vs. Tulane Freeman undergraduate students.

She received better merit aid from SMU but it’s not enough to base a decision on, so it’s a non-factor. I’m focused on comparing the short and long-term career outcomes of any school we are considering. We are also waiting on many more EA/RD decisions but these are the two schools I’m comparing now.

Likely major is non-finance (management). According to Poets & Quants, 93.4% of Cox SMU (ranked #23) students had a business-focused internship before graduating, and average starting salary of $76,651. For Tulane Freeman (ranked #31), 36% of students had a business-focused internship before graduating but no average starting salary published on P&Q.

collegescorecard shows median earnings of $87,423 for Tulane (Business Administration, not finance! This is so high!), but SMU doesn’t have comparable Management salary on that site.

Roughly 75% of SMU students stay in TX post-grad, this is a pretty big negative. Maybe for a year or two, but TX is NOT where she wants to be long-term. In comparison, nearly 50% of Tulane grads end up in the northeast but that’s likely because most students are from the northeast (we are not). She would rather land in a big city on the west or east coast post-grad.

Socially, she is a 10/10 extravert and intends to rush so I have zero concerns about either school socially and think she would thrive at either one. We absolutely loved Tulane on our visit.

If anyone has personal experience or observations regarding non-finance business career outcomes for these two schools and things we should consider, I would greatly appreciate any insight. Thank you!

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What is her major?

SMU is very well known - especially in finance, IB, etc.

Cox is, in my mind, better known but you are only getting one job - so that wouldn’t be a focus.

Freeman put this out in 2020, you should ask them for an update. Here is the latest (I could find) Cox as well. Surprising to me how much (back then) Freeman placed in the Northeast.

Cox has majors. Freeman has minors - which may equivalate with the degree.

It may simply come to personal preference - but if you want ROI data, the schools should have it ready and waiting - and I’d ask for current info.

Good luck

PS - as for locations - a ton of the country is moving to Texas…and it might be preference. Even IB today has opportunities there. Would you rather live in a income tax free state, etc, nice weather, etc. and more - yes, people think about these things.

2020-BSM-Employment Stats.pdf | Powered by Box

PowerPoint Presentation (smu.edu)

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Likely major is Management for both schools as of now but she’s also considering a sales career so perhaps Marketing. Thank you for that SMU Powerpoint, that helps a lot! I didn’t come across that before. I will ask Freeman for updated employment stats, the 2020 is the last I could find as well.

We are in a warm weather, low tax state now so I imagine she’ll end up back in a warm weather climate eventually but she wants to explore something new post-grad which I can totally understand. Who knows, she could change her mind and end up wanting to stay in Dallas / TX. Four years is a long time :slight_smile: Thank you for the insight!

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In today’s world, more and more hiring is done online.

My kid went to school in Alabama and I’m in Utah right now, moving him for his next 6 month rotation which is in Arizona. Then will be California.

For sales (my job), most especially - the where won’t matter - and that goes beyond these two programs.

Sounds like they prefer Tulane so if the $$ lines up, I don’t see an issue.

But it is sort of lame that any of these schools don’t have worst case 2022 data and should have 23.

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I would vote SMU Cox, especially if I-banking or Texas (especially Austin/Dallas) are desired potential outcomes, due to existing alumni networks. That said, anecdotally, Tulane has good networks in New York, South Florida and Houston. There will be too many distractions at both, but same can be said about life generally.

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Definitely too many distractions at both :slight_smile: She’s definitely not going into banking or consulting, I’m thinking probably sales (tech sales, etc.) so it’s a little tougher career path to analyze I think out of either school. Thanks for the anecdotal Tulane networks, that helps!

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Honestly both will be fine and likely won’t use the alumni network. Most don’t. Today kids are finding jobs via handshake and LinkedIn or indeed. My son had 20 interviews last fall, all but maybe one self found. Even Cornell’s career outcome page shows similar.

It’s a new world.

I’d imagine Tulane will have more distractions….if she likes the French Quarter or other parts. My daughter was enthralled - not with Tulane (didn’t like) but definitely the night life potential.

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Sounds like both schools are a good fit socially, with Tulane having an edge. But direct entry into a B-School is a game changer. How competitive is it to get into Freeman? What is the acceptance percentage of existing students into Freeman? I don’t know stats at Tulane, but using BC as an example, if you don’t get into Carroll direct entry, chances are slim of transferring in later. If she wants to major in business, entry into the B school is a critical factor, so SMU Cox definitely wins on that factor.

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Has she contacted each of the career centers and asked for recent data/reports?

I agree. I do not believe this, and would discount it.

Neither school is ideal for those goals…I agree with your observation that Tulane has strong placement in the NE because that’s where many of the students are from. If she attends SMU or Tulane, she will need to network into the companies that have jobs in the cities she is interested in. The career centers should be able to give her the template/tools to do that, but they will not make the connections for her (this is basically true at any school though).

It seems early to choose such a niche path. For tech sales jobs (really any sales job) she will be competing with many non-business majors. I would encourage her to get as many quantitative schools as possible to be competitive for any business type job.

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100% agreed - kids think they know now and they don’t. How could they. 17 years old. Things exist that they don’t even know about.

And agreed - today, most everything is data driven in decision making. My business totally is - or tries to be - vs. years ago. Any quantitative abilities/skills puts one well ahead and many b schools are adding quant content to classes, unlike many years ago when I got my MBA.

Didn’t realize about Freeman and direct admission. That’s something to look at too. I don’t see it on their website though. Probably missing that.

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Tulane mom here. When you are admitted to Tulane, you are admitted to all of their colleges, so OP is already admitted to Freeman (and Liberal Arts and Science and Engineering, etc.). They pride themselves on academic flexibility, allowing students to change majors and add minors. My kid is not a business major and only a sophomore, so I really can’t speak to career outcomes for Freeman. He does love it there though. I get the sense that students there find a way to both study and party hard. He often mentions/complains how much work and studying he does and has a good GPA, but he gets out a lot too and there is no shortage of things to do. I think that’s why they can study hard/party hard because if you have to miss some event to get work done, you’re not really missing out because there will for sure be something the next day. The school goes on break for Mardi Gras, so no one’s missing that!

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One of my kids is a junior at Cox. She loves the school and everything. However, the way I understand is that Cox is very finance-focused, and well known. I am not sure if I can say the same about management and other majors.

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Thank you for the detailed reply! @tsbna44 posted the link to SMU Cox employment so that seems fairly comprehensive, I need to have her do the same for Tulane Freeman.

100% agree on the networking. My older one is a junior at Vanderbilt and she spends HOURS every day during recruiting season networking with the alumni network and anyone and everyone. It has been extremely challenging for her to recruit into NY this year, several firms she got past the first round have said they are not placing Vandy students in NY - only Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, Phoenix.

I definitely wouldn’t say she’s chosen a path yet, but she’s definitely not going into IB / finance - I can say that with absolute certainty. She is a natural salesperson and she’s talked about sales throughout high school so she knows she wants a people-focused career.

Thanks so much for the feedback!

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That’s what I’m gathering from my research too. That’s wonderful that she loves the school!

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Selling can be in so many things. I’m in automotive (for a factory), others are supplier, technical, etc.

My daughter’s BF is graduating U Denver in finance and wants to be in wealth management, a hard place to start out of college. But he’s in final round interviews to sell a big investment company’s services to financial advisors - which I take as a wholesaler of mutual funds.

There’s so many things that get sold out there…but alas my company is leaving the person to person and going to virtual (at least til we fall on our faces) - but if she loves dealing with people, etc. there will be lots for her.

When I failed at my journalism career and had an undergrad dual of History/Journalism, I went home and had four job offers - all sales.

After my MBA, I’ve done marketing to pricing to product management - and I’m back in a role where I excel…sales.

So if that’s your daughter’s acumen, she’ll be fine…no matter which school she chooses, amongst these two or otherwise…

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Probably an internal wholesaler. You never get an offer to be an external wholesaler unless you have relationships in the field - which he wont have since he just graduated.

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I LOVE this about Tulane, the academic freedom is extremely appealing and unique. I love the work hard / play hard approach. My older one is at Vanderbilt and a big reason why she chose that school was that combination. There’s so much to love about Tulane. Given that they are just kids trying to make very expensive life decisions, the flexibility is a huge plus.

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My nephew’s best friend went to Tulane and is working at BlackRock in NY. My other nephew’s friend went to SMU Cox, graduated and is unemployed.

From my impression, the difference between the two were the grades and effort, not the schools.

High paying jobs are extremely competitive (probably everywhere) so it’s more important you’re a top student no matter where you go.

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Second for the academic flexibility huge plus. Business building a second big plus.

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So incredibly true. This is a heck of an anecdote. Thank you :blush: