<p>SMU is Southern Methodist University which has a very strong BFA in Acting program that is well regarded. </p>
<p>I will add my two cents. It is understandable for a student to want a particular geographic region for their college search and selection. However, when one is looking for a specialized degree program (which is what a BFA in Acting is) and there is a far more limited number of colleges that offer it compared to a regular college search for liberal arts subjects and the like (BA type degrees), I think one needs to expand the geographic criteria as one of the selection criteria and go where the programs that best fit the student are located and see where they get in and THEN if given a number of BFA acceptances, narrow it down then to perhaps within a region one prefers. I feel this way about anyone looking into a specialized degree program but particularly if you are looking for a BFA in Acting and are choosing the Southeast where that knocks out so many of the very fine BFA options off the bat. </p>
<p>My nephew is a senior in HS and applied to a different type of specialized degree program this year where there are a limited number of schools that offer it and it also requires auditions at most programs and while he made a number of mistakes in his college process, ONE of the errors, in my view, is that he limited his college search to a specific region of the country and that cut out many programs in his field and his list was also not long enough due to that as well (he got into none of his programs and he will apply again and this time not narrow the geographic region so much, as well as make some other changes). </p>
<p>I understand your son’s preferences in terms of location but given the finite number of BFA in Acting programs (and particularly good ones), I would encourage him to widen his search (he is not committing where to attend yet) and seeing his options next spring and then using criteria like location to narrow his options. Things like location are often a major criteria in selecting regular colleges but are LESS important criteria in selecting specialized degree programs where picking the right program (which is a commitment to the program itself and not as much the college) should be the number one criteria. I had one of my own kids who applied to regular colleges where location was a heavier factor in selection but my child who applied to specialized degree programs, had location as a secondary factor after the selection of the right programs. Once she had her options, she chose a school in a location she preferred. My other child applied to specialized grad programs and location became a bigger factor once she had her acceptances in hand but she was open to other locations in her college search.</p>