clomps wrote:
I was born and raised in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and I definitely think SMU's program has a better reputation than TCU's. That said, I agree with other posters that if you want to stay in DFW, TCU isn't a bad place to go. I think nationwide, though, Iowa has a better reputation than TCU.
TCU is honestly a small, private Christian college (not super parochial, though) that many people go to if they are Fort Worth natives. It is not particularly diverse.
I know Tippie is out in the middle of nowhere, but it is a college town, so it's not like there's absolutely nothing to do. In general, though, I think it does have the stronger brand name.
This.
I am midwestern, so I mostly targeted midwestern schools. My understanding is anything outside of the top 15-25, you're going to get more regional recruiting exposure. You have to decide where you want to work and in what industry. I visited Iowa city, its a big college town, nowhere near what you'd get in Dallas but they place well in Chicago and Minneapolis. Personally, for me, I wanted to stay in the midwest, so a good program with really generous financial aid in the midwest made them my top choice.