美国顶级名校行-Southern Methodist University (Cox)大学校园风光

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2011-1-26 14:44

Photos provided by Southern Methodist University

By Adam Fusfeld

Cox School of Business
Although Southern Methodist's name conjures up church images and its student body is considered conservative as a whole, the university has taken a progressive approach to business since its inception in 1915. Five years after opening its doors, SMU teamed with the growing business community in nearby Dallas to launch a business school. The two have matured together. Today, the Cox School of Business is a premier institution and downtown Dallas—located just five miles south of campus—is the South's business capital.

The Cox School of Business offers the full range of highly-ranked business programs, from undergraduate degrees to part-time and full-time MBAs and executive MBAs. The full-time MBA program sets students back more than $81,000 but leaves them, on average, with an 80% increase in salary. Cox undergrads leave campus with strong connections in Dallas, good MBA placement, and relatively high-paying jobs. Students from all programs rave about Cox's marketing and finance programs, as well as the strong connection SMU has forged with Dallas's flourishing business world.

Photos provided by Southern Methodist University. Caption information provided by the school and BusinessWeek research.

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Dallas
SMU's proximity to Dallas is perhaps the business school's most effective selling point. Many argue that Dallas—which boasts 17 Fortune 500 company headquarters—is second only to New York as a business hub, and Cox makes certain to capitalize on the opportunities. Both undergraduate and graduate students praise the school's mentor program, which links students with Dallas professionals employed in their dream field for career-networking opportunities. The school maintains powerful connections with big businesses in the area, many of which send recruiters to campus. Students also love being down the road from a vibrant metropolis. All of this helps to explain why 85% of undergraduate business students and 73% of MBAs accept jobs in the Southwest upon receiving their degrees.

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Career Management Center
As with any B-school, job placement is at the heart of Cox's success. In addition to connecting students with recruiters and offering career fairs throughout the academic year, the SMU Career Management Center is renowned for providing myriad networking opportunities to students in both MBA and undergraduate business programs. Appropriately, BusinessWeek awarded Cox an "A" in both undergraduate job placement and MBA careers in the magazine's recent rankings.

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2011-1-26 14:47

Locally International
SMU likes to cite its renowned Spanish art museum, study-abroad programs, and numerous foreign-exchange options as evidence of its global perspective. But its business school admissions record fails to live up to the hype. Just 18% of new MBA students and 2% of undergraduate business majors hail from overseas. The school's true global perspective is a product of its proximity to Mexico. SMU students have the option of studying Central American history and the area's indigenous peoples at the SMU campus on a Native American pueblo in Taos, N.M. Students can spend a semester taking classes and participating in outdoor activities or a mere weekend brushing up on their tourism skills.

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Faculty
University-wide, SMU has more than 600 full-time faculty, 84% of whom hold doctorates or the highest degrees in their fields. At the disposal of undergraduate business students are 45 full-time faculty members, many of them businesses owners or advisors or directors at major companies. The size of the undergraduate faculty allows Cox to keep classes small: The vast majority have fewer than 50 students.

MBA students are served by 126 full-time faculty members. A quarter own a business and 19% serve as company advisors or directors. The 98 electives available to MBA students ensure that they can develop skills in nearly every imaginable niche. Case studies—the most commonly used teaching approach at the graduate level—ensure that Cox MBAs will be able to apply these skills to real-world situations.

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Friendly Staff
Though many top B-schools can match Cox's impressive array of professors, few faculties are more accessible to students. Both undergraduates and MBAs praised how open professors and deans are in discussing issues inside and outside the classroom. "All of the professors are available and enjoy talking to students about both class-related and general business topics," said one student in a BusinessWeek survey. "They take a real interest in their students, if the students let them."

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Dallas Hall
The colossal domed building at the center of campus was modeled after the library rotunda at the University of Virginia and is named Dallas Hall in recognition of the city that pledged financial support to ensure SMU's current location. Constructed on a hill, Dallas Hall opened in 1915; it housed the entire university and inspired "The Hilltop" nickname given to SMU. Students seeking a night in town after a difficult day of classes could head to the building's barbershop and bank for a clean haircut and some spending money. Almost a century later, the university continues to value and further cultivate its relationship with the city for which its central building is named.

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2011-1-26 14:49

Business Leadership Center
The Cox Business Leadership Center (BLC) offers MBA students more than 85 seminars specializing in leadership and communication. The seminars are led by businesspeople from Fortune 500 giants, midcap companies, and small entrepreneurial ventures. They are designed to focus on specific topics that elicit heated discussion, such as integrity-driven leadership and influencing the media. In the photograph above, Cox MBAs cap off the BLC-sponsored Disney Institute Program with a trip to the DisneyWorld Resort in Orlando, Fla. The program has students interact with Walt Disney executives and learn the management skills that have shaped the world's most popular vacation destination.

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Team-Oriented Approach
The relatively small business-student body in the Cox MBA program lends itself to teamwork and collaboration. Students are assigned group projects and presentations that force them to improve the communication skills essential in the business world. Quite a few students told BusinessWeek that they felt better prepared for jobs in the financial sector because of this approach. The emphasis on team-building also forges friendships that make the two years at Cox all the more enjoyable. "The relationships that I established with part-time MBA and other full-time MBA students are invaluable—and something for which SMU is known," said one MBA student in a survey.

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Resources
This vividly colored pathway marks an entrance to one of the 10 libraries on the SMU campus, which comprise the Southwest's largest collection of research material. In 2008, George W. Bush announced the groundbreaking for the Bush Presidential Library, slated to house a museum, policy institute, and research foundation. The university has also invested about $1.5 million to upgrade its wireless network and enhance teaching technologies, ranging from virtual whiteboards to TV studios, giving Cox students an advantage over peers at most B-schools.