Hi all,

I'm an energy marketing guy from Dallas and I'm interested in doing an MBA program. My choice is essentially between SMU Cox and TCU Neeley, which one is better? Here are the pros and cons, as far as I see them:

SMU Cox
Pro: better rankings, good salaries in the oil industry
Con: more expensive, dropped a lot in the BusinessWeek ranking this year (a sign of things to come?)

TCU Neeley
Pro: less expensive
Con: salaries are generally not as good

The other option might be Rice Jones in Houston if I can get a good GMAT score and secure funding.

Anybody else considering these programs?

SMU is well ahead of TCU. The difference is fees will be tiny compared to the lifetime difference in earnings.

Schools always move up and down in the rankings: that's how the magazines sell them. But there's no danger that SMU and TCU will swap places.

That was my feeling as well, especially because SMU has held pretty steady in the FT rankings for the last few years.

What about Cox vs. Jones, if it requires more investment and a move to do it? Assuming I can get an adequate GMAT score, of course.

Rice is great value: it's similar in price to SMU but the students get higher salaries.

Hi Duncan! Good thoughts/questions. There's a quick and easy explanation for the drop in SMU's BusinessWeek rankings. BusinessWeek changed the methodology to provide more weight to larger schools. It's no longer purely based on employer satisfaction, for example, but weights for the number of employers, which will always favor larger schools.
Also, don't be afraid of the sticker price. SMU offers generous scholarships to the majority of their MBA's. So go ahead and apply (no application fee), and see what the actual financial package will be.
Hope this helps!

Thanks for the insight and explanation!

Looks like my choice will really be between Cox and Jones, and will probably depend on my GMAT score.