For Three Quick Questions, I send the same three questions to admission representatives at colleges all over the country, and then I hope to hear back from them. The three questions are meant to probe some of the things that make a school unique but that aren’t easily captured as a stat to go in a book or web search.

Today’s response is from Brenda Del Rio, Admissions Counselor at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. (And today’s response is very special to me, because I spent two years at SMU getting my Master’s Degree. Pony Up!)

What is a course, tradition, program or event that is unique to Southern Methodist University?

While SMU is a very tradition heavy campus, one of our most unique ones is Boulevarding! Instead of tailgating, we Boulevard. It’s even greater considering that it’s never students alone celebrating their team, it truly is a Dallas wide community effort.

Naturally every college wants to recruit the perfect student--high grades, high test scores, involved in their community, leadership...everything. But what kinds of imperfect students tend to flourish at SMU?

What makes SMU really unique is that aside from drawing in students who know what they want to do with their life from a very young age, we also draw in students who are completely clueless about what they want to do, and we love that! Because our curriculum is flexible and 3 in 5 of our students double or triple major, it allows for some unique opportunities for students to marry different areas of study to create the education experience they are truly for. Often times, students who are unsure about their future don’t want to commit to just one area of study, so those that are interested in multiple ones really tend to flourish here.

When people come to visit Dallas, what's a place off campus that you recommend they check out while they're there?

There’s so many places, this question is hard! But the M-Line trolley is a lot of fun! It’s free to use and takes guests around the Klyde Warren Park area (also a lot of fun) and Uptown Dallas, which is right down the street from us.

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Photo by Angela Elisabeth. [The banner photo is not of SMU. I use the same photo for all Three Quick Questions posts so you can spot them easily.]