Dallas – A top ten city
SMU's spacious, tree-lined campus is nestled in a residential neighborhood and surrounded by a busy city bursting with opportunities for inspiration, exploration and recreation.
Dallas boasts more than 100 live music performances nightly, professional sports, trendy entertainment districts and a world-class art scene. That’s what you’d expect from the ninth largest city in the US. And after graduation, your SMU connections and the robust Dallas economy just might keep you around here.
Dallas has culture – a lot of it
Dallas has more than 115 public art works scattered throughout the city and is home to the largest urban arts district in the US, a 68-acre, 19-block neighborhood in the heart of the city.
The Arts District is a favorite tour stop for many highly acclaimed performers and houses some of the most extensive and impressive art collections in the world. The district also includes the Nasher Sculpture Center – the largest private collection of modern sculpture in the US.
View the largest collection of Art Deco architecture in the world at Fair Park, also home to the largest state fair in the country each Fall. Right on campus you can see the largest collection of Spanish art outside of Spain at the Meadows Museum of Art.
But we’re not just into art here in the Big D. We happen to love music, theater and film, too. The Dallas International Film Festival entertains more than 40,000 attendees with an annual film festival featuring 180 feature-length and short films representing more than 25 countries. The AT&T Performing Arts Center is an exhilarating new venue that features opera, dance and musicals from local artists and touring productions.
If you love professional sports, the Dallas Stars and Dallas Mavericks both play their home games at American Airlines Center in Victory Park, just a few minutes from campus. And the Dallas Cowboys and Texas Rangers are just a short drive away in Arlington.
A land of opportunity
Dallas’ economy remains strong, despite what’s going on in the rest of the economic world. Dubbed the “telecom prairie,” Dallas employs about 43 percent of Texas’ high-tech workers. Other major industries include defense, financial services, life sciences, transportation and healthcare.
According to a recent report by economists from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, the city is still experiencing job growth and a relatively stable job climate. And in 2010, Texas surpassed New York as the state with highest concentration of Fortune 500 corporate headquarters – a total of 58. Dallas alone boasts 12 of those, and its suburbs are home to seven more.
Between the connections you make at SMU and the always-thriving Dallas job market, you probably won’t have trouble finding a job you love.
Plenty of trees to hug, too
With so much urban culture to explore, it’s easy to forget that there are 406 parks within the Dallas city limits. That’s more than 21,000 acres, including 17 lakes with 4,400 surface acres of water, 17,196 acres of greenbelt, and 61.6 miles of jogging and bike trails. And with 45 miles of light rail and 120 bus routes, there’s always a cheap and green way to get to where the fun is.
Good day, sunshine!
On average, Dallas enjoys 232 sunny days per year, making it sunnier than Miami. And we celebrate our warm weather with plenty of open-air performances including Shakespeare in the Park, a series of live outdoor theatre performances running from June through October.
A history of style and taste
In 1931, Dallas opened Highland Park Village, the nation’s first shopping center. NorthPark Center was the first air-conditioned mall in the US. And Dallas is home to more restaurants and shopping centers per capita than any other major US city, so you can have sushi one night and authentic Mexican the next.