The Hilltop Diaries

SMU Cox students embark on important next step in MBA journey

SMU Cox students having fun in Dallas
Photo courtesy of Jennifer Kesterson
SMU Cox class of 2014 on graduation day
Photo courtesy of Jennifer Kesterson
SMU Cox School of Business
Photo courtesy of Jennifer Kesterson
SMU Cox class of 2015
Photo courtesy of Jennifer Kesterson

Hi, all. I hope you had a great Memorial Day weekend and your summers are off to a wonderful start.

Over at Cox, we finished our final exams, and our GLP trips have come to a close. We celebrated graduation on May 17 and bid farewell to all of the second-year classmates who have been amazing mentors and friends to all of us.

It was exciting to sit back and watch them walk across the stage and receive their diplomas — knowing how hard they have worked over the past two years. What a proud moment for all of them! Now they are enjoying their last few months of freedom before starting work full-time, while we first-years are setting sail on a new adventure: summer internships.

Having an internship is a requirement for all students, and SMU Cox has had a 100 percent placement rate for the past 10-plus years.

Having an internship is a requirement for all students in order to graduate, and SMU Cox has had a 100 percent internship placement rate for the past 10-plus years. We expect nothing less for this summer. The on-campus recruiting has been exceptional this year, and many of my classmates, including myself, gained our internships this way.

As I have mentioned before, the majority of us are switching industries in the full-time program, so this summer is a huge stepping-stone into what will be our new career path. We are all excited and anxious, but at the same time we feel prepared. The past 10 months of school have, of course, been full of schoolwork and exams, but the other half of it was filled with networking and studying up on potential new careers.

Most formal internships last 10 weeks — some of which have already started or will start within the next few weeks. I will be heading to NYC next Friday for orientation week, and then I will return to Dallas for a few weeks before going back to NYC to finish out the last five weeks of summer.

When I get back to Dallas in August, I will head straight into helping out in the execution of the upcoming class of 2016’s orientation week. No stopping until December break!

Sadly, it seems that this is my last entry of the SMU Cox series, and I hope that you have enjoyed getting a bit of insight into what our full-time MBA program is like and all of the great opportunities and experiences that it can potentially offer you.

It has been such a great year, not only meeting amazing new people and conquering challenging schoolwork, group projects and exams, but it was also mixed with a bunch of fun social events and world travel. Each and every experience has helped contribute to one of the most memorable years of my life.

Good luck to any of you out there who are considering leaving the workforce and jumping into a full-time (or part-time) MBA program. I know it might be scary to leave your job, but I can assure you, SMU Cox will make it worth it.

I am excited to see where this summer and the next school year take me. If it’s anything like this year, I am in for a treat.

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share the road

Texas races to the bottom in new list of best states for cyclists

Photo by Garry Neesam on Unsplash

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In what will come as no surprise to cyclists around Dallas, the state of Texas is not a good place for bicycling riding. According to a new report of the "Most Cycling-Friendly States in the U.S.," Texas comes in at No. 47 — meaning that only three other states are worse.

The report, from Philadelphia personal injury law firm KaplunMarx, examines all 50 states based on six metrics: Air quality index, the number of cyclist deaths per one million residents, bike routes per square mile, local government actions supporting cycling, federal funding for cycling projects, and bicycle laws.

Texas musters a mere 31 points out of 100 for its "cycling friendly score."

The most cycling friendly state in the U.S.: Minnesota, which earned 84 points to claim the title.

According to the report's findings, there have been 15 local government actions per capita in Texas that integrate pedestrians and cyclists in transportation projects. Texas' has a 41 air quality index value, and there are approximately 1.2 bike routes per 1,000 square miles in the state.

On cyclist deaths, Texas does a little better, with three cyclist deaths per one million residents in Texas — about nine percent lower than the national average.

According to KaplunMarx founding partner Ted Kaplun, there is an average of 857 cyclist fatalities in the U.S. every year. He adds that every measure or community effort to improve cyclist-friendliness is beneficial for all Americans.

"It's crucial for all states to continually assess and enhance their cycling provisions, learning from both high-ranking peers and their own experiences," he says.

Top-ranking Minnesota has only one cyclist death per one million state residents. It also has about 27.2 bike routes per 1,000 square miles.

After Minnesota, the remaining top five best states for cyclists are Massachusetts (No. 2), Rhode Island (No. 3), Washington (No. 4), and Iowa (No. 5).

At the bottom of the list are Nevada (No. 48), Arizona (No. 49), and Utah (No. 50) — all of which performed far worse than Texas to be declared the three least cycling-friendly states.

The entire country still has areas for improvement when it comes to creating a safer environment for cyclists, regardless of where each state landed on the list, according to Kaplun.

"With over 53 million Americans riding bicycles regularly, the importance of cycling-friendly infrastructure and safety measures cannot be overstated," said Kaplun in the report. "This isn't just about rankings – it's about enhancing the quality of life, promoting sustainable transportation, and most crucially, saving lives."

texas reports rankings