Big 12 implosion again? A&M and Oklahoma looking at the SEC

[CaseyGarrisonforPrez]

I'm not exactly sure why Cougar High would appeal to the Big XII? The Big XII willfully let TCU escape and UH has nowhere near the appeal. SMU has a lot of money and influence so down the road they might make sense, but probably not now. Air Force and BYU would be more likely in the worst case scenario.

Assuming Texas A&M leaves and Texas going independent, adding Houston and SMU would make sense to add the Houston and Dallas markets.

In terms of markets yes that would make sense to hold on to those. They would still have Tech and Baylor though and they could make a play on TCU in that scenario. UH just does not fit the Big XII academically. It carries the nickname Cougar High and is basically a commuter school. The Big XII would probably dissolve before they would radically change membership in that manner.

[ihsi]

I'm not exactly sure why Cougar High would appeal to the Big XII? The Big XII willfully let TCU escape and UH has nowhere near the appeal. SMU has a lot of money and influence so down the road they might make sense, but probably not now. Air Force and BYU would be more likely in the worst case scenario.

Assuming Texas A&M leaves and Texas going independent, adding Houston and SMU would make sense to add the Houston and Dallas markets.

In terms of markets yes that would make sense to hold on to those. They would still have Tech and Baylor though and they could make a play on TCU in that scenario. UH just does not fit the Big XII academically. It carries the nickname Cougar High and is basically a commuter school. The Big XII would probably dissolve before they would radically change membership in that manner.

What Big 12 schools are strong academically? Any high school diploma will get you into most of them.

[TylerDurden]

What Big 12 schools are strong academically? Any high school diploma will get you into most of them.

Baylor? That's all I got off the top of my head. I think you're correct about the rest of them.

[dgreenwell3]

IHSI,
Texas is pretty darn hard to get into whether you are from the state or not, their average GPA of the high school student is high but Baylor and UT-austin are the only ones I think are real difficult to get into.

[MoValley John]

Define difficult. Please. Sure, all of the schools in the Big XII refuse admittance, but none of them are all that hard to gain acceptance. Baylor may be the toughest. And the Big 10, with all of their so-called emphasis on high academic standards, only has Northwestern that would even be considered exclusive. None of these schools are Harvard or Yale, none of them are even Standford (okay, I was baiting for DawgieStyle with that).

These schools are, for the most part, state institutions, and while they love to tout high academic standards, they are just that, state schools that need to grow enrollment, not turn kids away. Now if you spent four years of high school taking shop and gym classes, sure you won't get accepted. If you partied and brought home C's and D's, you won't get accepted, but a solid B student with a good SAT will get into any of them.

[Khan4Cats]

Define difficult. Please. Sure, all of the schools in the Big XII refuse admittance, but none of them are all that hard to gain acceptance. Baylor may be the toughest. And the Big 10, with all of their so-called emphasis on high academic standards, only has Northwestern that would even be considered exclusive. None of these schools are Harvard or Yale, none of them are even Standford (okay, I was baiting for DawgieStyle with that).

These schools are, for the most part, state institutions, and while they love to tout high academic standards, they are just that, state schools that need to grow enrollment, not turn kids away. Now if you spent four years of high school taking shop and gym classes, sure you won't get accepted. If you partied and brought home C's and D's, you won't get accepted, but a solid B student with a good SAT will get into any of them.

It's as difficult to get into the University of Northern Iowa of the MVC as it is to get into the Univesity of Iowa from the prestigious Big 10 (+2), at least for kids from Iowa.

[rjl]

A little late to this discussion, but Texas is a pretty well regarded school academically.

US News has them as the #45 overall university, which is fairly good.
#7 business school.

But in terms of grad school, they are:

#17 business school
#14 law school
#22 research, #24 primary care medical school
#8 engineering school

That's all pretty legit, especially when you consider that most the schools ahead of them are private institutions and can better "game" the rankings by declining more students (selectivity is a major factor US News uses to tabulate their rankings, and, believe me, schools know how to manipulate their numbers to compete). Texas, as a public university, cannot decline as many applicants.

In terms of national public universities, you have Cal, UCLA, UVA, Michigan, UNC, W&M, Washington, and Texas as the academic elite.

I'm not really a Texas fan, but they are the real-deal both athletically and academically.

[DUBulldog]

A little late to this discussion, but Texas is a pretty well regarded school academically.

US News has them as the #45 overall university, which is fairly good.
#7 business school.

But in terms of grad school, they are:

#17 business school
#14 law school
#22 research, #24 primary care medical school
#8 engineering school

That's all pretty legit, especially when you consider that most the schools ahead of them are private institutions and can better "game" the rankings by declining more students (selectivity is a major factor US News uses to tabulate their rankings, and, believe me, schools know how to manipulate their numbers to compete). Texas, as a public university, cannot decline as many applicants.

In terms of national public universities, you have Cal, UCLA, UVA, Michigan, UNC, W&M, Washington, and Texas as the academic elite.

I'm not really a Texas fan, but they are the real-deal both athletically and academically.

I had never heard of the term "Public Ivys" before, but I ran across it while reading up on some of the schools listed by rjl. These schools are considered the elite public universities.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_Ivy

The Big 10 is very well represented, the Big 12.....not so much.....only Texas. Purdue and Nebraska are the only public schools in the Big 10 not listed.

[MVCfans]

Sounds like A&M is flirting pretty strongly with the SEC again. I'm indifferent to whatever the Aggies do, but will be fascinated to see how the Big 12 will respond and what happens to schools like K-State and Iowa State if the Big 12 ceases to exist.

[TheDrake]

Texas A&M's Rivals page is reporting that the move to the SEC is a done deal.