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When a college decision approaches, it’s natural for parents to have opinions about it—and perhaps a desire for their children not to wander too far from home.

But when those parents work at a given university, the decision can hold even more weight. Still, the SMU Cox faculty and staff members we spoke to mostly said they took a gentle touch to their kids’ decision-making process, supporting broad quests that took them to campuses across the country.

For the four families in this story, those explorations eventually led back to the Hilltop. We chatted with them to hear about the search process and what it’s like to have Mom or Dad on campus—sometimes down the hall—while creating your own college life.

Linda Kao and Juliana Lu

At the start, Juliana Lu wasn’t just exploring her options. She was dead set on leaving Texas. She thought staying in Dallas for college would have a way of trapping her in the same high school community and keep her from trying anything new. But when her mom, SMU Cox Assistant Dean of Global Programs Linda Kao, convinced her to simply set up an official campus visit, everything changed.

“Despite my preconceived notions, I was blown away,” Lu says. “I’d walked through the buildings regularly with my mom, but the campus tour showed me a side of the school I had somehow never seen before, and the tour guide spoke with such energy, wisdom and poise that I couldn’t help but reconsider my decision to get out of Dallas.”

Kao, who’d been trying her best “not to intervene and encourage her to see the one-of-a-kind opportunities SMU Cox offered,” was in Buenos Aires for a global leadership program with MBA students when Lu, in the last hour before the decision deadline, called to tell her the news. “I was so excited that I broke down in tears,” Kao remembers.

Having her daughter on campus for the two to discuss Lu’s classes and community, challenges and achievements, has been a thrill. “I enjoy visiting with her and giving her big hugs,” Kao says. Lu, who is studying finance at Cox and about to start her senior year, had been worried that being on campus with her mom could stunt her independence but says Kao actively encouraged her to find her tribe and become self-sufficient.

“She’s been very hands-off but also incredibly supportive of my journey, and I’m so appreciative of it,” Lu says. “The best part about having my mom here is that she’s always there for me when I need her most. During the most stressful times, I’m never alone. And during my proudest moments, she’s always there cheering me on.”

Matthew, Winston and Carli Myers

In 2017, when Matthew Myers accepted the role as the Cox School’s next dean, he wasn’t just making a career move. He was setting the foundation for his family’s next chapter. At the time, his twin daughters, Carli and Winston, were in seventh grade. “We just knew they were going to thrive a lot more in Dallas and Texas than they were in southwestern Ohio,” he says. “They were both born in Tennessee—they’re Southern girls.”

Fast forward to today, and the two rising seniors have indeed found a home in Texas, although they took their own paths to choosing SMU. Carli wanted to go far away at first but came back around to SMU after getting a taste of the atmosphere on campus and at tailgates during high school. For Winston, SMU edged out American University in Washington, D.C., when she got the chance to be a part of SMU’s drumline.

“The culture here was a big plus for me, as well as the great education SMU provides,” she says. Both were admitted into SMU and Cox and enrolled, with Winston focusing on marketing and Carli on real estate.

Gina Myers, the girls’ mom, says the decision was never forced. “We did ask them to strongly consider SMU, but then we really took our hands off the wheel and allowed them to explore other universities,” she says.

She still remembers coordinating the deliveries of their acceptance letters, a tradition for local students. “The look on their faces when they received the package, for me, made it real,” she says. “They were really going somewhere—whether it was SMU or somewhere else.”

Both Carli and Winston had early reservations about attending college where their dad is dean—“I was petrified he’d find me in the halls and embarrass me,” says Carli—but both siblings have found independence. They enjoy their on-campus run-ins with Dad, the support of a never-too-far-away sibling and the ability to swing home to see Mom.

“Having her as a best friend I can see whenever I want while balancing life as a student at SMU Cox,” Carli says, “has been the best experience.”

Hemang and Mohan Desai

Though he had fond memories of tagging along with his father to SMU sporting events growing up, Mohan Desai had always pictured himself getting out of Dallas after high school. He’d looked on both coasts and everywhere in between before narrowing the list to four: Washington University in St. Louis, Emory University in Atlanta, the University of Texas in Austin and SMU—right here at home.

The turning point came during a visit for a Cox Spotlight event, during which representatives from SMU laid out what Mohan’s life on campus could look like, personalizing discussion about internships, employability and future job prospects for the pending business major. “That stood out from some of the other college visits,” he says. “That’s when the decision was made in my mind.”

Hemang, who chairs the Cox School’s accounting department, says he remained mostly hands off throughout the process, offering objective advice and reminding his son that no matter what decision he made, it would come with trade-offs—but that he could carve out a good experience anywhere. Still, knowing the education Cox would afford, Hemang was thrilled to see the glow in his son’s face when he came home from the Spotlight that day.

“He will not get the exposure to another city or another part of the country, that was the downside,” Hemang says. “But the benefits are, of course, this is such a good university and such a good business school—and you have your whole life ahead of you to live outside of Texas and get the exposure.”

Mohan would go on to take classes taught by Hemang’s peers at Cox, although his dad never mentioned the relationship to his fellow faculty members. Mohan has since graduated and taken employment as an investment analyst at Cambridge Associates, although he’ll soon transition to a new role in growth capital at a firm called Oris.

Although his time on campus was mostly marked by proximity to family rather than pressure, the two relished getting 10 or 15 minutes before or after classes and Mohan’s ability to swing by home for family get-togethers. “There was a good balance of not feeling like I was too close to home but also getting that mentorship and advice when needed,” Mohan says.

Xavier and Alec Tison

For Alec Tison, the college decision didn’t require much soul-searching. He may have briefly flirted with choosing a school in the United Kingdom, but SMU had always been a part of his story—right down to the moment his parents met on campus and, later, when his dad proposed to his mom in a Dallas Hall classroom. “I figured I was going to SMU for a while,” he says.

So did his father Xavier Tison, director of energy innovation at SMU’s Maguire Energy Institute, who is not shy about saying he “100%” took an active role in his son’s recruitment. “The financial benefit alone,” he says, speaking to the tuition discount for children of full-time faculty and staff, was well worth it.

But there’s also the pride of his son walking the same halls that served as Xavier’s home away from his home back in France—and the pragmatism of being nearby. “We’ve traveled as a family,” he says. “We’ve been in many locations across the world. It’s nice to travel, but it’s also very nice to be there in 30 minutes.”

Alec didn’t take much convincing. Academically, SMU’s programs aligned with his goals. Alec, who just completed his freshman year, is already designing his own path, double majoring in business and political science, minoring in Russian, working as a residential assistant at his dorm, and eyeing a future in energy.

He’s also enjoying college life and routine campus meet-ups with his father, planned or otherwise. “Sometimes I see him and I text from the other side of campus,” Xavier laughs. “I’m like, ‘I see you.’”

Of course, for his part, Alec doesn’t mind the proximity. “I’m not one of those kids that’s wanting the space,” he says. “I know he’s here to help me and I love him, so it’s always great to be around him.”