University Park Tutors

About University Park

Incorporated as a city in 1924, University Park, Texas is the home of Southern Methodist University which was opened nine years earlier. Originally just a collection of homes surrounding the university, the city rapidly grew so that by 1945 there were 20,000 residents. Attempts to annex University Park by Dallas failed and University Park remains a suburb with high property values and low tax rates. D Magazine, a publication dedicated to everything Dallas, has consistently ranked University Park as one of the best suburbs in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. The magazine bases it rankings on the excellence of education, housing, safety and ambience.

Established by the Methodist Church and Dallas civic leaders, Southern Methodist University is a nationally ranked private institution with 11,000 students. The university’s website claims that SMU students take advantage of “small classes, leadership development, international study and innovative programs.” U.S. News and World Report recently ranked SMU as the 56th best university in the nation. SMU is home to the George W. Bush Library and Museum and Presidential Center. Joined by Barack Obama, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton and his father George H.W. Bush, the 43rd president of the United States dedicated the new library in April, 2013. The library and center sits on 23 acres on the east side of campus. Alan Lowe, the library’s director said, "The Bush Library and Museum is a state-of-the-art research center for historians, scholars, students and the public.” It is the 13th such facility in the nation (Obama’s library, the 14th, is currently under construction in Chicago) operated by the National Archives and Records Administration.

SMU also hosts the Meadows Museum, opened in 1965, on its southern edge. The Meadows is often called the “Prado on the Prairie” because of its large collection of Spanish artwork. The museum is named after oilman Algur Hurtle Meadows who gifted a significant collection of paintings from Spain’s Golden Age, including works by El Greco, Goya, Miro and Picasso. The Meadows hosts permanent and traveling exhibits such as Picasso’s prints from the Spanish Civil War and the early portraits of Diego Velázquez.

Since University Park is right next door to downtown Dallas it is within easy reach of a wealth of activities and attractions in the big city. A University Park tutor will get you caught up on your academics so you can enjoy all that Dallas can offer. Nature, art, science and history exhibits are all available in Dallas. For nature lovers, a visit to the Texas Discovery Gardens is mandatory. The 7.5 acre gardens are alive with a variety of native and naturally adapted plants and flowers. Art aficionados will appreciate Dallas’s museums including the Nasher Sculpture Center and the Dallas Museum of Art. History and science buffs will need to include the The Sixth-Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza, the site of John F. Kennedy’s assassination, and the Perot Museum of Nature and Science on their schedules for a visit to Dallas.