SMU's terminal MA has a great track record of graduates going on to fellowships/jobs at major institutions (the Getty, the National Gallery, the Dallas Museum of Art) and PhD programs at Harvard, Michigan, UCLA, USC, and UT-Austin, etc. And considering how small class years are, this is actually an incredibly high percentage, probably higher than you would see at some of the so-called "prestigious" programs. SMU's MA program almost always provides full tuition with a stipend all four semesters for admitted students. There is a considerable amount of funding so that MA students can travel for their thesis research, and ample opportunities to get funding to attend conferences, etc. If you are looking to go on to the PhD, it will make a difference for admissions committees to see that other institutions have invested in you, rather than you just having paid for your degree. Many of the name-brand terminal MA programs often do not have this level of funding for MAs. Its funny, there are some programs out there that have a reputation for prestige, but when you actually look at those institutions, none of the MA students are funded and they are paying $15k per semester for classes that are lectures (yes, 100-person lectures at the graduate level), with a corresponding amount of rigor (i.e., not really training you to be successful at the doctoral level), and few opportunities to work closely with faculty. The SMU program IS small, but that means every class is a seminar designed such that students get tons of one-on-one mentoring, and by the end have produced a work of significant original research which can then be translated into a conference presentation or publication (and this kind of experience can be very helpful in preparation for higher levels of academia.)
