Dallas is a completely land locked city with a metropolitan area of 385 square miles. Founded in 1841, this center for telecommunications, information technology, banking and transportation legally achieved city status in 1871.

Originally a part of the Spanish Province of New Spain, when it was first settled in the 1500s, Dallas’ name origin is unknown. Although there are many speculations: it was named after Commodore Alexander James Dallas, brother of George Mifflin Dallas (eleventh vice-president of the United States), it was named for Walter R. Dallas who fought at San Jacinto, or James L. Dallas, Walter’s brother and a Texas Ranger, the mystery has never been solved.

The twentieth century brought Dallas leadership in the drug, book, jewelry and wholesale liquor market in the Southwestern United States. It also led the world’s inland cotton market and the manufacture of saddlery and cotton gin machinery. The discovery of oil not far from the city catapulted Dallas into the position of financial center for the oil industry in Texas and Oklahoma.

Jack Kilby, who invented the integrated circuit while working for Texas Instruments, took Dallas into the high-technology manufacturing industry. The city became America’s third-largest technology center, and with the relocation of oil companies to Houston, Dallas’ prominence in the technology industry became even larger.

Dallas is mostly flat with only two major waterways, the Trinity River and White Rock Lake, which is a popular spot for boaters and rowers. The surrounding park attracts joggers and bikers. The Dallas climate is humid and subtropical, with much of its 37.1 inches of annual rainfall occurring during the spring. Spring and fall in Dallas tend to be temperate and enjoyable while the winter can produce temperatures below freezing, due to cold fronts from the north; however, snow in Dallas is almost non-existent. With an annual accumulation of 4.5 inches, a recent college graduate looking for a place to have snowball fights with his children, might want to think twice about moving to Dallas.

Dallas is a city with a large Hispanic population, rich in Mexican culture and cuisine. Dallas has many art museums and the ritzy Deep Ellum area achieved notoriety during the 1920s and 1930s as a hotspot for jazz and blues in the south. Bessie Smith, Blind Lemon Jefferson and Robert Johnson appeared in such original Deep Ellum clubs as The Harlem and The Palace. Today, artists not only perform there, but they make their homes there as well.

Aside from the Cotton Bowl, another well-known event in Dallas is the State Fair of Texas. It’s an annual event, held at Fair Park, that’s been around since 1886. Cinco de Mayo, Juneteenth and the Greek Food Festival of Dallas, give testament to the growing diversity of the once predominantly white city.

Dallas-Fort Worth offers students more than the Cotton Bowl. There are also many quality colleges and universities:

*University of Texas at Dallas – this university with “tons of international students” and “a lot of nontraditional students” has majors in Business Administration/Management and Electrical, Electronics and Communications Engineering.

*Texas Christian University – the most popular majors at this small institution are Advertising and Communications Studies/Speech Communication and Rhetoric.

*Southern Methodist University – this stereotypical university for the rich has majors in Communications, Journalism and Related Fields, and Social Sciences.

*Dallas Baptist University – students here have an average GPA of 3.65, majoring in Business Administration/Management, General Studies and Psychology.

*Texas Wesleyan University – located in Fort Worth, the most popular majors are Business Administration/Management, Psychology, and Radio and Television.

The above are only the largest colleges and universities in Dallas-Fort Worth. Below are other institutions of higher learning where students can attain a quality education:

Argosy University
Art Institute of Dallas
Christ for the Nations Institute
Criswell College
Dallas Theological Seminary
El Centro College
Graduate Institute of Applied Linguistics
Mountain View College
Parker College
Paul Quinn College
Richland College
Southeastern Career Institute
University of North Texas at Dallas
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas
Wade College
Westminster Theological Seminary
Westwood College of Technology

Dallas-Fort Worth has many major companies for college students seeking challenging internships and recent college graduates seeking entry level employment to explore:

Lockheed Martin Corporation – college students can find exciting internship and co-operative education opportunities, and recent college graduates can find entry level employment in engineering, information technology, finance, and graphic arts.

Kimberly-Clark – a major company in the manufacture of paper products, Kimberly-Clark has internship and co-operative education opportunities, along with entry level employment in research, sales, information technology, finance and marketing.

Southwest Airlines – the growing airline has jobs in finance, flight operations, human resources, public relations and technology.

Texas Instruments – the birthplace of the integrated circuit offers challenging internships and entry level jobs in finance, accounting, engineering, sales and field applications.

Blockbuster – recent college graduates looking for entry level employment in a “fun and dynamic” company can search this company’s Web site for jobs in information technology, human resources, legal, marketing, and management.

Anyone looking for southern hospitality in addition to quality education, fun and interesting internships, or entry level jobs that can lead to rewarding careers might want to take a look at Dallas. The Dallas metroplex is said to have “more shopping centers per capita” than another city or metropolitan area in the country.