congrats to all that have been accepted to southwestern! i thought maybe i can lend a little insight into the dallas living situation, since i used to work uptown for a while. uptown is a great area, and there are some really great apartments to be found here. also there's a surprising amount of stuff to do here - great restaurants, nightlife etc. etc. as for apartments in uptown, they're a little expensive for dallas (upwards of $800/mo). but you get a LOT for this price (i.e. they're pretty much luxury apartments). when i was apt hunting, i checked out jefferson and post properties, and of the two post is definitely more reasonable although not as nice. my friend got an efficiency in a pretty safe area for about $500/month, but she *really* lucked out (they were having some good deals/specials) and her place is tiny. these places are about 10-15 min drive from the school though, but they are in a very trendy/nice part of town.
the area around smu is also really nice. very rich neighborhood = highland park/university park, where the likes of jerry jones and other famous people live. apartments here can be nice too, but expensive. it's about 15 mins away from swestern i think, but am not sure (ppl please feel free to correct me if i'm wrong)
the area around swestern is a different story. while not all bad, there are definitely some sketchy neighborhoods you want to avoid. as for irving - yech, i wouldn't really live there if you're young/unmarried, as it is far removed from most of the fun things to do in dallas imo. i would think living in the swestern apartments might be a good deal.
good luck to yall!
i will probably be there at the ms0 day w/yall next week to see what it's all about. also, i'm game for anything that gives me a chance to take off work 😀 
