My advisor, head of our Neuro dept, encouraged me to apply to Southwest because he felt it was a great dept in the area I was interested in. No real specifics, just an endorsement.
UTSW has a very dynamic MS program. IMO, Dr. Frohman and his group leads one of the top four MS programs in the nation. In relative terms, I feel that UTSW is a strong name.
In Texas, Baylor (even with the recent changes) and U Texas/Houston (esp. for stroke) are also excellent training programs.