<p>It seems that a lot of top elite private schools have a big rivalry with the nearby top elite public. Stanford-Cal and UNC-Duke come to mind. So, is there a big rivalry between Rice and UT Austin?</p>
<p>The UNC-Duke rivalry exists because they’re both basketball powerhouses, and they’re both physically very close to each other. The Stanford-Cal rivalry exists because those are both very prominent schools located in or near Silicon Valley. </p>
<p>-UT is in Austin. Rice is in Houston.
-UT is the largest school in the USNews top 50. Rice is one of the smallest.
-UT is a football powerhouse. Rice’s football team is…not Rice’s strongest selling point.
-UT has a T14 law school. Rice doesn’t have a law school at all.
-UT has a really well-respected undergrad business school. Rice doesn’t have an undergrad business school.
-Rice’s student body is stronger than that of UT’s.
-Almost half of the academic programs at UT are not even offered at Rice.</p>
<p>I could go on and on and on. There’s just too many differences between the two universities. The only thing we have in common is that we’re both academically respected. There are people that choose Rice over UT and UT over Rice all the time, but we’re not really considered “rivals.” We’re not even in the same athletic conference.</p>
<p>We’re both good schools, but we’re VERY different. I’d say both schools just have mutual respect for each other.</p>
<p>I would say that Rice and UT are baseball rivals. That is about it.</p>
<p>“The only thing we have in common is that we’re both academically respected. There are people that choose Rice over UT and UT over Rice all the time…”</p>
<p>Pssh… I just can’t let this go.</p>
<p>Please quit posting nonsense on this board to pimp your school. UT is not in Rice’s league. Give us a call when you catch up with Cal, UNC, Illinois, and the other great public institutions.</p>
<p>Someone’s turned up the snark dial to 11! People choose seemingly “inferior” (and that hardly fits UT at all) schools all the time, for reasons that vary by student.</p>
<p>As a Texan, it’s really hard for me to think of UT as competitive in any way, given that all anyone has to do to gain admission is fall in the top 9% of their class. For me and most of my highly ranked classmates, UT was always just a guaranteed back up.
And, I mean, I know that it’s a great school and whatnot, but it’s difficult to hold something to a high regard when it takes hardly any effort to achieve it.
Part of the reason why I value Rice so much is because I had to push myself to work so much more for it. I could never say the same about my auto admission to Austin.</p>
<p>^
Top 9% isn’t exactly a walk in the park.</p>
<p>Top 9% = better than nine out of ten classmates. That’s quite the accomplishment, honestly.</p>
<p>It depends on where you go to school. I think this rule is flawed because the quality of school and competition is not considered. It is akin to MIT saying that they will accept the top 9% of students from Rice, UT, Texas Tech and Sam Houston State.</p>
<p>As it is so location dependent, UT can be very competitive as well.</p>
<p>
Keep in mind that the top 9% rule only guarantees admission into the Colleges of Liberal Arts and Natural Sciences. Top 9% generally doesn’t cut it for business, engineering, computer science, and the other competitive majors.</p>
<p>My whole point was to say that UT and Rice are way too different to be considered rivals. UNC is not 100% in Duke’s “league” just as Cal is not 100% in Stanford’s “league,” but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t still an overall school rivalry between the two.</p>
<p>People DO choose UT over Rice sometimes, just as people sometimes choose Rice over Columbia. Sometimes it’s a matter of finances and scholarships (I’d wager that almost every person at Rice could get a decent merit scholarship to UT), sometimes it’s a matter of what you want to major in or what honors program you get into, sometimes it’s just a desire to chill out in Austin and go to huge football games.</p>
<p>UT is not in Rice’s league academically.
Rice is not in UT’s league athletically.
Rice’s party scene is not in UT’s league.</p>
<p>After spending many a weekend partying at UT, I’d argue that last point. I’m only typing this at 11 on a Saturday because Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were too much…</p>