<p>Can anyone here give me some insight as to what berkeley’s strengths and weaknesses are in terms of programs, college life, campus, housing, etc vis-a-vis Rice University. Thanks much.</p>
<p>I am from the Houston area and applied to Rice as ED, I didnt get in, but I hopefully I can help you on comparing Rice and Cal. Rice is obviously much smaller--just over 2000 students, thus the classes are smaller. The residential program at Rice is a central theme throughout the entire campus--you are randomly assigned a "residential college" and you stay there all four years--creating a community effect. Both schools have strong science/enginering programs. The area that Rice is in in Houston is the upper class, Museum/Theatre District and with all the trees surronding the campus it is easy to forget that you are in the middle of the city. Berkeley is close to SF but in its own suburb. Hope this helps.</p>
<p>Every department is better at Berkeley. Research, academia, new ideas, is much more accepted at Berkeley than anywhere else. Berkeley's faculty is ranked higher than Harvard's according to most publications. But other than that, Rice is a great school.</p>