<p>I'm accepted to both Berkeley(college of chemistry) and Rice Univ. in Chemistry major.
I plan to go to graduate school in Chem major.
Which school would be better in terms of academic and prestige?
Please drop your thought!
Thank you!</p>
<p>Go to the one you like more.</p>
<p>I personally turned down Rice for Berkeley, though that was largely monetary (plus I decided I didn't like pre-med so much anymore).</p>
<p>Either one would be just fine, though Berkeley has a significantly better reputation in Chemistry.</p>
<p>Rice certainly isn't going to hurt you though.</p>
<p>These are the best schools in chemistry research quality.</p>
<p>chemistry? i'd say berkeley.</p>
<p>Dude, it's no brainer! Berkeley's Chemistry is top 3 in the known universe!!!</p>
<p>If you're really sure about Chemistry then yeah, Berkeley's Chemistry is top.</p>
<p>(also consider each school's atmosphere, and which one you like more)</p>
<p>Berkeley's Chemistry totally owns Rice. I think it got ranked number 1 this year by USnews (or something?). A little more irrelevent, but Berkeley discovered 16 elements and two of them are named after the university.</p>
<p>Besides...who would want to go to Texas over Cali...</p>
<p>Even though, in research quality (as posted above) Berkeley beats out Rice, in terms of undergraduate education I would say that Rice is slightly better. Berkeley has a huge department with many professors, but is also very overcrowded, and from what I've heard from students there, simply not a great place to study as an undergrad.</p>
<p>Also, it's not like Rice is lacking in chemistry. They have a pretty good department.</p>
<p>Look at federal campus research expenditures per student - schools like Caltech, Yale, MIT, and Washington U. top the list every year, and Rice isn't all that far behind.</p>
<p>There are a few metrics where Rice will come ahead, but by and large, Berkeley is clearly on top. I know both schools well, I went to Cal and did research at Rice.</p>
<p>Prestige: Berkeley by a mile
Academics: Berkeley by half a mile
environment: Berkeley/SF over Houston, anyday</p>
<p>If you strongly prefer a small campus environment (Rice is very small) and that's a huge factor, then Rice would be a good option. Otherwise, Berkeley all the way. Berkeley is much more lively as an environment.</p>
<p>The truth is, Rice is basically a LAC. It's a LAC that just happens to have a whole bunch of graduate programs, but at the end of the day, it's still really a LAC (just like Dartmouth and Brown are basically LAC's). </p>
<p>So the question really boils down to whether you would be more comfortable in a LAC-setting or not.</p>