<p>Most Ivy League or other top-notch schools have a reputation of not only being hard but also being competitive between students to get an A. However, I recently visited Carnegie Mellon and found that most of the students would rather work together on projects than try and outdo each other just to get an A. What other schools with a smart student body share this collaborative, rather than competitive outlook/atmosphere?</p>
<p>I want to say Harvey Mudd College, but I’m not sure if that is right.</p>
<p>Wow, good to hear someone actually agrees with me about how CMU is. 
I really miss the strong sense of community and cooperation that I had while an undergrad at CMU.</p>
<p>Rice is also collaborative and not competitive.</p>
<p>@Blackeyedsusan: How much culture shock will I have at Rice coming from New England? Never been to Texas or anything south of Virginia…
@RacinReaver: Who says the opposite about CMU?</p>
<p>Houston is a very cosmopolitan city – big on the arts, major league sports, shopping, restaurants, major company headquarters – and very multi-cultural. Most people you’ll meet in Houston are not natives. (It’s very different than your image of a rural Texas town.) I grew up on the east coast and had no trouble adapting. The biggest differences are that people in Houston are much friendlier and prices are lower (at restaurants, for gas, etc). And the Rice campus is beautiful, and in an upscale section of Houston and right next to the Texas Medical Center (the largest medical complex in the world with 13 hospitals and 2 medical schools).</p>
<p>I’m from the Northeast/Mid-Atlantic (from DC metropolitan area), and the only shock I’ve had was the humidity of the weather, which surprisingly hasn’t been too bad lately. The heat and humidity is at its worst in July and August, but it’s been cooling off lately. You’ll get used to the weather change though–definitely no snow, however. A lot of sunny days though and supposedly rainy weather too, though it hasn’t been raining much lately.</p>
<p>You’re going to be in Houston, which is not some redneck hick town, don’t worry. It’s a very urban and sprawling city, but Rice’s campus is very park-like and contained, and it doesn’t make you feel like you’re in downtown Houston. Rice, like Emory and Tulane, have a very “Northern” feel to them even though they’re in the South. It’s definitely not like Vanderbilt or UVA or Washington & Lee in terms of preppiness and “Southern culture,” but there’s definitely Southern hospitality in terms of people being extremely friendly and approachable.</p>
<p>I’ve actually seldom heard people with Texan accents (just my experience, though). However, there IS a slight majority of students who are from Texas whom comprise the majority of the student body, but President Leebron is working to expand geographic diversity and attract more students from states other than Texas (although, if you think about it, Texas is hugeeee).</p>
<p>Austin is the most liberal city in Texas, and in comparison I would say Houston is not too far behind in political leaning. However, you do have your conservative groups, but also liberal groups as well–Houston is definitely not as conservative as Texas in general is stereotyped to be. Is that one of your concerns?</p>
<p>And yes, I would definitely describe Rice as a bright and collaborative school. People rarely discuss grades nor are they overly competitive and definitely help each other out here.</p>
<p>Check out Haverford. It’s got a very distinctive student culture founded on Quaker values of mutual respect, collaboration, and community, though most students there are not Quakers. Academic standards are extremely high but competitive grubbing for grades is seen as contrary to community norms. Grades are not discussed.</p>
<p>hotasice: I’m not really sure what my concerns are, so much as not knowing what it’s like. I would probably need to visit before I enrolled.</p>
<p>Bclintonk: Haverford sounds good, but I need a school also with a strong Comp Sci program (guess I should have mentioned this in the first post)</p>
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<p>It’s not really that people say the opposite, it’s just that I rarely hear people praise CMU for its collaborative nature. I think it just gets lost in all of the other stereotypes for the school, so the good qualities of the student body get lost a bit.</p>
<p>Collaboration is big at both WPI and RPI, from what we heard on visits. WPI, especially, has required projects that pretty much force students to work together as a team to solve real world problems.</p>
<p>Would echo WPI, CMU and RPI plus Rice and maybe add Brown.I think its an excellent approach to education b/c in the work world you need to be able to work in groups and with people whose ideas/opinions/talents may be very different from yours.</p>
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<p>Definitely Harvey Mudd.</p>
<p>Washington & Lee. There is a great spirit of collaboration among students there. Students even cite one another on their papers when and if they use a shared idea or thought generated from a discussion outside of class.</p>
<p>You will find that Houston is far less provincial than the Northeast and that Rice is far more diverse that many of the Ivy’s.</p>
<p>Definitely agree with Carnegie Mellon, despite its preprofessional nature. Its great to have people help each other and all get great jobs in the end.</p>
<p>I agree with Bclintonk who suggested Haverford, which actually has a very strong and interesting computer science program. Obviously, as a LAC, the College’s program is not as extensive of the tech or speciality schools, but they have lots of resources and people going on to do cool things.</p>
<p>Checkout the website [Computer</a> Science @ Haverford College, Haverford, PA USA 19041](<a href=“http://www.cs.haverford.edu/]Computer”>http://www.cs.haverford.edu/)</p>
<p>Competitiveness is often by major, rather than by college or university.</p>
<p>along with Reed and Haverford, I also got that vibe from Swarthmore. though it’s one of the most selective LACs, they don’t have grades the first year and don’t tell you your gpa unless you need it, so there isn’t really an atmosphere of competition.</p>
<p>RPI is nice.</p>