<p>My D was just admitted to Brown, Cornell, Duke(13K scholarship), and Rice(27K scholarship). She will major in Electrical and Computer Engineering and/or Applied Math. She plans to study Graduate school. What are some pros and cons for each school, and what are your thoughts?</p>
<p>Seems to me that Rice is the best choice for your D. Very good scholarship and a highly ranked school in engineering. Cornell and Duke are comparable, but if Rice is a lot cheaper and you will need to pay for grad school, then Rice looks the best because you wont be as financially strained for money. I didn’t even know Brown had an engineering program. But I’d say Cornell and Rice are far better options than Brown for engineering.</p>
<p>Totally anecdotal, but a client’s daughter went to Rice and LOVED it. She went on to grad school at Stanford.</p>
<p>Rice, save your money (graduate degrees in engineering cost money, and there aren’t may fellowships), and don’t look back.</p>
<p>I also vote for Rice, but I may be biased as my son graduated there recently. It has a stellar engineering program with abundant opportunities for undergrads to do research, and the social environment is very inclusive. The students are down-to-earth and collaborative. You can’t go wrong with any of these schools, but Rice can offer everything the others can (and to some extent, more).</p>
<p>Brown > Rice > Duke > Cornell</p>
<p>if she’s going to grad school, save that money… a $27K scholarship will help tremendously</p>
<p>Luketoast, why is Cornell last on your list? It has a top 10 US engineering program. Don’t see how you put Brown ahead of all others. Duke’s program is strongest in biomedical but not as well known in the other areas. </p>
<p>I too would vote for Rice because of the scholarship money since she wants grad school. My D is an engineering student at Cornell and LOVES it!</p>
<p>I am electrical engineering manager, and I didn’t even know that Brown offered EE. The other three programs are all strong enough that you could safely choose for reasons entirely unrelated to the strength of the engineering program - e.g. money, location, fit. I personally think of Cornell as the strongest engineering school of the 3, but part of that may be location, since it is the closest to me in NJ. Throughout my career I’ve worked with at least one person from each of Cornell, Duke, and Rice EE, all of whom were great engineers.</p>
<p>My nephew had a fabulous experience at Rice - loved the residential college system and enjoyed trying out a new for him part of the country. He got to start research in a lab during freshman orientation and is now in grad school in Bioengineering at MIT. (Grad school for PhDs is usually paid for, so I wouldn’t say you have to save $$ for grad school, but it’s obviously nice to save it if you can also have a great experience.)</p>
<p>Rice if you can stand the weather :). Like others above, I’ve worked with Cornell, Rice, and Duke grads and they’re all good. Brown, I have yet to meet anyone from Brown engineering. Houston is a very interesting place, too.</p>
<p>Why are you even asking? It looks like Rice is going to be significantly less expensive than the others - as in with what you’d save over the course of four years you can pay for two years of grad school. Run all of the financial aid offers here: [FinAid</a> | Calculators | Award Letter Comparison Tool](<a href=“Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid”>Award Letter Requirements - Finaid)</p>
<p>^^^ Yes, especially when you consider that Rice’s tuition is less than the others to begin with.</p>
<p>I am a parent of a Rice grad and I believe Rice offers about the best college experience you can get. The weather is usually great except for summer and the students aren’t there then anyway. Go with Rice.</p>
<p>With all due respect, Brown engineering???</p>
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<p>Respectable…but not comparable to Cornell, Rice, or Duke according to friends/relatives who work in engineering/tech fields.</p>
<p>My daughter turned down Cornell last year for Brown even though she intended to major in engineering. She also turned down CMU, Northwestern, Penn and Columbia. She did not apply to Rice or Duke though, and the cost for each of the Ivies was the best deal. </p>
<p>For her it was, and is, about fit. She loves Brown engineering, and is so enjoying her experience there. Brown is also putting a lot of $$ into growing its engineering program, and it shows in the opportunities that have been presented to her. The Applied Math department is very highly regarded.</p>
<p>PM me if you have any questions.</p>
<p>.</p>
<p>Honestly, is this even close? Rice PLUS $104K PLUS lower COA to begin with?</p>
<p>If you were to BUY $104k (PLUS!) worth of “education” in addition to Rice - a couple of trips around the world, four unpaid internships, trips to major engineering conferences around the globe, two years of for a masters in engineering, or assorted other goodies - is there really any place in the country that would be better? I sincerely doubt it.</p>
<p>The OP did say “or applied math.” Brown is VERY highly ranked in applied math–higher than any other school on the list. While these are graduate rankings, they should give you some idea of how respected Brown is in that field:</p>
<p><a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-science-schools/applied-mathematics-rankings[/url]”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-science-schools/applied-mathematics-rankings</a></p>
<p><a href=“http://graduate-school.phds.org/rankings/applied-mathematics/rank/basic[/url]”>http://graduate-school.phds.org/rankings/applied-mathematics/rank/basic</a></p>
<p>Now, given the difference in cost, she may want to pick Duke or Rice, I admit. However, there are other factors to consider as well. </p>
<p>One benefit of Brown is the ability to take courses outside your field on a S/NC (Brown’s version of pass-fail) basis. For someone who would like to take some humanities courses while majoring in something like applied math, the ability to take courses that way can be a very good thing. No need to sign up for guts to protect the gpa. Fewer barriers to entry for upper level courses outside your field.</p>
<p>Then, the social lives are quite different too.</p>
<p>^^^ Rice also has a pass/fail option for courses outside your major. It even allows you to switch to a grade if you see that you’re doing well.</p>
<p>OP, my son is an EE/Applied Math freshman at Rice. LOVES it, everything about it. He will stay on campus this summer doing research with a professor.</p>
<p>I agree with the others about “fit” though, and suggest your daughter visit Owl Days in April. Our son had many excellent choices, but knew in his heart that Rice was for him after attending the Owl Days program.</p>