Caltech vs Columbia vs Rice in Computer Science

College Search & Selection
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Please help us decide which school to pick as we are having a hard time picking the definite one. Our DD got accepted and narrowed down to the following schools in Computer Science major: Caltech, Columbia University (Davis Scholar) and Rice University (Full-ride with Trustee scholarship).

These 3 schools appear to be very different and would appreciate your diverse opinions about which school she should choose. She is a high school senior but has about 60 college credit hours she could transfer.

She went to visit Columbia last year before COVID, and loved the school. She will visit Rice this weekend. Unfortunately, she can’t visit Caltech due to time constraint.

She is wanting to be a software engineer/developer after graduation, but not currently intending to go to a grad school.

The obvious choice may be the Rice full-ride. This is our youngest child and we have saved enough that any school she picks, she would graduate debt free.

What are your suggestions (internship/job prospectives, etc)? Which school would you pick and why?

Here are some details:

Caltech

Pros:
• Best reputation for engineering school out of three.
• Solid STEM oriented education, research/club opportunities.
• Small class sizes, intimate learning, collaborative environment
• Housing system - get to try out in the beginning and pick the house.
• Tight knit community.
• Nice Weather year around.
• Pass/Fail 1st year classes.

Cons:
• Cost - most expensive out of three, $36K/yr (Net price).
• The most rigorous CS/STEM programs out of all three schools.
• Trimester system. => Fast paced. Might affect summer intern start/end timing?
• Location is in the suburbs - not much to do outside school.
• Small campus. (It can be pro and con.)
• Limited study abroad options, no credit transfer, no languages classes that she wants to take.
• 5 classes of physics for a CS major. She has been nervous about this.
• Work-study required except 1st year.

Columbia University

Pros:
• Ivy school well-known in both STEM and the liberal arts with a massive alumni network.
• Davis Scholar - network, internship, research opportunities. Free events tickets. Special advising. Smaller community within Columbia.
• NYC - lots of thighs to do and eat outside school.
• Core Curriculum, can take humanity, language classes to broaden perspectives.
• Well recruited by large companies.
• 4-day class week. Focus more on extracurriculars and building community. • Rated #1 best college for food. • CS Tracks: software systems, digital systems, intelligent systems, applications, vision/graphics/interaction/robotics
• 4 yr guaranteed housing.

Cons:
• Cost - Probably around $33K/yr (Net price) - FA appeal in progress.
• It is located in a not-so-safe city (but is in the safer neighborhood).
• Can not (or hard to) transfer credits, hard to study abroad as an engineering student. But allegedly possible with a lot of planning.
• Winter weather can be harsh.
• Some work-study required (3rd/4th year).

Rice University

Pros:
• While it doesn’t have the same levels of specialization as Caltech, we think it does an outstanding job at combining STEM with all other subjects – more flexible but still has a nice engineering focus.
• Residential College system.
• Great and accessible research opportunities, focused on undergraduate teaching.
• Houston – Lots of things to do. Very safe campus and surrounding area.
• Full-ride - 4 year full-ride savings is just huge. NMF $2500 scholarship can be used for a computer purchase in addition to the full-ride for tuition/room/board/non-direct expense.
• Study abroad possibility with pre-determined course mapping (potentially up to 2 semesters with credit transfer).
• Has language classes she wants to take.
• Credit transfer possible.

Cons:
• Reputation outside Texas?!? – not as well-known nationally or globally as Caltech or Columbia.
• Houston climate – Hot and Humid.
• Not sure about how much top tech companies actively target Rice for recruiting.
• May need a car at the school to easily move around.
• Doesn’t have CS specific tracks.

2

Congrats!!!

And Rice for sure.
(Columbia vs Rice at flat I’d probably pick rice)

And Rice at 140k under vs Caltech is also an easy trade

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Rice. Buy a car with the money saved.

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Rice is a research university with an undergraduate student body smaller than any Ivy. It has the residential college system that you won’t find anywhere outside Harvard and Yale. It’s 6:1 student:faculty ratio is unmatched outside of the Ivy League for a school of its size. It has superb resources. And for your daughter, it’s free?!

Take the money you would have given to one of the others and put it in a trust fund for her. It will make a great graduation present. I’m with the others here, favoring Rice. It’s a special place.

And she won’t be there for the worst of the humid weather.

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All three of the schools would be lucky to have her. If she really likes Rice after visiting, she should take the free ride and invest the money you are saving. She will have enough for a sizable downpayment on a house after she graduates. Rice may not take the college credits if she used them to meet high school graduation requirements. Undergraduate Students Transferring College Credit Completed during High School | Office of the Registrar | Rice University.

Rice is very generous with AP credits. Rice has a collaborative environment and is ranked very highly for happiest students. Columbia may be more cut throat.

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Orientation week starts August 15. Don’t underestimate the weather at that time of the year.

7

Rice, no question.

They could buy her a fancy SUV and still save $100,000 if they send her to Rice.

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The weather is hot and humid at the beginning of the year, but is very nice from mid September through the end of fall semester. All of the buildings at Rice are air conditioned. The weather in the winter rarely gets below freezing and usually warms up and is nice mid February through the end of second semester. This year Texas had a February freeze. Rice has its own power plant and water wells. Unlike most of Houston, the campus never lost power or water during the freeze.

Of course the weather in California is hard to beat, and Cal Tech is a great school. NYC will be cold. Columbia has the core curriculum. Everyone has to take the core which may leave less time for her to take other classes outside her major.

Rice has distribution areas not a core curriculum. She could take language classes to meet some of her distribution requirements. Log In ‹ Future Rice Owls — WordPress

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I wouldn’t worry about CS recruiting at Rice - the school is definitely well-known in tech circles, and top tech companies absolutely do recruit there. We attended a Rice info session in Silicon Valley when my daughter was applying, and it was packed to the gills with parents in the tech industry, who were well aware of Rice’s reputation and eager to see their kids get in. Outside of professional circles, there are more people who haven’t heard of Rice than Caltech or Columbia, but when it comes to hiring, Rice STEM grads are at no disadvantage.

All three are great schools, but a full ride at Rice? I agree with dimkin that Rice probably edges out Columbia for CS even at cost parity (although a particular student could have other reasons to prefer Columbia… but they’d have to be pretty compelling reasons at this cost differential!). Between Rice and Caltech, there are some significant “fit” differences so it depends on the student… but I’d say a student for whom Caltech was $140K better would be very much in the minority.

My daughter never had a car at Rice and was fine without one. There’s public transit, and there are shuttles to stores. It isn’t a necessity, especially in the first year or two - it’s completely fine to go without a car and assess whether the desire for one begins to feel more pressing over time.

It’s hot in Houston at the beginning and end of the academic year, but everything is aggressively air conditioned. Student quality of life is terrific. There may not be formal tracks within CS but there’s no lack of opportunity to explore specific areas of interest. When you describe what you like about Columbia and Caltech, Rice seems like the best-of-both-worlds option, even before taking money into consideration. Your daughter must be a terrific student to have gotten such a generous offer. Congratulations to her and you!

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Rice or Caltech. Have you asked Caltech to add to FA? They tend to be generous.
Both have residential Houses. At Caltech, you can live in the same house all 4 years. If you chose to Not do that, there are options. Pasadena is a nice suburb, and lots to do. Huntington Garden, hiking. Eventually, many go further from campus to ski or go into LA.

The meal plan covers 2 meals a day, 5 days a week. The Houses often have weekend events that include food. The area is surrounded by restaurants of all ethnic varieties. (My son became a foodie while living there). Bikes are common. It is quite easy to become an officer in a House (like social chair). Others take on leadership roles in campus committees.

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Rice is the clear winner. But will she be able to transfer her credits to any of those schools? That would surprise me.

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Congrats on that scholarship to Rice. I would take that and run. I’m pretty sure in the recent past their Trustee topped out at 28-30K so it’s nice to know that you can actually get a full ride at Rice now.

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14

Amazing choices! Congratulations!

Unless weather is a concern for health reasons, weather should be the least of all concerns.

They’re young, they can handle it, and it’s over in the blink of an eye.

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Caltech is very unlikely to match an offer that isn’t based on need. I agree It is very generous if the student can demonstrate the “need”. As an example, during this pandemic under the Caltech’s FA policy, a student who receives full ride at Caltech (based on need) would get the full credit for the entire cost of R&B to live anywhere to take classes remotely. Few other schools, if any, did this.

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All three schools would be lucky to enroll your student. Let us know which one she picks

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Thank you all for reading through such a long post and responding. We surely appreciate your time, and we may respond to your post directly with further comments.

Thanks again!

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We tried and were denied by Caltech, but Columbia says they will look though. Still FA review in progress with Columbia. We should hear from them in a week.

As @1NJParent said, Caltech does not match non-need based aid, but we tried to appeal.

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This is good to know after what TX had to go though last time. Thank you for the info!

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Great, we guess she doesn’t need a car then. Thank you for the info!

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