<p>Son got into both. The difference is CMU gave him no scholarship while Rice gave him a big one. Aside ranking, Is CMU that better in academics that justifies the cost?. Down the road, would a CMU brand name matter much towards jobs and higher studies?</p>
<p>in the world of computer science/engineering, i would say cmu has an advantage by far.</p>
<p>I'm quite familiar with Rice (grew up in Houston, spent years taking music lessons on campus, have a ton of friends there, and spent a summer working there), but I'm a CMU student. Rice has a CS program that I respect very much, and many of there students do get great internships and jobs. But their program is much, much smaller, about 30 students per year, as opposed to the 140 CMU has, so the range of electives and other specialized classes that can be offered is quite limited. Similarly, the range of research opportunities is limited - Rice is focused in several domains, including computational biology, computational math, and grid computing; CMU has about anything you could ever want. Companies make it to Rice's campus far less often - there just isn't the demand for it. A presentation by Google at Rice can draw 40 people; at CMU it will fill one of the mid-sized auditoriums. You can't ignore the presence of the real world at CMU, but I think it's probably possible to do so at Rice. Perhaps the resources CMU has makes it better for someone who would need more guidance navigating the mess of finding a job or internship.</p>
<p>CMU isn't strictly better in academics - better respected in CS, but in many areas of the humanities, Rice is clearly the better choice; this might be important to your son, or it might not be. Rice provides its undergrads more support in the form of residential colleges with their own (or shared with a small number of colleges) eateries and a professor living in an adjacent house. CMU places students in the typical "freshman housing" with an RA on the floor and some housefellow who is technically around but not much of a part of the experience. I like that CMU is a larger school; at Rice I always feel that it's a small world. I like that at CMU I have more independence than I would probably feel at Rice. But Rice might be a better choice for someone who is looking for a smaller feel or more support. CMU's academic support is certainly there - in the form of tutors and TAs and academic development and Mark, the amazing adviser - but the social community support is less so.</p>
<p>When I visited Rice, I talked to who I think is the department head, and asked him why I should choose Rice over CMU. He told me that he couldn't tell me to choose Rice over CMU for the CS program - but he did say that what Rice had to offer was the "rest of the university" and mentioned a course in Chaucer he had taken at Rice when he was an undergrad.</p>
<p>CMU is probably better for someone who is particularly career/grad school focused, or more interested in research. Rice is probably better for someone who wants school spirit or a small LAC-ish feel. How much the scholarship money impacts your decision should depend on your financial circumstances. I would suggest appealing the financial aid decision at CMU; a large scholarship at Rice may very well be enough to get some more magic merit money at of CMU, though there are no guarantees.</p>
<p>If you have any more specific questions, I would be happy to answer them.</p>
<p>Thanks for taking time to reply,KrazyKow. You put everything in focus. Looks like CMU is the place to be in, for CS. One concern I had with Rice is that they are very flexible about changing majors. Though my son wants to do CS now, he wants some freedom to switch to something else later on. Is CMU too rigid about changing majors.</p>
<p>It's fairly easy to switch majors during second semester of freshman year, because that's when people in non-CS majors declare their major. I've known people to transfer from CS to civil engineering, IS, and creative writing. There is a formal application process to switch your primary major, but if you have a solid GPA, I don't think it's too hard - I've never heard of anyone having trouble switching out of CS. After freshman year, I'm sure it gets harder, just because you may have taken enough classes in CS that they more than fill up the electives of what major you switch to. It can be tricky if the major you transfer to is very sequential - if you can't finish the courses on time, you won't graduate on time. I'm sure this is true to some extent at Rice too; you're not going to finish architecture in 5 years unless you start in the program.</p>
<p>I think the official statistic is that 90% of students who start in CS finish in CS; there is actually negative attrition because more people switch in than switch out. Most students who don't finish in CS still stay at CMU, in other departments.</p>