<p>Yeah, I agree with applicannot. UMD is definitely NOT a socially/politically conservative school. Mote overruled that vote though.</p>
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<p>Easy George, no need to base the sense of humor of an entire school on one guy who had a crappy comeback.</p>
<p>Personally, I have a great deal of respect for TAMU. Tradition or not, it is still a quality engineering school. It just gets overlooked because it hasn’t had its name out there very long (started doing major research in the 60s or 70s) compared to more established engineering campuses like Georgia Tech or UIUC or Purdue.</p>
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<p>And “That’s a joke, right.” was the most original “comeback” I’ve heard this decade… a truly great remark further proving my point.</p>
<p>P.S. It’s #2 in TX.</p>
<p>No, it’s #3.</p>
<p>Texas, Rice, TAMU?</p>
<p>OK can we all just calm down on the whole “That’s a joke, right?” bologna? Yes, G. P. seems to have some bias. Yes, you had a bad comeback stein. Yes, UT-Austin is technically ranked 1 slot ahead of TAMU in overall engineering (<a href=“http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/grad/eng/search[/url]”>http://grad-schools.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/grad/eng/search</a>), but that still puts TAMU as #2 and only marginally different from UT. Rice is 35. Given this is USNWR so take it with a grain of salt, but along the same lines, the opinions of any of us are no less biased.</p>
<p>The fact is TAMU is a very good engineering school with a large campus, big sports, and conservative nature, which is what the OP was looking for, not some argument over what the best school in Texas is or who has the bigger e*****.</p>
<p>Seriously.</p>
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Like jessiehl said-- plenty of liberal-minded engineers out there (though thats not what the OP is looking for). My s is a mech engineer (graduated last year) and he is very liberal in his thinking and politics. The company he works for, all engineers (I believe) are all very liberal. They are working on “green” projects and renewables and such. Can’t say if they are in the minority or not, but there are plenty of liberal-minded engineers out there. To say otherwise is silly.</p>
<p>Rice is a really good school, but really hard to get in to, your son will need to raise his test scores and GPA.</p>
<p>^^^ DS’s Mech Eng degree is from Rice. Ditto what JBM says. Its a great school and he got a great education… and he had 4 solid job offers in hand the first month of his senior year!!</p>
<p>Rice isn’t very conservative. It’s located right outside of Houston.</p>
<p>Rice most certainly IS conservative, especially if you compare it to places like Stanford or NYU. =D</p>
<p>The OP wanted schools with over 5k students. Rice barely qualifies if you count grad and undergrad together. Not sure why he had that restriction. My guess is the schools under 5k students might be the more conservative. I think he also wanted a full university and not just a tech/engineering college where the politics might be a factor in non-engineering subjects. So I would like to ask, what about full university schools under 5k students? Any suggestions?</p>
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Slight correction, mamooie. Rice is in downtown Houston, not outside of town.</p>
<p>Raise his scores? He’s fine for Rice.</p>
<p>The problem is location. If he’s willing to deal with living in a major city, Georgia Tech is a better school with a more conservative student body in a smaller city.</p>
<p>I would beg to differ with GP Burdell’s comments above. Atlanta city proper’s population is shrinking, because several areas are becoming their own cities (Dunwoody, Sandy Springs, Milton, to name a few). But the metropolitan Atlanta population and the Metropolitan Houston population are virtually identical, at about 5.7 million. Also, The area immediately surrounding Tech is yukky compared to the area around Rice. Tech does run trollys to Atlantic station and other more popular night spots, but some of the surrounding areas are a little sketchy. Midtown atlanta, where Tech is located, is really burgeoning and thre is a lot of growth, dont get me wrong, but there are some areas areound one side that you nothave reason to go to. That said, Rice village is a bit of a walk from campus. There isn’t a lot immediatedly off campus to walk to at Rice either, at least from what I recall. Maybe on theRice Blvd. side of campus, yes, but not so much on the Main St side, except the dedical centers.</p>
<p>And I agree with the poster who said the ACT needs to come up a bit. While Rice is enlarging its undergrad population so they are taking more students, I’d suggest an ACT of around 33 to really feel competitive (unless you are a URM from North Dakota or something, LOL)</p>
<p>^^^ Oops, sorry for all the typos above. The most egregious was “dedical” for " medical" and assorted omitted or inserted letters and lack of spacing. Sorry :o</p>
<p>As an aside, just curious, GB, when did you attend tech?</p>
<p>Admitted Rice students last year had an average ACT of 31 and an average u/w GPA of 3.7. His current scores are very competitive as they stand.</p>
<p>Comparing locations, Atlanta is a much smaller city than Houston. There’s no point in comparing metro population - does it really matter who lives in Kennesaw 30 miles outside of Atlanta? Atlanta is the 35th largest US city with about 500,000 people while Houston is the 4th largest US city with about 2.2 million.</p>
<p>As for location, both are close to the city’s downtown. The area around Rice is not picnic - travel south near 610 and you quickly get into a dangerous part of town. One thing to also consider is the future of the area where both are located. Rice is close to some depressing sites - the shut down Six Flags park, the shut down Astrodome… really all that’s booming are the bars in Rice Village. Not that it matters, though; without a car you can’t go anywhere in Houston - the public transit is horrible.</p>
<p>Meanwhile Georgia Tech is next to the new Turner Studio Complex, the new Atlantic Station complex and skyscrapers, the new Midtown construction, the new Peachtree Development, etc. The Marta subway system can take you to most of the important points in the city right from campus (downtown, Lenox, Airport, Decatur, etc.)</p>
<p>And that’s not even considering the empirically proven higher cancer rates for living in Houston (poor air quality from the chemical plants and refineries), the most polluted beach in the United States (Galveston) and the body of water that periodically catches on fire (ship channel). Houston also has some of the worst weather in the country (110 F in the summer with humidity so thick you can taste the air).</p>
<p>And let’s keep in mind that this is for an inferior engineering school. In Texas, he can attend Texas A&M and find a better match (location, size, athletics, conservatism) with a higher ranked program (though he’d still have to deal with that weather).</p>
<p>I lived in both cities and turned down more money from Rice for these reasons (well, and rankings).</p>
<p>LOL, GP. DS turned down instate tuition at GT (his “safe” school) for Rice, so our perspectives differ. Granted, he initially considered majoring in applied physics, not engineering, so for him the choice was a better one. Besides, they were closing down the programs in physics that interested him at Tech, so it wasn’t the place for him. </p>
<p>Your points about metro Houston and Metro Atlanta are parallel. The cities are comparable in size and opportunity, whether you live in the city or environs. As I mentioned, the “city” of Atlanta is shrinking, so don’t be thrown off by the statistics you read. People who used to live in the city now live in the city of Dunwoody or Sandy Springs. I can’t blame them. They were tired of paying exhorbitant taxes without comparable benefit. If someone thinks they are coming to Atlanta because is is a cozy little city, they will be sorely mistaken. And yes, the metro Atlanta area is expanding, and includes areas like Alpharetta and even Kennesaw, just as Houston metropolitan area includes areas like The Woodlands or Sugar Land.</p>
<p>And yes, there is a lot of growth going on in downtown and midtown Atlanta, but if I were you, I wouldn’t count on MARTA to get you easily to any place you really want to go (except to the airport-- that is handy, but requires sometimes one or two train changes). And sadly, its in serious financial trouble, so won’t be looking to make any improvements in its routes or expansion of them. Just the opposite. Lay-offs, cancelled bus routes, etc. </p>
<p>To answer the OP’s question- Ga Tech had a 61% acceptance rate last year, with middle 50% ACT of 27-31. Rice accepted only 23%,with middle 50% ACT scores of 30-34. So a 31 is OK, but if he/she really wants to be competitive, a 34 is what to shoot for…</p>
<p>And I don’t disagree with you at all about living in the two cities long term. Personally, I like Atlanta much better than Houston. After all, at least Atlanta has zoning requlations, and you won’t find a 7-11 or liquor store next to a church. Of course, Atlant’a zoning board is rumored to be pretty corrupt, but thats another story…</p>
<p>But to answer the OPS question, to really feel competitive for Rice, the ACTs should be retaken. JMO.</p>
<p>*** By the way, the summers in Atlanta are no picnic either :(</p>
<p>To the OP-
not sure why no one has mentioned Rose-Hulman yet. That might be a great fit for your son. It is predominantly an engineering school, but does have some humanities too.</p>
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<p>Probably the haven’t mentioned it because Rose-Hulman only has about 1,500 students, and the OP was looking for no fewer than 5,000.</p>