<p>Good point, bonehead, but I read the OP’s “5000 preferred” to mean it was a request but not a deal-breaker. It may be a deal-breaker b/c its an engineering school with a seasoning of humanities thrown in, and no big-time sports, but still meets many of the OP’s s’s criteria. Worth a look, IMO</p>
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<p>Well good for your son. Hopefully he made the right decision for him. Hopefully it works out for him. </p>
<p>But regardless of your personal opinion, you have to accept that GT is a much better engineering schools at a lower cost for most students. Those are just facts.</p>
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<p>This gets off topic, but I would disagree (5 years ago, I would have agreed). With the development of Atlantic Station and Midtown, many people are returning back to the city from Marietta, Smyrna, Gwinett, Decatur, etc, so it’s not as segmented as it once was immediately around the city. </p>
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<p>I think you have to make a distinction between what the metro areas include. The Houston Metro Area includes Baytown, The Woodlands, Sugarland, Channelview, etc. Those are all close to downtown, so you have 5 million + people all living within 30 minutes of downtown, including a very densely populated (and poor) area inside 610. </p>
<p>Meanwhile the Atlanta metro area include Kennesaw, Marietta, Buford, Peachtree City, parts of Alabama, and all the way up to Rome. so that’s 5 million + people all living within 90 minutes of downtown. That’s a big difference. </p>
<p>Houston is a much larger and more populated city than Atlanta, and inside the city itself, Houston is per capita much poorer. </p>
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<p>First of all, I lived just on MARTA for four years, and it wasn’t a problem. Second, MARTA isn’t in financial trouble. MARTA is required by law to move 50% of it’s revenue into a holding account for capital improvements (new lines and stations). Because the state has cut back funding, MARTA has asked to drop that 50% to a lower amount.</p>
<p>A firm with a 50% gross operating profit margin is not in financial trouble.</p>
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<p>After a few years in TX, anywhere is a picnic. There’s nothing like sweating through your shirt during the 2 minute walk through the parking lot.</p>
<p>But Houston does have some great things. I still miss Beck’s Prime (best fast food in the world), it has easy access to a beach, even if it’s not advisable from a health perspective to go in the water there’s still sand, it’s a much cheaper place to live, and access roads are one of the greatest inventions of all time.</p>
<p>Yes, we are getting off topic. The city limits of Atlanta <em>are</em> shrinking due to the cities that are privatizing, as I mentioned above, and the population of folks moving into town isn’t yet equalizing it. The Atlantic station project was and is a wonderful idea, but sadly the economy turned at the wrong time and they have been literally auctioning off many of the condos to the highest bidder. <a href=“http://www.ajc.com/services/content/printedition/2009/02/27/auction0227.html[/url]”>http://www.ajc.com/services/content/printedition/2009/02/27/auction0227.html</a> And the shootings that happened there didn’t help their PR either. Again, don’t get me wrong, I like Atlantic station and have been there several times. It just didn’t take off the way it had been planned. </p>
<p>Its great that you were able to use MARTA for 4 years, but MARTA’s lines are limited. There are simply many places that are not easily accessed by public transportation, and are not serviced by MARTA rail. Yes, its great for going from, say the High museum to Lenox Mall, but impractical if you wanted to get from Emory to just about anywhere, as there is no rail service near Emory, only bus service. And forget trying to get to most places in the NW part of town. No service. Cobb County transit does run bus service to the Arts museum stop, but for the mostpart trying to use public transportation can be very time consuming and challenging without a car to park at a MARTA lot. MARTA rail service runs on a “T” [MARTA</a> - Getting There - Rail Schedules & Maps](<a href=“http://www.itsmarta.com/getthere/schedules/index-rail.htm]MARTA”>http://www.itsmarta.com/getthere/schedules/index-rail.htm) Many people will park at a MARTA lot and ride to their work destination (several companies have shuttle sevice if they are near a MARTA stop). This is wonderful, and became very popular during the gas shortage this past fall. Houston’s light rail system is also in its infancy. A more functional rail system would be wonderful for both cities, but often the local communities resist such expansion, for a variety of reasons as I am sure you know. </p>
<p>And yes, MARTA must, by law, use 1/2 its tax revenues for capital expenses, so it is tied up and cannot be spent for daily operations. The legislature didn’t change that law, so the Atl. Regional Commission (ARC) had to bail out MARTA this year, as the tax $ for daily operational expenses simply wasn’t there, and they were facing major shortfalls in $$ for operating costs. Here’s a recent article about MARTA’s $25 million rescue plan for anyone who cares [$25</a> million MARTA rescue plan | ajc.com](<a href=“http://www.ajc.com/services/content/printedition/2009/04/10/marta0410.html]$25”>http://www.ajc.com/services/content/printedition/2009/04/10/marta0410.html)</p>
<p>This is all irrelevant for the OP, who is simply trying to find a good school that meets many of his criteria. Don’t get me wrong, I love GA Tech. Its a great school and a great value. But to get back to the OP’s questions, admissions stats (average SAT’s, ACT’s etc) are simply more challenging at Rice, as you did not address, so I am surmising perhaps you agree with that. The stats that the OP has will be great for Tech, and perhaps put him in the running for the Ga Tech Presidents scholarship [Georgia</a> Institute of Technology :: President’s Scholarship Program :: Home](<a href=“http://www.psp.gatech.edu/]Georgia”>http://www.psp.gatech.edu/) This is a phenomenal opportunity and I encourage the OP to pursue it. For admission to Rice, whose admission rate (percent) is about 1/3 that of Tech’s, his ACT scores really do need to come up a bit if he wants to feel more comfortable with his chances. His scores are good for Rice, just not great for Rice. They are, however, great for Tech.</p>
<p>All in all, I think we agree more than we disagree, and I respect your thoughts and opinions. To that end, I would appreciate your thoughts on Tech’s 100% on line Masters program for engineering. How would one do the labs that are part of an engineering program? How would that work?</p>
<p>Even a 34 ACT and 3.7 GPA won’t assure you acceptance to Rice unfortunately.</p>
<p>“After a few years in TX, anywhere is a picnic. There’s nothing like sweating through your shirt during the 2 minute walk through the parking lot.”</p>
<p>One thing to keep in mind is, don’t judge how bad the weather is during the summer. Unless you are a summer student, you are not going to be there during the summer. So the best way to choose from climate is to choose which city/area has the best climate during the winter. Sure, there are nice looking schools in the north, from what people have seen from pictures online, but have you ever seen them coated in snow with freezing temperatures for months at a time? If you go to school in the north, you are going to be missing out on the best time of the year for weather: the summer.</p>
<p>Maryland’s student body is not overwhelmingly liberal on the whole, however there is a very annoying, vocal minority of dogmatically left-wing puppets. These people are generally found in majors such as sociology and gopo rather than engineering. The best advice I can give to anyone with centrist/ right leaning political opinions heading to Maryland is to never read the Diamondback. The Diamondback will do nothing but frustrate you… here is a representative sample of the kind of crap that’s in this paper every day…</p>
<p>[The</a> Diamondback - Crime: Get to the root of it - and green it up](<a href=“http://www.diamondbackonline.com/home/index.cfm?event=displayArticlePrinterFriendly&uStory_id=79eca14f-3cfb-4d5f-b6fb-17b40a1506b9]The”>http://www.diamondbackonline.com/home/index.cfm?event=displayArticlePrinterFriendly&uStory_id=79eca14f-3cfb-4d5f-b6fb-17b40a1506b9)</p>
<p>To the OP… you might want to check out Clemson. I think it fits your requirements.</p>
<p>Are we talking about social or economic conservatism? Because generally people who are poorer tend to be more socially conservative and those who are rich tend to be more libertarian. So if you are looking for libertarians, you might just go to the most prestigious school that you can get accepted to. </p>
<p>@G.P. Burdell, </p>
<p>Where is the evidence that Georgia Tech has better engineering than Rice? You are the first person I have ever heard who holds that view. And given the SAT percentiles, it seems very apparent that your view is at the very least misinformed.</p>
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<p>If you are basing a school’s quality on the SAT scores, you are misguided. Using that logic, I bet Rice must have a better engineering program than UIUC and UMich as well? Rice is a great school, but I think I have to side with G.P. on this one. Georgia Tech would be cited by probably 9 out of 10 employers as the better engineering school between it and Rice, even if Rice is the better overall school.</p>
<p>I think this whole georgia tech/rice thing really depends on region were the employer is located. In some places a Rice degree is more highly valued and other places Georgia Tech is preferred. Overall, Rice is a better school but in some areas Georgia Tech is better. I am going to say that I do not believe that a whole lot of people hold the view that Georgia Tech is better.</p>
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<p>I hired in Houston, and it was overwhelmingly known that GT is the better engineering school. It’s 4th in the country in engineering, for crying out loud.</p>
<p>This argument is like making the point that Princeton engineering is better than Cal Tech because it’s an Ivy.</p>
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<p>What exactly did you hire for? Is it possible that Rice graduates simply entered different fields than you were hiring for? </p>
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<p>No, Cal Tech has higher SAT means than Princeton so it tangential to my argument.</p>
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<p>Yet that very fact about your argument is what invalidates it before anyone can take it seriously.</p>
<p>I’ll mention USC again.</p>
<p>How is it lacking? Anyone?</p>
<p>Has anyone else noticed that the OP left a long time ago, started this exact same thread in another forum <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/698058-conservative-non-religious-affiliated-colleges-w-engineering.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-search-selection/698058-conservative-non-religious-affiliated-colleges-w-engineering.html</a> as well as similar ones in individual schools forums (UT Austin, USC, Penn State Univ Park, etc) and feels that Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is the best fit for her son (forgoing the “big sports” aspect of his request)?</p>
<p>Yeah I noticed that. I kind of feel bad for her son though. He should be the one really looking at schools, not her.</p>
<p>OP, here. I hadn’t left, just enjoying the discussion. Once the GT (Atl) vs. Rice (Houston) tangent started, I didn’t have anything to add. I would say that the discussion put GT on my S’ list of schools to consider. </p>
<p>I apologize if I breached CC etiquette by posting same question in two different forums. I am fairly new to the site and did not know in which forum to post or what response I might get. As it turns out, I think my decision was fortuitous, because the two forums had some different recommendations which I appreciate.</p>
<p>The posts to a few specific school sites were very different that this question. The questions on the school sites were only tangentially related to this question and were specific to those individual schools that my son already had an interest in. This was a much broader query canvasing thoughts on campuses around the country for political temperature and to see if there were some schools he had not considered.</p>
<p>To bonehead (above), you need not worry about my S. He is very involved in his college selection process and has visited many colleges, some with and some without me. I am very involved right now because, as a Servicemember, I will be deployed to Afghanistan for a year starting this summer. Therefore, I will not be able to assist my S during his senior year with his college visits, information gathering, thought process, or decision. While the thought of being away from him and my D hurts a great deal, it helps me to try and front load some help to them that I would prefer to spread over a much longer period of time. Unfortunately, I don’t have that time. I’m sorry that my parenting decisions offend you.</p>
<p>Welcome back, OP, and welcome to CC. I don’t mean to sound like the CC version of Ms Manners, so apologies in advance. What I have seen over the umpteen years I’ve been around here is that if a poster starts the exact same thread in more than one place, they usually start by saying “I also started this thread in the XXXX forum”… Otherwise it has a little bit of a ■■■■■ feel to it, especially when the OP then doesn’t seem to return. Threads notoriously take all sorts of twists and turns. Its fine to pop back in and redirect it. </p>
<p>Good luck with your deployment. Since your s seems to be flexible on the “big sports” criteria, is he also flexible on the size? I really do think Rose-Hulman is worth a look. Good luck on all fronts.</p>
<p>Haha, easy killer. No need to take offense. It is just odd to me when parents come on here instead of the people who are actually the ones looking for the school. As long as he is involved in it, then it is good that you are helping, and even better that you care.</p>
<p>Lehigh has engineering, has almost 5k undergrad students, and is somewhat conservative. Not warm weather, but also not as cold as some…</p>