<p>Thoughts, comments? UT has a higher ranked CS program, at least at the grad school level. Classes at Rice would be smaller and easier to get into. UT has a weed-out pre-CS program and I'm trying to find out exactly what that means on a practical level for a student.</p>
<p>What else should my son consider? He's in Plan II at UT and could double major in CS.
Theoretically, my son would have the same research opportunities at Rice and UT because he would have the Century scholarship at Rice and the Dedman scholarship at UT. In practice, I suspect that research might be a little easier at Rice.</p>
<p>I looked into Plan II, but I didn’t bother applying because I was OOS and UT felt waaaayyy too big when I visited, despite the sheer awesomeness of Austin. Anyway, Plan II seems VERY restrictive: [Plan</a> II Honors Program](<a href=“http://www.utexas.edu/cola/progs/plan2/current_students/curriculum/]Plan”>http://www.utexas.edu/cola/progs/plan2/current_students/curriculum/)
I’m not sure how many hours that is, but all those requirements could probably constitute an entire major in Liberal Studies or something similar at any other college or university. The curriculum kind of reads like a list of high school graduation requirements… did that already, no thanks! I don’t know how feasible/desirable double majoring would be with all these required courses. The distribution requirements at Rice are much more lenient and open-ended, making it easier to double major. Plus, Rice generously allows many students to AP-out of some of these requirements. That may be important if Plan II doesn’t allow AP credit to satisfy any of its core. </p>
<p>I know nothing of the CS departments at either school, but I would seriously look closely at Plan II before making any decisions. Also, check to see if there is a GPA maintenance requirement to stay in the program… one bad semester or year is more probable than most parents like to think. I would do the same for the scholarships. I don’t know what you have to maintain for Century Scholars, if anything, but it’s probably like a 2.8 or 3.0. Rice typically doesn’t keep you on a short leash once you’re in. From my experience with friends at state schools, some of them are losing their scholarships because they couldn’t maintain a 3.8 this year.</p>
<p>It seems like Stanford is taking a backseat right now with my son because of the quarter system. A student called him last week, and my son didn’t like what he had to say about the quarter system (so fast paced that you can never miss a class, etc.) </p>
<p>My son’s situation is unique in that he has no APs but will have over 50 dual credit hours (he’s homeschooled). Rice (and Stanford) will not give him credit for these hours because they were taken for high school credit, but UT will. So, if he does Plan II, after the first semester, he’ll be a junior. He’ll have most of the gen ed requirements out of the way. Most Plan II students do double major, probably because they have a lot of AP credits. </p>
<p>You are right about the gpa requirements. For the Dedman scholarship it is 3.5. For the Trustee’s at Rice it is 2.8. I don’t know how the grading systems and course difficulties compare. How does a 3.5 at UT compare to a 2.8 at Rice? On the other hand, since we are in-state, even if he lost his UT scholarship, UT would still be affordable.</p>
<p>I do like the distribution requirements for Rice, and the pass-fail option. I really dislike the weed-out approach that UT uses in the CS courses. My son isn’t completely sure about what he wants to major in. Film is a possibility and UT’s film program is very highly ranked.
He tried to meet with Rice’s documentary film prof but he never got back with my son, which was a disappointment. However, he did get to sit in on a great Rice CS class and spoke with the prof for quite a while afterward. He was very impressed with that class and the students’ job offers.</p>
<p>I’m not sure on this, but at rice you may be able to get credit for those dual credit courses - I would contact admissions. Maybe have to take a placement test or something?</p>
<p>Rice says because they appear on his high school transcript that he cannot get college credit. I did check on this during Owl Days. There might be some placement tests, though. I did not think to ask about that.</p>
<p>The only placement tests I know of are in the Foreign Languages and Economics. And even if you do place out of a class, you don’t receive credit for it.</p>
<p>And I have no idea how a 2.8 at Rice compares to a 3.5 at UT… anyone?</p>
<p>I came in with some dual enrollment classes that were also listed on my high school transcript and was told that I wouldn’t be able to get credit for them. What that means - they won’t appear on your Rice transcript and won’t satisfy any university requirements for graduation. He can’t use any of them for distribution requirements or to count towards the 120 minimum credits to graduate. (I’ve never really known anyone who had trouble getting to 120 credits in 8 semesters)</p>
<p>For satisfying department requirements, you can usually work it out with the department. I had taken up through multi-variable calc in high school through dual enrollment, and got to Rice to find that calculus was a prerec. for a lot of my econ classes. Even though I didn’t have a single math class listed on my transcript, I never once had a problem getting approval for classes to take their classes. </p>
<p>If it’s a class that is specifically listed as a requirement for that major, you’ll have to work a bit more closely with the department chair or undergrad adviser - they might require you to take a substitute class of some sort, but i highly doubt that anyone would make you take a class that you’ve already taken (provided it’s from an a decent college and you got a decent grade). Rice is small enough that, while there’s plenty of bureaucracy on paper, it’s pretty easy to force your way through it.</p>
<p>Yeah, I also had the same concern. I’ve taken multivariable and linear algebra & diff eq through dual enrollment. I just found out I can’t get credit for them. That makes me REALLY mad is that since I took linear algebra over the summer, it wasn’t going to be on my hs transcript. But I actually MADE the U of MN put that on my hs transcript to make things easier. </p>
<p>2.8 is extremely doable at Rice. I think the average gpa is 3.3 or something like that. I’ve heard of kids losing scholarships at UT, but not at Rice. Most of the Rice kids are very hard workers.</p>
<p>Thanks for all of the replies. I’m sorry, but what does “pretty decent” mean? Does it mean it’s pretty good for a CS major because the grading scale for CS courses is rather low, or does it mean it’s about average for a CS major?</p>
<p>"So, if he does Plan II, after the first semester, he’ll be a junior. He’ll have most of the gen ed requirements out of the way. Most Plan II students do double major, probably because they have a lot of AP credits. "</p>
<p>That’s wrong. For nearly the general requirements, you CAN’T ap out of them . You still have to take the philosophy, physics or biomed, calc, math, etc. courses that are required in the curriculum.</p>
<p>Wouldn’t want you to get stuck with required courses ugh especially physics double ugh.</p>
<p>He would get credit for many of the flexible courses and university courses. However, you are right that he would have to repeat physics. </p>
<p>However, at Rice, because the distribution requirements are pretty flexible, he might not have to repeat many classes, but could take different classes that meet the distribution requirements (if that makes sense).</p>
I’ve heard of kids losing scholarships at UT, but not at Rice. Most of the Rice kids are very hard workers.</p>