Deciding between Rice and Carnegie Mellon

Colleges and Universities A-Z Rice University
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<p>I am really struggling in deciding between which of these schools to attend next fall and I was hoping to receive some input from the community here. I have posted an identical thread in the other college's forum to equalize some bias.</p>

<p>I was accepted to Rice Engineering with a full tuition scholarship and was accepted to CMU CIT with a $4,000 Carnegie scholarship. I will be studying ECE at either school.</p>

<p>I visited both schools already and have a good idea of the feel for the campus. I am leaning toward liking Rice more simply because I felt that the quality of life was a little better there. Additionally, literally everyone on campus was incredibly friendly and happy (this is when I realized that when the school was ranked #1 for happiest students, they actually weren't kidding). The campus was really pleasing to be in and the classes and professors were great as well. However my opinion might be slightly biased because I stayed for Owl Days (two night stay) versus a simple day visit to CMU. I was also impressed by CMU and I think I prefer its education system over that of Rice. Also, CMU is reliably more well-known and better for its engineering program (especially ECE). I talked to several people there and they told me it was really easy to do something in CS (especially with ECE), so that would make things even better considering CMU is nationally ranked #1 for CS. My friend also told me that undergraduates regularly land amazing paid internships and jobs their sophomore or later years (a friend of his got a $200k/year job as a CS major). But I felt that the campus was a little small, and in some ways I felt constricted (not necessarily just because of the campus's physical size). Rice felt a lot more open and inviting.</p>

<p>In the end, what it comes down to is quality of life versus quality of education. And costs as well--full tuition scholarship versus $4,000 per year (no need-based aid). (But then again, returns on a CMU education are huge).</p>

<p>I'd appreciate any input and good luck to others deciding between schools for this fall.</p>

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<p>Rice is my choice</p>

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<p>I’m a Rice ECE major - I think that all of what you say CMU has is also here at Rice. We are incredibly well known for both ECE (we’re one of the birth places of modern signal processing) and CS - many many companies come here to recruit for paid internships. I don’t know if you can make the statement you made about CMU being reliability more well-known and better. The name recognition is largely regional - I’m not sure where you are from but keep that in mind. Rice is extremely well known in the South and among these companies that come here to recruit (Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and many many more). You will have those opportunities at Rice as well.</p>

<p>I will say that our CS department has a very rigorous curriculum. It sounds like you would probably take some of their intro classes anyways, but keep in mind that those classes may not all count towards your ECE degree, but the upper level electives you can access after their completion will. I’ve heard great things about many of those classes though (I haven’t taken too many of them myself).</p>

<p>I never applied to or visited CMU, so I don’t feel right making any more comparisons. I hope this helps though.</p>

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<p>Rice with a full scholarship & you have doubts?</p>

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<p>Rice. No question here. I also wonder why you are debating. Maybe for CMU CS program, not engineering. NOt for less cost at Rice. But even with all things equal Rice is a better school over all.</p>

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<p>I also made a final choice between Rice and Carnegie Mellon. I remember thinking that Carnegie Mellon had really great acceptance materials – they really made me feel like they wanted me, even without offering a scholarship. I would agree that CMU is probably better known nationally, but I know there are still plenty of opportunities at Rice. I think the quality of education is comparable, so if you like the quality of life better at Rice, and you have a full ride, I think Rice is almost certainly your better option.</p>

<p>How do you feel about the college system? That was a big factor in my deciding to come here.</p>