Duke Pratt vs Cornell Engineering vs Rice

College Search & Selection
1

Hi! I’m not good at CC so hopefully I’ve posted this in the right area (should I post this on Cornell and Rice forums too? I picked Duke randomly). I’m pretty stuck in making a decision on schools and I only have 2 weeks left ah! Please let me know if you have any thoughts.

About me:

I need academic flexibility: I want to combine engineering/tech with public policy/econ/social entrepreneurship → I call it Global Development Engineering. I want to get involved in the startup scene and want my college to support that.

I’m more of a liberal artsy person but with a tech side and I really want those foundational skills to apply.

I really appreciate diversity of thought and artsy/intellectual people. I’m LGBTQ+ and could probably be called a hippie or alternative or something like that, although outwardly I’m a pretty normal and can fit in well if I want.

Rice

Pros:

LOVE the supportive and unconventional community. I VIBE WITH IT SO MUCH.

Only place I’ve toured. Loved the campus and the trees (I love nature).

Great weather

Good STEM, econ, policy, and entrepreneurship programs; Baker Institute!

Lots of interaction with faculty and good opportunities for research. I probably want to go to grad school so that’s good. Seems like a supportive place.

Houston! I don’t absolutely love Houston, I’d much rather Austin, but it’s the only school on my list in a major city. Texas is good for startups, I could see myself going to Austin after.

Residential college system is great. I don’t want to get involved in greek life.

Undergrad focused.

Owls are cute.

Cons:

Maybe a bit too small. I feel like I’d get claustrophobic after 4 years. Even the campus itself could be fully explored within my first week or two.

More of a regional reputation.

Flexible, but not as flexible as my other two options it seems → lots of requirements for each major. On the engineering webinar, they did not seem to love the idea of double majors, etc.

The financial aid lady I talked to was kinda mean lol.

Smaller school → fewer courses. Did not see many for entrepreneurship except at grad level and idk if undergrads can take those.

Small alumni network.

Cornell Engineering

Pros:

Amazing engineering program (though what makes it so? really just research and size, I don’t think the education will differ much between these schools but idk).

Reputation, especially nationally and internationally; I plan on maybe working overseas for a bit

Good programs for everything I’m interested in; huge variety of courses

Can make my own major

Great alumni network

Lots of money flowing in for entrepreneurship, not sure about the level of support tho other than that there’s access to lots of money

I love the nature around Cornell; I don’t necessarily mind being in a small town

Cons:

HUGE which leads to competition, huge class sizes, less individualized attention/support, less interaction with students/faculty

Weather though I’m used to it because I’m from NJ

More grad focused than undergrad focused?

Stress culture

Less pristine campus than the other 2… Most buildings are nice but the quality seems hit or miss, some engineering buildings look run down tho the new ones are really nice

Grade deflation?

Duke Pratt

Pros:

Good engineering program but somewhat limited; great for everything else I’m interested in, also really good for sustainability

Duke’s certificate program in Engineering for Global Development actually gave me the name for what I want to do. Their innovation and entrepreneurship certificate also seems like a great educational foundation for entrepreneurship. Lots of support

Perfect undergrad size for me I think. Small classes so lots of attention/interaction but large enough to not feel claustrophobic. Flunch program

Duke Engage, Focus, etc. → their academic/co-curricular offerings seem to fit me

Can create my own major, very flexible/interdisciplinary

Good weather and good area with Research Triangle Park → Could see myself working there though I prefer the West Coast

UNC is close, gives more opportunities

Beautiful campus! And the Duke Gardens!! Don’t even get me started

Basically tied, if not better, with Rice for really good quality of life

Undergrad focused ish and liberal artsy?

Cons:

Not sure I vibe with the stereotype of its culture for preppy, wealthy southern elites. SO many wealthy people like goddamn, the income distribution is sad

Fewer offerings in STEM and I’ve been seeing from unreliable sources online that the quality of education is not as good

I don’t like the huge frat scene. Don’t care for sports but I don’t mind them

Don’t like the whole East Campus living, the dorms don’t look all that nice

Also WashU USC and GTech are other options but I mostly eliminated them, except if financial aid appeals don’t work out then GT is much cheaper so that’s where I’ll go.

Thank you so much if you’re still reading this. I probably missed some stuff but that’s why I want to hear any thoughts of yours! Please let me know what you think. Thanks!

2

I think you’re thinking about things the right way and your pro/con list is reasonable although may simplify certain matters a bit. Can’t really go wrong with your choice. I think the differences in opportunities after graduating are negligible, so it’s more about fit within the community as well as perhaps an academic offering fit based on your unique interest.

I’d agree that Cornell is more a large “traditional” engineering powerhouse that may be more equivalent to some state schools in that regard - large research outputs, big student body, perhaps more stress/deliberate in its offerings. Would offer a ton of course offerings and a lot of possible research opportunities and departments, but might be more grad student-focused. Rice’s uniqueness is certainly the residential college aspect, which many people rave about. Having been in Houston A LOT for work, I personally dislike it as it’s basically one ginormous suburb. Having said that, I think the campus and academic life is WAY more important than the city, and Rice’s campus is quite nice.

For Duke, sounds like it has a program already designed that’s perfect for your interests so that is great. In my experience, Duke’s Greek system, while prevalent, isn’t overtaking anything and there are many people (in fact, the majority) that don’t join and still have great social experiences. I did not join a fraternity and did not feel left out or overwhelmed by the scene. But there is a wide variance even within the Greek system so I’d also encourage us not to stereotype an entire group – there are the “southern preppy rich types” certainly in some, but there are others – as well as SLGs (selective living groups) – that are full of geeks, and I say that in a positive way. You might be surprised that you find a community of like-minded individuals who share similar interests.

Also, while Duke does have a lot of students from wealthy backgrounds, it’s not at odds with most elite institutions and frankly to me, had little to no impact on my experience. I was on significant financial aid, but was friends with people who came from families with a lot of money as well as others who came from even less than me, and they were all good people and fun to be around. I didn’t even know their situation in most cases unless they happened to have a super nice car or something. But it hardly came up. And interacting with different types of people is honestly really helpful in life, particularly if you go into a business setting after school. Duke definitely prepares its students for the social/business aspects of life beyond academics in my experience. And knowing people with connections certainly can be a benefit as well.

Duke also has a very lively and strong LGBTQ+ community with events and a large presence if you choose to partake. Duke’s student body and faculty lean very liberal as does the RDU area in general. Although if you don’t want politics to be a big part of your experience, it’s easy to not be involved with that sort of stuff too. It didn’t influence my engineering coursework, that’s for sure. (Duke does have SOME individuals that are conservative although they are grossly outnumbered – but I think a diversity of worldviews is healthy in an environment to grow).

Finally, while Duke is obviously in North Carolina, its students go to all the major cities of the U.S. with regularity after graduating. It’s a very widely dispersed alumni network, so going to the west coast is VERY common. A TON of alumni in the Bay Area and LA, as well as Seattle, Texas, etc. The #1 destination for new grads is NYC, I believe DC is #2 and San Fran and LA are within the top 6. So, you can basically go anywhere. Its student body is recruited from a nationwide base of companies, particularly in large cities.

So, long story short, can’t go wrong – I don’t think there’s a clear “winner” so go with your gut and where you’d feel comfortable. Cornell is a more “traditional” engineering school, Rice has the residential college component, and Duke has a very interdisciplinary academic curriculum with a gorgeous campus and a social/collaborative/outgoing student body. (Clearly, I am biased in favor of Duke.) I do think Pratt offers a great curriculum with a small school feel being very collaborative and seems to have a program that aligns well with your interests. And while you may not like sports, you may find that it enriches your college experience. So, definitely recommend Duke as an undergraduate institution.

Good luck with your decision! Hope this helps somewhat.

3

OP: Go with the mean lady.

4

A few comments:

Rice = great weather? We have an office in Houston and even my colleagues that live there think the weather sucks. Hot and humid for about 8 months of the year and lots of rain and thunder storms the other 4 months. It’s also very flat and the city just seems dirty to me.

Duke has a brand new, state-of-the-art $100 million Pratt Engineering building that should be open this fall. The weather is the best of your three choices. Rice campus is 300 urban acres, Duke’s campus is 8,000 wooded acres and west campus looks like Princeton. You mentioned “academic flexibility”, Duke allows you to double major or even create your own major. It’s public policy major is top 3 in the nation and you can easily combine that with an engineering degree. They also have certificates and minors in many subjects.

While there is no bad choice here, my ranking would be Duke #1, Cornell #2, and Rice #3.

Full disclosure, my D20 will be a freshman at Duke in the fall so I’m a bit biased.

Good luck to you!

5

I would not dismiss GTech which sounds like an excellent affordable option.

6

Take a second look at Wash U. Their Beyond Boundaries program is unique and sounds like a good fit for what you want to do.

Not a big fan of Cornell Engineering unless you’re a workaholic.

Rice and Duke are both great.

7

I will speak mostly to Cornell.

re the question in #1: :“Amazing engineering program (though what makes it so?”
I would say it’s mostly the breadth and depth of programs and courses.
Hopefully you will learn stuff once you get to college, and as your interests may change there is a decent chance Cornell will have decent offerings related to your new interests.

I myself wound up interested in a sub-field of engineering that I did not even contemplate before I attended college. Cornell engineering had a good program in that field. It is not even offered at many other engineering colleges, including many “good” ones. Almost none of the smaller programs offer even so much as a single course in it.

The graduate programs, particularly the M.Eng. programs, ensure that there are lots of advanced engineering electives, which are available to upper-level undergrads as well as the M.Eng students.

Another contributor to its reputation is the quality of the student body; employers know its grads are intelligent and well trained.

The engineering college is part of a great university. You will be surrounded by a student body that is very diverse in its interests and “types”. Students can take courses across the university’s varied colleges.

Ithaca is a very liberal city (though Cornell itself is less so), situated in naturally beautiful surroundings. OP may find it very appealing, based on posts and “handle”.

A much larger proportion of Cornell’s undergrads, and surrounding neighbors, will be from the Northeast vs. from the South.

8

Wherever you do study, your program will be highly structured because that just is the nature of engineering programs. So one question for you to address is how many electives you will have that can be taken outside of your program. Print out the specific degree requirements for each of the places on your list, and then dig through the different university catalogues to see what you can get as electives. Personally, I am a huge fan of Cornell because of the depth and breadth of offerings there. Check the offerings in CALS, HumEc, CAS, or even ILR.

9

I’m new to College Confidential so please excuse if my formatting is weird. I also forgot some of my more colorful comments on my pros/cons sheet because I also posted this on Reddit, which is a different audience.

First, thank you all for your thoughts!

Rice’s community fits me best. From my visit to the residential colleges, and how it brands itself as “unconventional.” Rice is the only school of these that I’ve visited, however.

Very true, but it did seem like Duke had a higher proportion of wealthy students. I don’t think it’s a huge deal but it is disappointing to see that they’ve not expanded their aid as much as similar schools.

Glad to hear this. There is a class of 2024 confessions page on Instagram and it seems like a lot of the students have had some crazy parties while drunk. Of course, this is just a stereotype and specific instances that can be found at every college, but Duke does seem to be known a bit for these kinds of parties. I’m glad the students have found a good balance between their academic and social life but the scene doesn’t fit me. However, it seems like plenty of people are more like me. I’d just say that the community as a whole fits me less than Rice or Cornell but I can certainly find my people.
Also, I’ll look into SLGs.

YES! I like that there are people with different views on campus and that these views are accepted. Don’t get me wrong, I’m more than happy to be surrounded by people with different opinions, I’d just rather be a community that overall does not judge LGBTQ+ and that has a sizable community. I don’t want there to be 10 gay people on campus.

I saw this on their website too and it’s great. However, I’m not sure this differentiates it from the other schools I’m considering. Also, not related to this quote, but I do agree that Duke seems very interdisciplinary and would probably be great for what I want to do!

Thank you bluedog for your very thorough and informative post!

haha I forgot I included this comment on here. Dismissive is probably a better word to describe her. Any specific reason that hasn’t been mentioned why I should go with Rice?

Great weather during most of the academic year, which is during the winter. I will agree, summer in Houston sucks, but I can have the pleasure of jogging around campus without a heavy jacket during the middle of winter. Also, I love the rain, so that’s okay. Houston as a whole is not a city I love, but it’s not terrible compared to the location of my other options. I wanted to be in Cali (aka Stanford) but that didn’t happen. I can see that you’re in beautiful SoCal according to your handle. Lucky.

Duke is definitely investing more into engineering and the campus is stunning. I think Duke is probably the best overall package but Rice and Cornell have their own strengths that may be more important to me, like the community at Rice and it’s undergrad focus. Is there a reason why you’d put Rice as last?

And congrats to your daughter! Maybe I will see her there. Hope she enjoys it! Thanks for the help!

I have not dismissed it but I am concerned about a lack of flexibility and I am fortunate to be able to afford my other options.

WashU is a great place but it may be lacking a bit in engineering other than bioengineering. I have to say though, out of all of the administrators and financial aid officers I’ve interacted with, WashU’s people are by far the kindest and most supportive! Plus, their campus is amazing. I’m still considering it and I have a great opinion of it, but I don’t think I would take it over Rice, Duke, or Cornell.

I’m glad to hear you had a good experience at Cornell! Their department is definitely larger and has more offerings, but I’m sure all of these schools have more offerings than any one student can take advantage of. I’m a bit concerned that Cornell may be too large and lack individualized support or some flexibility for that reason. Or, that Cornell is more grad-focused. Nothing wrong with that, but I’m not sure it’s where I want to spend undergrad, especially given that Cornell engineering is known to have a bit of a weed-out mentality in the beginning. I do like that Cornell has so much and every kind of person though. At Rice or Duke, the experience is more one size fits all, while Cornell is large enough to have many different experiences in comparison.

I forgot about my handle haha, but yes, Ithaca is beautiful, but less so… or at least less enjoyable in the winter, which is most of the school year :frowning:

Thanks!

I’ve actually been looking into this! I haven’t completely looked through the degree requirements yet, but it seems like Duke has the least, and Cornell and Rice are similar, though Rice may have slightly more. Thank you for the advice though and I will certainly look into the requirements and electives! Cornell’s colleges all offer so many interesting courses, I got excited reading through it, especially the HumEc ones! However, Rice and Duke have many similar offerings but I’m sure Cornell has a greater variety due to the nature of its structure. Thanks!

10

You have some great choices and your pro and con list seems really well thought out. My D is a freshman engineering major at Rice and LOVES it there. She did not apply to Cornell but did apply to Duke and Wash U. She loved Duke. I wanted her to love Wash U but she just didn’t.

I agree with your comments about Houston and the weather. Though it will be quite hot and humid your first month there, it will be very nice for the rest of your time on campus. My D said she got used to the hot weather in August quickly and loved being outside in nice weather for most of the rest of the year. In fact, one of the hardest things about being home in the upper mid-west right now for her is being back in the colder weather. As for the city of Houston, it’s…OK. But honestly, you will spend the majority of your time on campus, which is gorgeous. Or you’ll walk over to Hermann park next door and go to the zoo or a museum or walk over to Rice Village which is nice too. The kids definitely go into to Houston but generally that’s just to eat somewhere fun or go to a festival or concert and don’t really care what the city looks like at that point. Personally, I think it’s a non-factor. But, others might feel different.

The reason my D choice Rice was the residential colleges, the collaborative and friendly vibe, and the extreme diversity. Her first week in she texted how she had spent the evening in a friends room trying on her sari’s and was loving learning about the different cultures of the people she was meeting in her dorm. It seems to me it’s extremely LBGTQ friendly, but you’d probably need to ask some students about that to get the real scoop.

One program at Rice you might want to consider is the Global Health Technologies minor. It’s not exactly what you are looking for but it’s close, just with more of a healthcare focus.

https://ga.rice.edu/programs-study/departments-programs/engineering/global-health-technologies/

Again, you’re options are all great and I’m not saying you should choose Rice. Just letting you know why my D chose to go there.

11

Great options. I think Rice would be the best “fit” for you. If you didn’t have the choice, you could make any work, but you have the luxury of optimizing.

No school is 100% one thing or another but I think that your concerns about Duke’s culture are well-founded for you.

12

FWIW, Cornell does not have a “weed-out mentaility”. either in the university as a whole, or in the engineering college.

During the years when I looked at these things, Cornell’s graduation rate consistently exceeded the rate predicted by US News using its multi-factor regression analysis (accounting for factors reflecting student wealth and academic capability).

The engineering college likewise had very high retention and graduation rates, every time I checked in the past, both absolutely and especially vs. engineering colleges specifically. I am too lazy to look these things up now, but you might if you care.

It is certainly academically challenging, but call me after you waltz through Duke or Rice.

You would have a faculty advisor, but their helpfulness depends on the individual. Let me know how that differs at Duke or at Rice.

It’s true they will not hold your hand.
It’s also true that it is cold in the winter, and not great weather for much of the school year.

FWIW the other seasons are wonderful, and many upperclassmen have year-long leases in their off-campus apartments. It’s an incentive to work on campus, take courses, or do research there over the summer, if no better plans materialize. I myself stayed up there three summers. I still usually go up there in the summer, actually.

13

@monydad is correct about Cornell engineering retention rates. I don’t remember the exact stats that we were quoted but it was around 95% of the students who start in engineering, graduate in engineering. The competition happens during the admissions process, not in the classroom.

14

Hello all!

Thank you for all of your help. I just wanted to update y’all that I am going to Georgia Tech! It is less than half the price of the schools I mentioned since they turned down my financial aid appeals unfortunately.

15

^^^^Excellent choice! Much cheaper and truly world class engineering. Congrats!

16

Thank you! It was difficult to turn down the other schools but Georgia Tech has so much to offer!