Duke vs. Rice vs. Georgia Tech for Engineering

College Search & Selection
1

Hi, everyone! I’m really excited that I got into these three wonderful schools, and now I’m having some trouble deciding between them. Financially, they’re pretty close, with Rice being the tiniest bit more expensive than Duke because of travel expenses and Rice/Duke being about 5k/yr more expensive than GA Tech. I want to major in electrical engineering, and I’m thinking about minoring in computer science/physics/math/etc. I’ve visited GA Tech and Duke, and I like both of them. I’m going to Owl Days to get a feel for Rice, and I’m also going to Blue Devil Days and probably visit Tech again.

GA Tech

Pros:
-Location: close to home, I like Atlanta
-It’s an “engineering school,” a greater variety of engineering classes, offers Industrial Engineering if I decide to switch to that major
-Over four years, it would be about 20k cheaper that Rice or Duke

Cons:
-Large classes, less personal attention from professors and administration
-More stress because there are more required engineering classes and there are a lot of “weed out” classes
-Small dorms, not the prettiest campus
-Gender ratio (I’m female, and I’ve experienced being the only girl before and definitely don’t like it)

Duke

Pros:
-Location, close to home
-More prestigious as an overall school
-Fewer required classes, so I have more options to take electives from other subjects that interest me
-A ton of options for minoring or interdisciplinary certificates, which I’m interested in
-Nice campus, dorms
-Smaller than GA Tech
-Lots of school spirit

Cons:
-More expensive than GA Tech
-There are only four engineering majors to choose from (BME, ME, EE, Civ/Envi), and electrical is the only one of those majors that I’m really interested in right now. I’m thinking of taking Biomed classes and maybe doing medical-related research, but Biomed as a major really doesn’t appeal to me. I’m also not very interested in mechanical or civil engineering.
-Frat culture, racial segregation and tension with Durham (I’ve heard about these, but I’m not sure how much they impact student life)

Rice

Pros:
-Not a ton of required classes, so I have the flexibility to take outside electives and minor
-The Certificate for Engineering Leadership program appeals to me
-Offers more variety in engineering than Duke. They offer chemical engineering and computational and applied mathematics as majors, which I could switch to if I decide I don’t like electrical
-Nice campus, food, dorms (Based off of what I’ve seen on the internet, haven’t actually visited)
-Smallest of the three
-Residential Colleges
-Very diverse

Cons:
-Far from home
-More expensive than GA Tech and a little bit more expensive than Duke
-Weather
-Not as well known as Duke or Georgia Tech

2

All excellent choices.
If I were in your shoes, I’d pick Rice:

  • excellent student body / experience – arguably one of the best in the country
  • broader range of engineering than Duke, but not an “engineering school” like GT, so more elective course options
  • smaller = more personal attention
  • very diverse student body
  • not as well known as Duke but definitely prestigious
    (my second choice would be Duke over GT for most of these same reasons)

But visit Rice and then decide.

3

You have great options - rejoice!! FWIW --we just visited Rice & GA Tech in February - my son (a junior) is very interested in EE & CS - while he liked both, I feel like he’ll get more personal attention and perhaps stronger research opportunities at Rice. If you are into tinkering & making things, GA Tech has good facilities(though EE bldg is old) and a great maker./innovation studio. Rice has a cool design & maker space too. So I agree with @insanedreamer . We don’t know anything really about Duke’s EE program so cannot comment on that. I echo - please visit Rice before you decide.

4

DS chose Rice over Tech. LOVE Rice!! Its not that far from Atlanta - Easy flight to Hobby (use Hobby, not Bush).

5

Forget prestige. All these schools are excellent for engineering and CS. Personally I think Rice would be the best all around school for its overall program.

6

My son is a CS major at GT and really likes it. The male /female ratio is currently 60/40. A lot of school spirit and they are rated very high nationally in all engineering and CS programs.

7

Hopefully you will have a better sense of the school that is the best fit for you after you re-visit. But I would take “not as well known” off of your con list for Rice – anyone who will be important to your career will know the school very well. It is probably less of a household name because it doesn’t have the big time sports of the other two schools (which may or may not be important to you).

8

I’m a University of Houston Under Grad. Industrial Engineering. I had the option to go to rice but even with the scholarship package it was way too expensive for me. "I’m an independent student " Plus they don’t have industrial eng. If you want to go into a career that revolves around research or becoming a professor you should go to Rice it’s in the middle of Houston nice place a little confusing to get around though. You want to go into industry and workforce then Georgia technology definitely. I mean.maybe I’m.biased since they’re ranking #1 in the country for their industrial engineering program but they have amazing oppurtnuintes for engineers like their invent lab. Theirs like 40 plus 3d printers their.

9

I went to Rice and absolutely loved it. I majored in Math / Computational and Applied Math. Here are my thoughts on why you should go to each school.

You should go to Georgia tech if:

  • You want to stay close to home
  • You enjoy the large school feel
  • You don’t mind gender imbalance (60/40 m/f)
  • You think there’s a good chance you’d like to do industrial engineering
  • The $20k is a deal-breaker

You should go to Duke if:

  • You want to take more non-engineering classes
  • You’re interested in Greek life
  • You want to go to a school with good sports teams (Duke basketball is going to be incredible next year)
  • You want name recognition when you tell random people where you go

You should go to Rice if:

  • You like trees (visit campus!)
  • You think you’d prefer the residential college system to Greek life
  • You’d like to live in a new city - Houston is incredibly underrated, and one of my favorite cities in the country
  • You want to do research
  • You want more freedom to take different classes
  • You prefer small schools

Overall if you can afford to do Duke or Rice, I’d go to one of those. They are different enough culturally that you should be able to tell which is more up your alley by visiting (please visit). And feel free to ask me any more questions about Rice! I graduated in 2011 so hopefully some of my knowledge is still current.

10

I went to Blue Devil Days, which made me want to go to Duke. I committed today. Go Blue Devils!