<p>I visited duke for latino recruitment weekend and just got back yesterday. I am absolutely in love with the school. I also visited rice a couple of months ago and thought I was absolutely in love with it until I visited duke. Now at home I've relaxed a little bit and although I enjoyed the students at Duke a bit more, rice was not at all disappointing. I would really love to go to duke though, its become my dream school.
The only thing is rice gave me a ton of needbased grants, and a merit scholarship. I can go to rice without taking out any loans, and the only thing I need to cover is personal expenses and books. My duke situation has me taking out $5000 in loans every year.
I want to study either civil engineering or biomed engineering or both or maybe a double with finance or economics.
Any suggestions as to what I should choose in this situation?</p>
<p>Personally I couldn't justify graduating 20K in debt from a college I only liked a little better than a college that would put me through for free. I like Duke better, but really Duke vs. Rice...there's just no way to justify 20K in debt--that translates to like 28/30K after interest. That's practically an additional year of college!</p>
<p>First of all, there was a good Duke vs. Rice thread a couple of weeks ago that you should seach for refer to. There were a lot of good suggestions and insights into differences between the two schools, and things you should consider about each. They are very different, both in campus, student body, housing arrangements, etc. There are a lot of things to consider besides tuition alone. You should also take into consideration the travel costs of getting back and forth to school. Some cities are easier to get in/out of from your current location.
If you want biomedical engineering, I believe Duke is #2 in the country in that area behind Johns Hopkins. From what I've heard, their new engineering facility is state of the art. I believe I would definitely go for Duke over Rice in that case. Hopefully some current Duke engineering students/faculty will chime in with their opinions.
As for the difference in tuition, these days, having only $20,000 in debt after 4 years at a private institution the caliber of Duke seems minimal in the scheme of things. However, it is totally up to you and your family to determine the value and effect of that difference in the long run. The main thing is that you need to consider what you want your overall experience to be for the next 4 yours. The difference might be worth it to go to your dream school.
That said, both are good schools, and you won't go wrong with either.</p>