<p>here is my perspective (HS senior accepted early to Rice). But i applied to Emory and considered the other schools.</p>
<p>The only two i have actually visited are Rice and Emory so take my other recs towards other schools lightly. First, I really really enjoyed Emory when i visited. There was so much vibrant life in the campus and a lot of diversity. However, looking back, even though there was so many different types of people, most still hung out with those within their own race much like high school (or at least mine). Whereas at Rice there is a lot of social interaction between races as well as social classes.</p>
<p>Heres my view on Rice. Sure there’s likely to be some competition at every elite school (how would students challenge themselves otherwise?), but at Rice there is more of a collaborative spirit. People help each other and compete against themselves. The one unique feature that Rice has is its Residential college system (which none of the other schools you mentioned has). Its similar to the Harry Potter houses and students get randomly placed into a college (thats what they’re called). Most people who go to Rice believe that is the feature which helps make the school what it is. Its like your own family within the University and you develop extremely tight bonds to these people. But everyone is very open and friendly even with others of different, even rival, colleges. That was one of the main reasons why I chose to apply to Rice (and I’m from the NE). O yeah, Rice’s 5-1 student-faculty ratio is also a plus. But like at any school, there will also be accessible profs as well as inaccessible ones.</p>
<p>Both Rice and Emory are beautiful. so you cant go wrong there. I believe most of the colleges you mentioned have great looking campuses, tho I’m biased towards Rice. I also looked at many colleges (including all the Ivies) and ultimately Rice won out. But everything depends on you S/D’s preferences. These are just my thoughts…</p>