<p>So far, my top three choices are USC, Berkeley, and Rice. I need help deciding between the three. For USC i got into environmental science, Berkeley- stat, and Rice, engineering. </p>
<p>I plan on visiting them all but since no one in my family has gotten into a four year college ( not even from my extended family) I was wondering what kinds of things I should be looking for when i visit. </p>
<p>I really want to be a future owl but some of my friends are telling me that Cal is better than Rice....</p>
<p>If you really want to be an Owl, and cost/distance aren’t limiting factors, you should go to Rice and not pay attention to what your friends say. You can get a great education at any of these schools, so the most important thing is to decide where you will be the happiest. When you visit the schools, try to take in as much as you can about the campus environments and decide which surrounding would be best for you for the next four years.</p>
<p>I also had to decide between Cal and Rice (I chose Rice, I’m a freshman currently). I definitely feel like I made the right choice. Rice is just really personal and awesome. Berkeley is a good school but it’s huge and there are tons of people…I would rather go there for grad school.</p>
<p>It really comes down to what you want to study. Assuming the decision is not finance dependent, pick the school with what you want to do. If you want to come to Rice, then you should. “Better” and “worse” is hard to determine as it is very subjective. </p>
<p>Visit all of them and go with your heart. Rice is an amazing school, but you must pick the place that you will be happy at for the next 4 years.</p>
<p>My sister graduated from cal from grad school and she hated it, she said it was too big, too impersonal and given the state of their budget just too expensive for a public school. She also said the red tape there was incredibly frustrating…</p>
<p>You’ve got three different schools and three different concentrations. Why? Your answer to this question may help us to guide you a little better.</p>
<p>One thing to consider about Rice is that you don’t really “get in” to a program, you get into the whole school, having applied under the banner of a specific program. If you’re at all on the fence about what to study, you have a lot more academic mobility at Rice than you do at other schools.</p>