<p>After visiting Rice a few weeks ago, I loved it! My stats a are a little bit low for their acceptance rates, but I found the type of college I'm interested in. While I'd be fine at a large, public university, I have been trying to narrow my search down to larger Liberal Arts Colleges and smaller universities. My issue is finding schools with civil engineering as a major that are also deemed as some of the top engineering schools in the country, that are similar to Rice. This eliminates WUSTL, which I loved, but they do not have civil engineering. Also, I'd like to be within about an hour or two of a large metropolitan area.</p>
<p>The schools I've found that seem to fit most or all of the criteria are Bucknell, Lehigh, Villanova, Missouri S&T, and Notre Dame. I know that weather wise some of these will not be as similar to Rice, but feel wise are they similar?</p>
<p>A few things I know about ones you’ve been looking at:</p>
<p>MST is a technical university, they are primarily engineering. That creates a different atmosphere from other schools on your list. It’s not as “intellectual” as Rice, to say, It’s also in Rolla - not really a large metropolitan area, but it is fairly close to Saint Louis (2 hours roughly).</p>
<p>Notre Dame is predominately upper-middle class white catholics. Not a very diverse campus but the academics are excellent.</p>
<p>I’d recommend looking into Tufts, RIT, RPI, WPI.</p>
<p>With 31 ACT (you need to figure out your UW gpa), Rice and Notre Dame would be reaches. Lehigh and Bucknell more in match range, and MOS&T is probably a safety.</p>
<p>Can you afford all of these schools?</p>
<p>I had similar concerns about MST, thus eliminating it because it was more of a suggestion from a friend of my parents, who’s kid goes there. </p>
<p>Notre Dame, I fit all of those except Catholic, I’m another denomination of Christianity, but a lot of my relatives are Catholic, so that doesn’t bother me.</p>
<p>My issue with the technology institutes is the sports. I enjoy school spirit and attending sporting events, which is why I’d prefer a D1 sports school.</p>
<p>These are all affordable.</p>
<p>Have you considered Georgia Tech? D1 sports in the ACC, civil engineering undergrad and grad, pretty reasonable tuition, even for out of state. Weather certainly warm like Houston. Lot’s of school spirit.</p>
<p>We visited last fall, and enjoyed it. Concluded it was too big for our son, who prefers much smaller schools, but it was very impressive. TONS of internship opportunities, and they integrate internships into their curriculum, with alternating semesters of studying and internships. Lines you up for a job right after graduation if you enjoy the employer (and they like you, too.)</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>I’ve considered Georgia Tech. I eliminated it because I’d be towards the bottom of the class and for larger schools I’d prefer to be towards the top of the class so I really stand out.</p>
<p>Iowa State? Very economical, Ames is a lot of fun, just not very warm. Great school spirit. Not as competitive as GATech, but still a very solid engineering program.</p>
<p>Good luck in your search.</p>