@nomatter Rice U. Several really smart and neat kids from my kid’s high school chose Rice even OOS. We tend to judge the schools by the kids who decide to go there or attend there, and I have to say on that basis, I am very impressed by Rice and Pomona.
But usually, the best course is to let your kid decide. Usually, kids know where they belong. We only told our kid to apply to several top UCs and one Honors College as a back up, and didn’t give it any thought until our kid out of blue said he wanted to apply early to Stanford. One bad thing about public colleges, including Honors Colleges, is that their “merit” money are not reserved for kids who decide to take gap years. In other words, they don’t really encourage gap years. If you are a National Merit Finalist, you have to take the merit money from Honors College right after high school or it’s lost forever.