I’m planning to be an english major, price isn’t an issue for me at either school. I have some pros and cons for each school.
Wash U pros:
dance major
better (or more clear) study abroad opportunities - I especially like the summer program in france that the dance majors do.
it’s english/writing program is ranked very highly
it has seasons, i’m from florida so i’m kinda excited to experience snow
6000 students seems like a good size, because it’s small enough for small classes, but large enough that it’s not a bubble and everyone doesn’t know everyone
apparently less of a drinking atmosphere? I have health problems that prevent me from drinking, so a big party school isn’t appealing to me.
cons:
not too sure about greek life, and I know it’s kinda big there. I don’t want to be left out if I don’t join.
lack of diversity
Rice Pros:
Residential college system - I’ve seen a lot of people saying it builds strong friendships very quickly.
Tight-knit community within a big city
Houston
Opportunity to dance at an advanced level without majoring in it
Strong english program
More diversity
It’s coastal, I can go to the beach
Cons:
Texas
no dance major (although I’m fairly impressed with what I’ve seen of the Rice Dance Theater, so that’s not too big of a problem for me)
Can’t really tell what it’s study abroad opportunities are, the website is unclear.
For some reason I keep thinking about Wash U more than I think of Rice, so maybe that means in my heart I know I should go there? But logically, I think Rice might be better for me. Either way, I think I’ll be happy at either school, I’m just conflicted.
Are you a girl or a guy? Reason I ask is that at Wash U, the fraternities have houses but the sororities don’t… they just have a suite in an on-campus building (my info is 20 years old… someone please correct me if any of the sororities have gotten houses since then).
Greek life is a large part of the weekend social scene, but it’s not the only part. When I was there there was a dorm, Lee, that was substance-free and those kids were pretty tight-knit and not into the Greek scene. I know they’ve rebuilt a lot of the dorms recently but you might check out whether there’s a substance-free floor or something.
@washugrad I’m a girl. And I looked online, and they have substance free rooms and suites, but not a whole floor from what I can tell. Anyway, I’m not sure I’d want to be in a substance free floor because I don’t really want to be isolated, and it’s not like I’m morally against drinking, I just can’t.
@zobroward I haven’t had the chance to visit either school yet.
WashU’s Greek life isn’t that overwhelming (I was friends with people in different fraternities and many of my friends were not Greek). You wouldn’t feel shut out of the social scene- they also do things like movies, a capella, improv, or student bands on the weekends so students who don’t go out have options. The sororities still don’t have houses.
I would say WashU could improve on socioeconomic diversity, but I wouldn’t say Rice is that much more diverse based on a quick look at the demographics. in terms of geographic diversity, 90% of WashU students are from outside Missouri, compared to about 50% for Rice (correct me if I’m wrong on that- that’s just what I googled). I had a lot of peers at WashU from all over the country and from a lot of other countries. It didn’t really feel homogeneous on campus.
WashU also has a residential college system. Ultimately, they are both excellent schools, so even though I have to plug WashU, you have a great set of options!
@kROCK91 That’s good that isn’t not overwhelming. Do you think I’ll still be able to go to parties without drinking or will it just be kinda awkward and boring for me? And I was talking in terms of ethnic diversity, but it’s good that Wash U does have more out of state kids.
Honestly I’m so in love with both, I have no idea how I’m gonna decide.
Not at all. I even had fraternity brothers who didn’t drink and that was not that uncommon for various fraternities to have non-drinkers join.
I think WashU is also making a lot of effort to increase its diversity, but even when I was there, it was cool to see all the cultural groups and shows on campus, from Black Anthology to Carnival and Diwali.
So Rice has an entire searchable database of study abroad programs [url=<a href=“https://abroadtd.rice.edu/index.cfm?Program_Type_ID=1&Program_Name=&pt=%7F&pi=%7F&pc=%7F&pr=%7F&FuseAction=Programs.SearchResults&SimpleSearch=1%5Dhere%5B/url”>https://abroadtd.rice.edu/index.cfm?Program_Type_ID=1&Program_Name=&pt=%7F&pi=%7F&pc=%7F&pr=%7F&FuseAction=Programs.SearchResults&SimpleSearch=1]here[/url]. From a quick browse, most of them seem to be programs that are offered by other organizations like Arcadia, SIT, CIEE, and IFSA-Butler but Rice gives you credit for them (which is the way many - possibly most - college study abroad programs function). If Rice functions like most colleges, they will let you port your financial aid to cover the study abroad program.
Wash U is okay on diversity…it looks like most major elite universities right now, honestly. Rice I think is more diverse because of its location in TX and the fact that half the students come from TX - so they can attract more Latino/Hispanic students and more international students that way. Honestly, that’s where the big difference in diversity is.
I was thinking that just based on your pros and cons list, you seem more excited about Wash U. I’m not sure what gave me that impression…but that’s what I got. Rice is a very excellent school, and you can’t really go wrong either way.
@juillet Well, I am a bit more excited about Wash U, but I’m also more scared for it? I feel more comfortable with Rice, like I will definitely make friends. My best friend might go to Wash U, but she isn’t sure yet, and I’m not sure if I want to go without her, I know it sounds really dumb but I’m nervous.
I think Wash U actually has more international students than Rice, but Rice just has more ethnic diversity. I guess everyone being from texas makes it a bit not diverse. But thank you for the link to their study abroad programs, that’s really helpful!
Basing my decision off of your pros and cons list, it sounds to me like Rice might be a better fit. As you said, you get to dance at a very high level without having to actually major in it, which opens up more opportunities for you in your other desired major. Students at Rice love their college, and even though an approximate 51% are from Texas, there is a whole 49% that aren’t. That’s half the school.
If you end up at a complete deadlock between the 2 at some point, you may just want to pick whichever is cheaper.
You can also dance at WashU without being a major or minor. They also have various student groups like washU Hip Hop Union, WU Sauce (salsa), Chaahat, etc.
If you are worried about making friends at WashU, I would say that’s not a fear you need to have. I’ve been pretty impressed with what the university does for freshman (the orientation programs are already extensive, but there’s also the First Year Center, which helps students throughout their entire freshman year). The residential college system and freshman floors frequently create strong tight-knit communities (I know one floor where over half of them still live together as seniors and do intramural sports together).
I taught math at Wash. U. for many years. The students are very bright, but the administration wants “retention” and “no problems”. Here is a summary of what happened when I taught differential equations at a level similar to MIT.
The chair of the math dep’t told me that he wanted me to make the class the normal “cookbook” course, telling me to teach students only the steps to work problems like those that will be on the test. He said to do this so that he wouldn’t have “problems”.
An Engineering Assoc. Dean (and Dean of Student Academic Integrity) was concerned about students doing poorly on an exam. I wrote him that almost all of the ones who had done poorly had cheated on the homework. He wrote back: don’t “discourage” them, “retention” is important.
Though the Math Chair kept refusing to show me the “complaints” he was “dealing with”, I finally managed to get a copy of them. Here is what I saw.
An Engineering student tutor “complained” that he “…cannot do…most [MIT} problems …and [he] received an A [in the standard “cookbook” version of the course]…”
An outraged father wrote the Deans that his “understanding” was that the average on a test was 47, and that I didn’t even curve! It was actually 67 – several points lower than the other three tests, and about 40% of the class made A’s, no one below a C. The Deans responded to the parent by asking for his son to report on whether I had “improved”. The student’s “report” made it clear that he did not even recognize that homework problems were on the test – some word for word!
The Chair of the Math Department told me that Math had just “wrested” a course from Engineering, and they weren’t going to let Engineering “wrest” this course from Math. Clearly, there was a competition to see who could meet the “wants” of a few students to the detriment of all students. The course was worth a lot to the winner’s budget. (A Dean had told a previous Chair that he wanted “no complaints”, even if that meant a reduction in standards. That is apparently how the winner is determined.)
I give this example because I was there, not because Wash. U. is the only school behaving this way. There are schools that are ok, though, but you have to beware of those that aren’t.