Help? Rice vs. Penn vs. Columbia vs. Duke!

College Search & Selection
21

<p>If you are serious about pre-med, I don’t see how you can pass up Rice (especially with that money enticement). You will get an excellent education at any of those schools, but here’s the Rice advantage: Literally outside its door is the largest medical complex of hospitals in the world. Not the country. The world. Many, many undergraduates get research or other internship opportunities. </p>

<p>Also, there is no Greek life. Like everywhere, there is drinking but I don’t know that it is particularly excessive. Their campus housing system also seems to foster tightknit, supportive communities. As to Houston proper, the museum district is great but I would definitely agree that the downtown is not. </p>

22

<p>

  1. Duke and Rice have a more tight-knit community than Penn (offers nursing and business instead of just liberal arts and engineering) and Columbia (located in NYC without a distinct campus).</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Duke has the prettiest campus among all these schools and its not even close. I haven’t eaten at all 4 of these colleges so no comment there.</p></li>
<li><p>Columbia>Duke=Penn>Rice with regards to admissions selectivity and faculty strength in the sciences.</p></li>
<li><p>Duke has the most established study abroad program out of all these schools and among all top 10 private research universities with an incredible 48% participation rate.</p></li>
</ol>

<p><a href=“http://admissions.duke.edu/setting/global”>http://admissions.duke.edu/setting/global&lt;/a&gt;
Duke undergraduates study abroad at the highest rate of participation (48%) of any of the top 10 private research universities and Duke has more than 300 partnerships with international institutions. Whatever your future holds, the time you spend abroad will be an undeniable asset.</p>

<p>Duke also has a very established study abroad program with Oxford where you can study abroad to fulfill some distributional requirements while continuing your premed plans:
<a href=“https://globaled.duke.edu/Programs/Summer/Duke_in_Oxford/Courses_and_Credits”>https://globaled.duke.edu/Programs/Summer/Duke_in_Oxford/Courses_and_Credits&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<ol>
<li><p>These schools all have fantastic hospital systems and renowned medical schools within or directly adjacent to their premises so you can’t go wrong here.</p></li>
<li><p>Columbia has a strict core but Duke, Penn, and Rice will afford you the most freedom to stretch yourself intellectually if you want to tack on a few extra minors or certificates.</p></li>
</ol>

<p>I’ll touch on more of these later.</p>

23

<p>I would quibble with ennisthemenace on Duke’s Oxford program. It is true that it is in Oxford, and has a tutorial system, and uses Oxford faculty- but the experience is not really the Oxford experience. There are no ‘regular’ students there at all- only other international students doing the same kind of program. None of the usual Oxford activities are going on, which are a lot of what makes Oxford Oxford… That’s not to say that there is no value to it, or that the students don’t work hard- just that it is a bit ersatz.</p>

<p>Agree that both of Duke’s campuses are pretty, though my D’s didn’t like the split campus aspect.</p>

24

<p>I think I’m ruling Columbia out, mostly because it’d be hard to do everything that I want to do (pre-med, acting, and study abroad) with their Core requirements, and NYC is a little intense for me. Plus, their campus and food aren’t that great from what I’ve heard, there’s not as much of an on-campus community, it’d be very hard to get into acting there.</p>

25

<p>So… I think I’ve narrowed it down to Penn vs. Rice… I’m kind of freaking out right now. Not a good time crunch for a notoriously indecisive girl.</p>

26

<p>^ What’s your gut feeling? Your [well informed] instincts are probably giving you the answer. ;)</p>

<p>Good luck with your decision! And remember, there is no wrong choice–they’re both fantastic schools. :)</p>