How to Pick? Rice v. USC

College Search & Selection
1

Hello! I know there’s a similar post on this forum but I have different needs I guess haha so I hope y’all don’t mind.

Basically, I was set to attend USC on a full-tuition + stipend scholarship (even had a roommate picked out), but on Wednesday I was notified I received a half-tuition scholarship for rice. Cost wise I’d probably pay 13k/year (plus airfare) for USC and around 30k/year for Rice. Rice would wipe my college savings fund while USC would leave about half left over. However, my mom told me that they saved for this reason and not to consider cost for this decision. I want to major in poltical science/public policy/international relations and I do plan on attending grad school. Not sure if either really has a leg up in the social sciences, but maybe one of you guys could tell me. I want to end up on the East Coast and not sure which has better nationwide recognition/prestige. Also, my parents aren’t very helpful in selecting a college because each went to college outside of the States where you just take tests and by merit they placed at the top uni, and didn’t consider any soft factors like fit or location or whatever. My dad just blindly likes Rice cause it’s close to home and my mom won’t tell me what she prefers.

Wow, okay more information (sorry!). But I have no idea to tell which factors matter to me more than others. I just kinda guessed what I want in a school, as in I have no idea how I would like a large school rather than a small school. I think I’m a flexible person who can adapt to anything but I do not know which factors I would find VERY important that I can’t negotiate on. Basically I just want a nice four years with lots of opportunities to place into a stellar grad school.

Here’s the list:

RICE:

Pros
-LOVE the residential college system. I enjoy the community it creates and the sense of family
-close-ish to home (3$ megabus ticket)
-beautiful, beautiful campus (USC and Rice have about same acreage, but Rice has more land per capita)
-Baker Institute right on campus! Lots of opportunities there
-small size (4k undergrads)
-intellectual atmosphere
-NO greek life
-well known in Texas
-large endowment per capita
-in the museum district/rice village which offers great cultural opportunities!

Cons
-too small? I would really prefer a medium sized school. also everyone seemed very intellectual – where are the artsy kids (my observation)
-the campus body is not very political. There are not strong left/right clubs and no activist culture
-not sure if size would impact ECs (there are like 8 people in mun) and number of interesting courses because of a smaller faculty
-houston can be really muggy and gross
-definitely more competitive. Want to stand out and shine – at USC I think really the scholarship kids and then some would be competiting with me, whereas probably at Rice everyone is a go getter/whatever
-not sure if it’s easy to research as an undergrad? this professor was giving me mixed signals
-no money for grad school

USC

Pros
-beautiful campus, in a different way
-really expansive study abroad and course selection
-they are pouring so much money into the undergrad experience, i could catch a lot of funding
-cheaper by far
-more diversity in student body
-seems very easy to get involved in research and talk to faculty
-i’m in thematic option which allows for smaller classes than regular gen ed requirements and more liberal arts-type reading and thinking
-top kids in IR accomplish soo much, with hard work I could do the same! They definitely end up at good places
-public policy grad school is top 10 in nation
-they really encourage you to explore different academic disciplines and reward kids for doing that
-weather is like the best thing ever??? so in love
-LA is poppin with art museums and concerts and a great location for everything!

Cons
-large size (15-19k) is really intimidating and there will be no real community
-intellectual atmosphere is not there (although will exist among scholarship kids i guess)
-i hate the housing system, basically everyone lives off campus after freshman year and definitely after sophomore year
-greek life is big here and i hate greek life (i think it’s super problematic)
-not as well known in texas – everyone thinks i mean south carolina
-we have a direct flight from my city but still flying is a hassle. my mom says with the money we save she has no qualms about flying me every break or even a three day weekend.

Thank y’all so much!! I’ll comment anything I forgot but AHH how am I supposed to pick by Friday?

2

I don’t know where u are getting your info but to say that the intellectual atmosphere is only prevalent with the usc scholarship kids is laughable. U are also mistaken that you are only going to be competing with the scholarship kids. Did you also get into Harvard, Yale Stanford and Princeton? If yes, then maybe I’m wrong. I know a kid at my high school with basically perfect stats who got flat out rejected. But, based on your social preferences and the fact that your parents have the money saved and are willing to send you to Rice, I think that u may be happier there with the residential college system. I hope you don’t get too much flack from some of the USC kids who will be attending. Good luck!

3

Hi first of all congratulations! I think both choices are great. I’m not sure about Rice’s prove as compared to USC but if USC is in top 10 I think that would allow you more access to great leaders in that field, especially with IR! But Rice does provide plenty of opportunities! I think it comes down to the student body because I think you would spend most time on campus. I know that the residential colleges make Rice feel even smaller, which can be a good thing or bad thing. If you want to go to Grad school, I think USC would allow you have a lot of money saved up to help pay for that with your savings! Hope that helped and please give me your opinion of my situation in my thread!

4

USC is almost synonymous with football, and I think a few people in Texas are familiar with football, so I wouldn’t worry about people there not knowing about USC. It seems like y’all’s obvious choice to this here cowboy.

5

@educateddarcy I didn’t mean there aren’t smart kids at USC not on scholarship – their acceptance rate is still “highly selective” after all – but that the vibe when you walk on campus is different. Not bad, just different. When I was at USC I felt a more social vibe even though there will be asocial people at USC and extremely extroverted people at Rice. Just the overall feel is different.

@moooop So your vote is USC? I do like the school spirit of USC but actually a lot of people think I mean South Carolina.

@Cheesyguy Res colleges are one of the reasons I love Rice, but definitely the size kinda throws me off. Yeah, student body is hard to get assement of. Although USC’s seems more diverse and therefore exciting. This is hard stuff. Thanks, I posted on yours!

6

USC has cooler professors than Rice -

https://priceschool.usc.edu/arnold-schwarzenegger/

7

With the money u are saving by going to USC u would be able to fly home for the weekend about every other weekend if u had to. Unless you are quite well off, and unless one school is significantly more attractive than the other, the $ difference makes the decision for u. I think a lot of people would pick USC even if they were the same price.

Thinking that people will mistake USC for U of South Carolina should be a non-issue. The USC in California is considerably more famous than the one in S. Carolina, even in Texas, I would presume. I seem to recall reading somewhere that there are a lot of Texans at USC…isn’t that true?