<p>My daughter loved Rice University. Everything about Rice was great. Honestly, this is the first school she has seen that she loves and that both of us think would be a great fit.</p>
<p>The other schools she is looking at will be Carleton College and St. Olaf, both in Minnesota. She is also going to look at Carnegie Mellon.</p>
<p>Here is what is really important to her....good music school (even though she might not major in music), residential college (does not like when most kids live off campus), and tolerant of her being conservative (but preferably, also conservative). Those are the must haves. There are a lot of other things she loved about Rice, but I am sure there are things she will love about other schools that are different.</p>
<p>Huge state university is definitely not the way to go. And she actually did like Baylor University except for 2 things....1) most students moved off campus 2nd year and 2) rude obnoxious in-your-face population, just a few of them, that we were told were student athletes. Oh..and we would like to avoid the Greek system. It is not a must have that they not have a Greek system, but it is a preferred. </p>
<p>Oberlin on paper looks like a good fit, but many people have described it as extremely liberal to her, so she does not even want to look. Maybe it is worth looking afterall? Not sure.</p>
<p>Rice fans often also like USC–it seems counter intuitive that Californias would be anything but liberal, but tehre are plenty of conservative types at USC–although more in the business school and engineering than in the music department.</p>
<p>My guy did not look at Rice mainly due to distance, but from what you describe, you ought to take a look at the University of Rochester. Middle son is currently enjoying it there.</p>
<p>Maybe as a safety, Lawrence in Wisconsin? Excellent music, great sciences and plenty of moderate students. Apparently the academics are also rigorous and studying 5 nights a week is the norm. They also have themed housing and activities that the entire campus seemed to rally around. When we visited last year practically 70% of the students had been sorted into Harry Potter houses and they were competing in games and contests for their “house”. Not a place that takes itself too seriously. There are some very strong students that attend in part because of the conservatory, but she need not be a music major to study music there.</p>
<p>Vanderbilt, Northwestern, Washington & Lee, and Davidson each have a significant fraternity presence, which OP indicated was to be avoided. On the other hand, Oberlin and Carleton are probably a bit too liberal for the OP’s daughter. </p>
<p>Carnegie Mellon has fraternities, though with a much smaller percentage of students participating in them. Also, CMU is not overwhelmingly liberal like Oberlin or Carleton. I am not advocating for CMU, but it seems to fit the criteria better than most. One downside of CMU that many mention is very poor financial aid.</p>
<p>LOL about Baylor having a “rude obnoxious in-your-face population”…we know so many students there (that I would not identify as rude or obnoxious)…but of the many we know, I don’t think any of them could have been admitted to Rice.</p>
<p>My daughter is a Rice grad and I often get asked about schools similar to Rice. It is hard to answer that question. There are a lot of cross-applicants with WashU, UChicago, Vanderbilt and Emory, but there are differences in these schools, of course. I think Davidson might be a good one to look at. I would not think a Rice fan would be particularly interested in USC, especially with the sleazy football coach.</p>
<p>U of Rochester is about 20% greek and Lawrence about 15%, so avoidable if not interested. Both have political atmospheres which are moderate with a conservative presence and probably not offputting to a conservative student. Rochester is a research U, like Rice, but LAC (in spite of “University”) Lawrence probably has a tighter student community closer to that of Rice. Excellent music programs, of course, and I know Lawrence’s is welcoming to non-majors. I have heard Eastman is less so but this is third-hand. Both are easier “gets” than Rice. Good suggestions.</p>
<p>I don’t know much at all about music departments anywhere but schools that we found that were similar to Rice in general feel were WashU, Northwestern, and the Claremont Colleges, also maybe Vandy.</p>
<p>Carleton is not known for their music department but since it’s “next door” to St. Olaf, why not. I would add to your list Luther in Decorah, IA and University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. Both are pretty conservative schools with very well recognized music programs. Luther will be around the same size as St. Olaf, Eau Claire is about 15,000 students but does not seem that big at all. It’s a lovely campus and depending on where you live, pretty reasonable cost.</p>
<p>Agree that Rice is unique in size and “feel”. Other schools, like Yale and Northwestern, to name a few, have a res college system, but cant speak to all the other issues you mention. My s loved LOVED the res college system at Rice. He considered schools liek Brown and Tufts, but they are not exactly going to meet the criteria of being conservative.</p>
<p>This will be a toughie. Maybe this a time for that bragging muscular british oaf who works at the Food Network to start the third leg of his XXX Impossible series. After dinner and restaurant, he might try his silly hand at College Impossible.</p>
<p>The good news is that you have the residents specialists about Rice on board. Add their knowledge of Vandy, Tulane, and plenty of other schools, you might get closer to identify possible candidates. As far as obnoxious athletes at Baylor, that happens when your team does well and lands a Heisman trophy. They all think they have arrived now!</p>
<p>My friend’s son had narrowed down his choices to Rice and Northwestern. He did not get in to Rice but was admitted to Northwestern. He just started but really likes it so far!</p>