<p>If you want to hang out with spoiled trust-fund kids from Connecticut and New Jersey go to Duke. If you want to hang out with chill people that are not pretentious or judging, go to Rice. All I can say is that Rice athletics teams aren’t hiring strippers and writing vulgar emails about cutting their skin off. This statement may be blunt and offensive, but that’s what it is. Stereotypes are there for a reason: because they are largely true.</p>
<p>To be fair, westsidewolf1989, I think your statements on Duke have been exaggerated although I agree there are some truth to them. I visited Duke this past April when choosing between here, Duke, and Emory, and I met some chill, down-to-earth, nice people. However, overall, I did get the vibe that Duke was a more intense and more competitive (less chill) place than Rice, and it also seemed quite less intellectual than Rice (students were just as smart if not smarter than Rice students, but the discussions didn’t seemed to be as intellectual). Although both universities have their share of jerks, I felt there was a greater percentage of jerks and frat boy types at Duke; there was an student making fun of my overnight host at Duke for not being in a frat and there were two other prospective students who sneered at me during a comedy show when I laughed at a joke when no one else had. Duke also did not seem as integrated as Rice was; it always amazes me that cliques at Rice do not form based on race, unlike at Duke, Emory, and other schools I visited. However, I would argue that academics are a tad bit better than at Rice since they have more faculty members and more resources because of Duke’s size. Of course, those weren’t the reasons why I turned down Duke (I felt Rice gave more personal attention and Rice was also basically the same price as my state school), but I do agree with you that aspects of the Old Duke do remain.</p>
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Agreed. Many of the above posts show a tremendous amount of ignorance and uninformed generalizations about other southern universities. Rice is a great university, and you don’t need to bash others to make your own look better. Doing so demonstrates an embarrassing degree of insecurity. It is no secret that Rice takes second chair to Duke, and it is equally no secret that neither university is a good fit for every student. As wobudong said, they both provide quality educations.</p>
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By that reasoning, one must also conclude that Colgate > Duke. :D</p>
<p>@ hippo2718:
I don’t think we are making ignorant and uninformed generalizations about other Southern universities. Yes there have been some exaggerations and criticisms (but does not mean we are bashing other universities), but I just wrote what I noticed when I visited other Southern universities (visited Emory 3 times and Duke twice, applied to both; I have friends at both schools; I know fairly a lot of people at both). Technically, you are making uninformed generalizations about us by implying that we are being ignorant and uninformed. I have VERY TREMENDOUS respect for Duke, Rice, Emory, Davidson, UNC, UVA, William and Mary, and Vanderbilt… as do most of us at Rice. I have visited four of these schools, and I am currently attending one. Personally, I feel that all of these southern schools are just as good, if not better, than the Ivies. However, I will say some of the comments made were somewhat exaggerated, but exaggerations do have a basis of truth to them.</p>
<p>However, I do agree that this thread has been too long. I do agree that I have posted way too many times too. However, just like any thread on CC, there is nothing wrong with this thread being 4 pages long… its called debate.</p>
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<p>I think this thread has supplied ample evidence that this is a silly statement. It’s as silly as saying it is no secret that Duke takes second chair to Rice.</p>
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On the contrary, all I’ve seen on this thread are opinions from Rice students touting school size and an unaffiliated medical center as reasons for Rice’s academic prowess.</p>
<p>By virtually any quantifiable measure - quality of academic programs, name recognition, success of athletics, admit rates, SAT scores, endowment, income after graduation, library holdings, graduate/professional placement, postgraduate fellowship production, diversity (except a slightly higher % of Hispanic students at Rice), peer assessment, alumni giving, graduation rates, and even class sizes - Duke comes out ahead of Rice. I will happily provide data to back up any of these statements.</p>
<p>Financial aid is undoubtedly the one area in which Rice can claim superiority over Duke, as it is both cheaper and offers better aid. </p>
<p>I should probably have left that quoted statement out, as both it and this post will undoubtedly draw the ire of Rice supporters. I am not sure why that is so, as there is no shame in admitting that Rice is not quite at Duke’s level, just as Duke is not quite at Stanford’s level. I can only assume it is because nearly half of Rice’s student body is from Texas and is accustomed to people immediately knowing and respecting Rice. </p>
<p>Of course, this is grossly generalizing and does not do full justice to Rice. For an architecture or music student, as was pointed out earlier, Rice would be the logical choice. For an environmental science or public policy student, Duke would be the logical choice. Both are fine universities with a great deal to offer. I doubt a student transplanted from one to the other would note a significant difference in academics.</p>
<p>Threads like these are flabbergastingly stupid. This is <em>not</em> even a conversation. Reputations change like the weather. Twenty-five years ago Duke was the school that couldn’t compete with the University of Virginia–a pricy, nineteenth hole of a university that bright kids avoided. Fifty years ago Rice was free and didn’t admit black people! </p>
<p>Why not discuss something substantial instead.</p>
<p>@ Riceward: I think most universities, as sad as it is, did not admit black people 50 years ago. It is cool that Rice had women in its inaugural class when it was founded in 1912, a time when most universities only admitted women.</p>
<p>Well, most–I don’t know of any, in fact–didn’t have it inscribed, explicitly, on their charters.</p>
<p>It’s obvious that Duke is more internationally well-known,at least in China,for it’s a top 10 in the USNEWS ranking and it is harder to get into.
I am an EDer into Rice this year(lucky me^^); even my parents hadn’t heard about the university before, not to mention others in China who are less familiar with the U.S. universities.</p>
<p>@popy - But why do you think that Duke is more well-known in China than Rice? - btw, I am an EDer at Rice at well :). Hailing from the US, I can understand why Duke might be more well-known amongst people in the US who arent from Texas (it has a more reputable basketball team, has more graduate programs, is older, etc.), but I dont see why it would be in China, where I assume those factors dont matter. At the end of the day, Rice is just as selective as Duke, their admissions selectivity differs by 0.6%, and, in my opinion, has a better undergraduate experience (smaller population, residential college system, etc.)</p>
<p>Hailing from an Indian family, and having a great deal of Indian and Asian friends, I just dont see how so many of my friends and family members can so confidently claim that Duke is better than Rice, since clearly I feel otherwise… do you know why so many people regard Duke so much more highly?</p>
<p>I think the major reason that most of my HS teachers and classmates have never heard of Rice but know about Duke is that Duke ranks the top 10 among the universities while Rice is neither top 10 nor one of the ivy leagues, and having conversations with my friends about the U.S. universities is quite an embarrassing moment for me because they simply have no idea what a great school Rice is.</p>
<p>Lol, I have the same issue with telling my family members and friends that I am going to Rice - they constantly ask why I’m not going to attend a more highly ranked school. I always reply telling them about why I think Rice is so great and by telling them that it is ranked just as highly as two of the US’ most prestigious Ivy League Universities - Cornell is ranked 15th, Brown is ranked 16th, and Rice is ranked 17th. </p>
<p>In other words, with Rice, one is getting an ivy league-worthy education at a fraction of the cost…</p>
<p>Better yet, tell them that the various college ranking systems are all flawed. What really matters is whether the school you’re looking at is a good fit for you–whether it’s good at what you’re interested in academically and has an atmosphere you’ll feel comfortable in. The simple rankings can’t tell you that and often include factors that might not matter to you at all.</p>
<p>I think there’s a difference between respect and recognition. </p>
<p>Duke is more well known and has greater recognition than Rice. Why? Because (like others have said before me) of its basketball and perhaps because it’s ranked higher than Rice by US News. Although many believe US News Rankings aren’t accurate, people still read them and still see which ones are “best”.</p>
<p>The original poster asked whether Rice is just as respected-- I believe so. Both are wonderful schools and the people who know Rice know that it has great academics.</p>
<p>I’ve lived in the South practically my whole life, and to be honest, I’d never heard of Rice before I began the college search process. Duke, on the other hand, everyone is familiar with.</p>
<p>As far as recognition goes, Duke certainly gets more of it. Some posters attributed this to Duke’s well-known athletic programs, and I agree. However, for those who are actually familiar with top-notch schools and not just hearsay, then Rice may be just as respected.</p>
<p>Basically, compared with Duke, Rice is underrated within the general population. But I have no doubt Rice will soon become just as much a household name as Duke in the South (and the rest of the country).</p>
<p>Like I’ve always said…the best thing about Duke is that it is only 8 miles from Chapel Hill</p>