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<p>As Berkeleymom says, ‘you’ve got nothing but great choices’. It is very unfortunate that you will not be able to visit Rice. You will be happy wherever you end up though, so don’t worry too much.</p>
<p>Rice for 48,000/year? No.</p>
<p>@OP. Sorry if you found my comment unfair. Visiting Rice will give you the truth of your own experience or feeling, which is priceless. If your Dad might be willing to invest $48k/year for your education, a modest $400 trip would seem necessary to make certain it is the best place for you and his investment. Second, my D. applied to many of your same schools so I noticed your enthusiam for others seemed stronger. I think its extremely important for you to visit and hope you can make it happen. I have a sophomore S, majoring in Political Science, and my D was just accepted. Rice is a beautiful campus, and the residential college system builds community. Political Science has the Baker Institute and great Profs. I wish you the best in your decision and apologize If I was blunt. I guess my point is if you can’t invest enough to visit for one of the most important steps In your young adulthood, then the better deals are the great UC’s !</p>
<p>Congratulations - each of the offers you have got are absolutely great choices.</p>
<p>There is no thumb-rule for these decisions but you might want to ask yourself the following before you take a decision. Finding answers will not be easy and no one answer applies to all, but going through the thought-process might help you.</p>
<p>1]. Doing Grad school ( Professional or otherwise ) might be a necessity and financial aid might not be a possibility. What kind of monetary implications does that have for you & your family and should one be saving for that now while still having an arguably similar education whichever option you choose ?</p>
<p>2]. Once the class size crosses a threshold, it does matter but does not matter a whole lot whether it is 300 students or 175 students or 450 students. You are not going to get individual attention unless you make an effort to engage Profs/ TA’s in office hours. So why pay extra ?</p>
<p>3]. Weed out classes are a natural selection process. It is not a comfortable feeling but it is arguably the best of the worst choices available. Most importantly, it is inevitable in a professional career too …whether in industry or in academics. One could take this an an opportunity to test oneself for the inevitable a few years down the line.</p>
<p>My son gave up Yale, Rice, WashU, UC Berkeley for BioMedical Engineering ( he has top decile scores and EC’s …we earn a little more the threshold for financial aid and his scores while being top-class were not perfect for full merit aid ). After sleepless nights and many points & counter-points and mis-understandings and warm hugs…we as a family decided not to spend 60K per year for under-grad and instead save that money for his Med School so that he can come out debt-free. He is a Freshman at Boston University ( ranked 8th - for whatever it matters…similar to Rice… in BioMedical Engg ) with full tuition merit scholarship, is engaged in 2 paid research projects, has offers for 3 more for Summer, is a sub-editor for the college mag, volunteers at a local hospital, will be the Dean’s host this Summer, does not particularly enjoy the crowded weeder classes, loves the student community and some of the Profs he works with, absolutely ravishes the 4 distinct seasons and city-life of Boston and is generally and supposedly having a great time while maintaining admirable GPA…<br>
Was it the the right decision ? For whom ? thats the key question. For us, given the situation we are in, it is and he is seemingly working hard to make it ‘the’ right decision.</p>
<p>Have a frank discussion with your family members, if possible visit the colleges and finally it might help to remember that college is largely what we make it out to be.</p>
<p>Congratulations again & Good Luck !</p>
<p>Thank you so much to everyone who gave input on this thread! It was definitely extremely helpful and though provoking, but unfortunately my dad and I discussed and decided that we can’t afford to pay full tuition at Rice. Congrats to everyone who’s going to Rice and have four awesome years of being an owl :)</p>
<p>Congratulations on making a decision. I am sure it is the right one and you will have a great 4 years.</p>
<p>Out of curiosity, Cal or UCLA?</p>
<p>Cheers</p>
<p>I actually haven’t decided between UCLA and Cal just yet (going to visit both and hopefully that helps me decide), but thanks so much for all your help and I’ve loved my time on the Rice boards. My inner Houstonian has not lost her pride (I lived in Houston, including just 2 miles from Rice, until 2nd grade)! :)</p>
<p>Good luck! Post back when you have decided. </p>
<p>Btw, NorCal > SoCal. Born in San Jose (I am biased)</p>
<p>It’s really a very subjective thing. My son could have had a full ride at several top 100 schools with honors colleges based on being a NMF. So it costs me about $45,000 more per year for Rice than it would have cost at the other schools. I have no doubt that in his case it’s worth it.</p>
<p>This is based on Rice being an almost perfect fit for him both socially and academically. I can’t imagine making him go to a school which would have been a lot riskier just so I could head into retirement with a little more money in the bank.</p>
<p>But, as I said, it’s all very subjective. Not everyone will be much happier and more productive at Rice than someplace else. Not every family has saved the money and feels like spending it on college.</p>
<p>I’m still mourning not being able to consider rice but I’m pretty sure there’s no way to change my dad’s mind about affordability… :((( I guess I should probably stay away from this board… but I keep wondering if maybe it is worth that extra $20k… 
so conflicted.</p>
<p>A student can take out a private loan for the excess of what your dad will pay. Its scary to take on debt but if your head and heart scream Rice, or another private school, you could explore this option with your
family.</p>
<p>petaandpita “I’m still mourning not being able to consider rice but I’m pretty sure there’s no way to change my dad’s mind about affordability… (( I guess I should probably stay away from this board… but I keep wondering if maybe it is worth that extra $20k… so conflicted.”</p>
<p>Rest assured. The education at Rice is not worth $20k/year more than the education possible at UC Berkeley. You may, or may not, have more fun at one school versus the other. But, right now you are mourning over a school that you haven’t even visited. In hindsight it would have been better to not apply to Rice if your Dad felt that it was going to cost too much. Congratulations on UCLA and Berkeley - - both excellent schools.</p>
<p>ChrisTKD–I agree with everything you’ve said except this:</p>
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<p>As with many strong candidates (and she must be one, because she was accepted), she was probably hoping for merit scholarships that would have made it affordable.</p>