<p>Right now, I think it's too hard to pass on Rice's great culture and Residential College System :( But it's hard to pass on JHU BME too....... People have been telling me to go to JHU but I personally feel like I will be more comfortable at Rice, especially as Rice also has the Texas Medical Center and excellent academics.</p>
<p>Any thoughts?</p>
<p>The choice is yours, not ours :-)</p>
<p>The people and the weather are very different from each other. Have you visited both?</p>
<p>Personally I think that JHU is a better grad school than undergrad.</p>
<p>Is teh cost of attendance the same at both for you?</p>
<p>GOOD LUCK- I have a child at each school and couldn’t even begin to advise. Very different and very similiar. (however- BME at JHU is a big deal! Congrats!)</p>
<p>Thank you for the replies! </p>
<p>@crazymomster: No, I have not visited. I’m an intl student so it’s currently impossible for me to fly over there and visit, sadly 
JHU will cost me 61-65k, while Rice will cost me 54k.</p>
<p>@ricehopkinsmom: Thank you for the congrats! 
Can you tell me how both of these schools are different and similar?</p>
<p>You can’t go wrong with either one since they are both in the top 20 US schools. It is hard to list pros/cons for each one. Both have GREAT academics. This is just my opinion after being on both campuses numerous times and getting feedback from my kids.
Rice- Residential College makes it easier to make friends and get involved with campus life. Stronger social life, warm weather, great all around opportunities. Strong ties with Houston.
JHU- excels in many majors (BME being one), name recognition, great research opportunities,Greek Life, harder academically than a lot of colleges but future employers know this! Also Inner Harbor and fun areas to visit.
Both have beautiful campuses, and great alumni involvement.
Drawbacks? Honestly?
Rice does not guarantee housing after freshman year. We did not like that. Also my daughter has had her wallet stolen twice but she is very naive and trusting-so am not sure if that was her fault or not.
JHU has a lot of bad neighborhoods nearby.Though I think you are safe on campus and nearby if you stay aware of your surroundings. My son has never had a problem though.
It depends on the type of person you are to help you make this decision. What is important to you?
My daughter wanted diversity and warm weather. Silly- but these were important to her (besides academics). She found these at Rice and loves it there.
My son loved JHU from the first visit. He knew that was the right place for him. We looked at many wonderful schools: Harvard, Duke, Yale, Univ of Chi., Wake Forest etc., he got into some of these but still JHU was the right choice for him.
Ask more questions of other students on this board or any other chat rooms you can find. As stated before you can’t go wrong with either one- I am proud to say my children attend both schools! They were lucky to have such wonderful opportunities to get an elite education as you are to!</p>
<p>@ricehopkinsmom</p>
<p>I just wanted to agree and disagree with some stuff.</p>
<p>The residential college system is fantastic. There’s a huge sense of community and family, and some of the major events like Beer Bike really tie everything together and makes things seem absolutely beautiful.</p>
<p>I also like the fact that colleges are almost like our Greek system. There’s no frats or sororities on campus (or around?), and I feel like this is a good thing, since most events revolve around the friendly residential colleges. </p>
<p>There’s a lot of college involvement, even in academics. Each residential college has a set of mentors/fellows who are students in the college who tutor completely for free and on their own time. I was pretty surprised when I heard from a Baker mentor that they weren’t compensated at all, considering each mentor holds at least 1 help session a week. When I asked why he did it, he responded “There were always mentors helping me out in my classes, so I thought this was the best way to give back to the college that provided so much yet asked nothing of me.” </p>
<p>It kind of sucks that your daughter had her wallet stolen, but personally, I’ve never encountered any security issues at Rice. I’ve left my laptop out in the commons for hours at a time to not have anything happen to it, and I feel like Rice is an extremely trustworthy place.</p>
<p>Getting kicked OC does kind of suck (I was just kicked), but at the same time, I’m kind of excited to be able to explore Rice.</p>
<p>You said you agree and disagree-What are you disagreeing with? I think I agree with everything you said and I dont see where you disagreed with anything I wrote. I was just pointing out that JHU has a Greek Life, if you like that. I love the residential college life and all the social aspects of it. Rice is tops in my book for everything except the getting kicked OC and maybe instilling a false over confidence in my daughter - she loves and trusts everyone!! This will definitely be a personaly decision for this applicant!</p>
<p>I think some clarification might be helpful… </p>
<p>The residential colleges at Rice are typically able to accommodate students for 3 of their 4 years, leaving most students to “fend for themselves” off-campus only for a single year. Depending on the college, this ususally impacts either the sophomores or the juniors. The logic behind this arrangement (as I understand it) is to encourage seniors to return to campus and re-engage with their college; both as a senior year “perk” for them, but also to benefit the younger residents of the college. </p>
<p>Although as parents we initially viewed the off-campus year with some concern, there are many nice (& safe) apartments close to campus, and for our daughter it ended up being a good experience. </p>
<p>Good luck with your decision!</p>