<p>I may major in Chem Engineering, Econ, but I'm not sure yet what my major will be. </p>
<p>and none of those colleges gave any kind of financial aid , but</p>
<p>WashU and Rice may will give me something.</p>
<p>But nothing is certain.</p>
<p>which is the best college for me?</p>
<p>Wow, you have a week and it seems like you really need to shorten your list. What are you looking for in a school? Have you visited?</p>
<p>I visited CMU and WashU </p>
<p>and I will visit JHU this sunday</p>
<p>i heard from people at WashU that Rice is awsome … even though Huston sucks.</p>
<p>so… Idk…</p>
<p>either Washu JHU or Rice I guess</p>
<p>Thats interesting that people at WashU said Rice is awesome…but Houston doesnt suck at all. I know a guy interestingly enough that transferred here from WashU.</p>
<p>But yeah I didnt apply to JHU UCLA or UVa, but CMU and WashU just didnt have that great of an atmosphere. Besides, Rice kicks ass for chem e, and econ is a great pair with that…will make you marketable for a variety of careers.</p>
<p>Go to Rice…it has the best atmosphere and social scene amongst all the private schools, and you have a personal feel where you wont get lost in the crowd like at a large state school.</p>
<p>I visited JHU and the campus just felt dead… No one was really doing anything other than studying…</p>
<p>I have a friend choosing between Wash. U and JHU. Don’t go to JHU, I hear the atmosphere is horrible. Choose either Wash. U, or Rice; if you’re really into engineering, choose Rice. If you think you will change your major to something science-y that would benefit from a bunch of undergrad research, choose Rice. Good luck : d</p>
<p>Yeah… I just don’t like JHU for undergrad for anyone because of its terrible atmosphere and cutthroat competition. Same to a lesser extent with Carnegie Mellon.</p>
<p>I have heard really good things about Wash U lately from my friends, saying that the campus is always booming and people are super friendly. Personally, I would go with probably… U Virginia for some reasons personal to me.</p>
<p>Houston > St. Louis. =]</p>
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<p>Hmm…Is it there any possibility that JHU’s perceived terrible atmosphere is mostly due to its high concentration of premed students? As for Carnegie Mellon, is it because it has more aspiring tech/business/professional students?</p>
<p>A few years back, one duke premed commented that it seems that almost every student from his graduating class is either premed or i-backing/consulting. JHU may be more preprofessional in the premed area. I wonder if this is main person why the “atmosphere” is not that good.</p>
<p>For example, when the class average is 40 or 50 in the orgo class, the pressure of getting good grades may influence the student’s attitude toward many things.</p>
<p>So, my guess is that, generally, it is the premed track that is bad, not the particular school. Maybe some school is 5% better than the others – mostly because there may be not such a high concentration of premeds.</p>
<p>It seems like everyone on the Rice forum is looking at the same other schools. I got into 4 of these, too.
If you’ve narrowed it down to Rice, hopkins, and washU, it’ll probably depend on whether you’re sure you want to do engineering (in which case Rice and jhu would be better, with more research opportunities) and the social scene. I don’t know what you like, but keep in mind that rice has the residential college system and is significantly smaller than the other two. From what I’ve learned in the college process, WashU has a lot of wealthy kids from the northeast, and tends to be liberal. As for hopkins, yes there will be a lot of super-competitive kids there, but I’m sure you’d be able to find people who aren’t like that. I agree with the person above me-- that reputation comes mostly from their premed program. I know a few people going there who are pretty relaxed.</p>
<p>Houston really isn’t that bad. It’s bigger than Bmore and St. Louis, and has more cultural stuff and great bbq/mexican food. Plus, the Texas Medical Center is there. If there’s any way you can visit Rice, do so! That was the deciding factor for me. it makes a huge difference to meet the students and see the campus.</p>
<p>Visting Rice now probably isn’t good…we are in the midst of finals and many students who are already done have left. It would only be slightly better than visting in the summer…but I realize that decision date isnt going to wait, so it’s better to visit than not.</p>
<p>If a sports scene is important to you, then go with with Rice, UCLA or UVa, with UCLA’s scene being easily better than Rice and UVA, and UVA probably being a tad better than Rice.</p>
<p>Please dont go to JHU or CMU whatever you do…being miserable for four years isn’t worth it.</p>
<p>I would go to UCLA because it has just about anything a student could want: sports, academics, weather, research, prestige, parties, etc.</p>