<p>Are you talking to me, the OP with that last question? If so, then i've seen cornell a few times and many online photos of rice. Both campuses are beautiful. Cornell has a lot of hideous things like the plant science building and Rice seems to be generally good/great looking in every building, but Cornell probably does make up for it with the gorges and hills (which i like).</p>
<p>And yes, the person who said Rice is overrated must be delirious. I would agree Cornell is significantly more "prestigious" in that more people have heard of it nationally and globally. But a lot of people have heard of Boise State, too. Rice has smarter students by quite a bit, according to USNews, and I'm pretty sure they are right on that.</p>
<p>Cornell, definitely. Not a fan of Texas, plus Cornell's large research style university is to my liking. Great sports, great academics, great reputation, flexible 7-college system, nice quaint town, great grad programs (unlike Rice which is mainly undergrad...hey I love talking to intelligent grad students, have great TAs, etc.). Did I mention Cornell has a DDR club?</p>
<p>I'm from Houston and the weather in the summer seems as burdensome as the weather in Cornell in the winter. (I have never shoveld heat of of my driveway to get to work). The Rice campus is very nice and in a very nice part of Houston. As for grad students: Rice is truly across the street from the largest medical center in the world with a plethora of of MD's PhD's, med school, pharm school, nursing school executives all in a teaching environment who frequently collaborate with Rice students. Many people I work with have joint appts. at a Med School and Rice. Houston is a large, metropolitan city with substantial more international diversity than most realize and is a very nice place to live. (Just nothing touristy).<br>
Also The "Fattest City" has nothing to do with the weight of the citizens. No weight measurements were made. It is based on number of parks, fast food restaurants, jogging trails, etc. It is NOT based on how much the citizens weigh. A bit of a sham to sell magazines. Also Houston has a low cost of living and great restaurants. </p>
<p>Obviously, I lean toward Rice. My D considrerd Cornell, but did not apply there mostly due to its isolation and size. Nothing wrong with either school at all</p>
<ol>
<li>It has a lot more offerings that RICE</li>
<li>It is MUCH more well- known and prestigious than Rice in both the US and in the World. This is not to say that Rice isn't good or even as good academically as Cornell. However, from a panache point of view, you get more bang for your buck at Cornell.</li>
<li><p>Rice has few grad schools. If you are an undergrad at Cornell, you have more of an "in" for all of their grad schools and professional schools, which to me, is a major benefit.</p></li>
<li><p>Cornell is, in my opinion, a much more beautiful campus</p></li>
<li><p>Cornell has the best campus food around as a result of the top notch hotel school.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>No question: pick Cornell unless you don't like the culture there. Some kids feel happier at a smaller school like Rice.</p>
<p>Rice: better location and atmosphere
My main problem with Cornell is how isolated it is but if you are fine being in a beautiful but decidedly "quaint" town, then Cornell will be fine too.</p>
<p>I am surprised that Cornell and Rice are considered especially comparable. I suppose the diversity of schools in both universities (architecture, engineering, etc) makes them feel similar, what with engineering programs etc. However, Cornell is an enormous university, while Rice is perhaps one of the smallest research universities in this country. Personally, I've always thought of Rice as being one of the non-ivy warm-weather good schools, perhaps comparable to Stanford and Duke, or alternately in the geeky geniuses schools- like MIT, Caltech, Uchicago. It is surprisingly less famous than any of those other ones, at least here on the east coast. Their students are exceptionally strong academically.</p>
<p>Well, I chose to apply to Rice and not to Cornell, so I think it's safe to say I would have chosen Rice over Cornell during the college selection process.</p>
<p>On the numbers, the schools are comparable with a slight edge to Rice IMO as the student quality is more uniformly high at Rice. Cornell has the advantage in Peer Assessement, but I would attribute much of that to the large size of the school, its Ivy status, and its location in the NE. Otherwise, the numbers are pretty similar. Rice is hugely underrated in the US and I have little doubt that if it were located in the NE, it would be considered as one of the top 10 schools in the country. </p>
<p>Depending on what you are looking for academically, socially, geographically, etc, either school could be the right choice. Can you give us any more insight into what you are looking for in a school? </p>
<p>As for Texas, I suspect that many of the people on CC who are hating on Texas have never been there and are just ****ed at Bush. He'll be gone in two years, but Texas won't be. It is one interesting state and can be hugely appealing if you don't come in with all kinds of negative preconceptions.</p>
<p>I don't really feel like "giving insight into what I'm looking for" because I already know which I like more and which one is seemingly the better choice, not to mention the fact that I already knew everything that's been posted so far. I just wondered what other people thought and what they would pick.</p>