No, I would like the option of merit scholarship but it’s not an absolute necessity. I am not expecting much from financial aid otherwise.
Thanks and yes, but I tend more toward theoretical than applied physics or engineering at this point. I expect my views and interests may change significantly once I gain more exposure to the field though.
If you do decide to ED to Rice, I would not let the climate scare you away. My daughter goes there and we are from Wisconsin. It’s obviously hot for the first month or so but the fall and winter are amazing.
Wash U is similar to Rice I think but does not have residential colleges.
OP: If you think that Rice University “has no grad students”, then you do not know much about Rice University.
Based on that statement, I do not think that you are really looking for a “Rice North”.
The OP knows North Carolina. Regarding climate, it might be sufficient to note that, according to Weather Spark,
Houston’s “hot season” lasts longer than that of, say, Chapel Hill.
Note that Weather Spark’s categorizations seem confusing, however, in that, as delineated, their limits differ based on location (emphasis added):
Chapel Hill
Houston
https://weatherspark.com/y/9247/Average-Weather-in-Houston-Texas-United-States-Year-Round
If one uses the Carnegie Classification, one comes up with:
Boston College
Princeton
If you are willing to accept a more “liberal artsy” skew in the mix of undergrads then you can add:
Brandeis
Brown
Chicago
Dartmouth
Notre Dame
Rochester
Tufts
Wash U
If you consider who the Astronaut Scholarship foundation partners with:
Mudd
Hopkins
MIT
Tufts
Chicago
Rochester
Wash U
https://astronautscholarship.org/universitypartners.html
If you are interested in access to the latest space imaging data…
https://pfs.ipmu.jp/intro.html
Caltech
Columbia
Tufts
Princeton
Hopkins
https://pfs.ipmu.jp/people.html
https://now.tufts.edu/articles/new-eye-cosmos
If you are interested like minded students and space related extracurricular activities:
Students for the Exploration and Development of Space - (Schools with chapters}
Rice
Brown
Colgate
Columbia
Cooper Union
Hopkins
MIT
Princeton
Tufts
Penn
Yale
Chicago
https://seds.org/public-chapters-list/
All things considered, Princeton might be the closest match, but that is a pretty tough admit.
If you are willing to put up with a more liberal artsy environment, and are truly looking for something small with an undergrad focus, then Tufts could be a good fit - just make sure the theoretical offerings are sufficient, because the physics department is relatively small and Tufts tends to skew toward the applied side at the university level. Tufts does have a longstanding relationship with MIT in the area of Cosmology - which is one of the more theoretical areas - and one of the recent Nobel winners from MIT was previously a prof at Tufts. (Tufts and MIT are about 4 miles apart, with a school that is not to be named halfway in between).
http://cosmos2.phy.tufts.edu/joint-seminar/
Yale and U Chicago also have residential colleges/houses and cooler weather. Many Rice students also apply to those two schools. Rice focuses on undergraduate education but also has about 3000 grad students mainly in the STEM disciplines. The weather in Houston is hot from August to late September/early October but then is very nice from October through the end of April (most of the school year). You will be trudging through snow in New Haven or Chicago for most of the year. Rice does not have a Greek system while there is Greek life at Yale and U Chicago.
The most common overlap schools for students who apply to Rice University are:
Stanford, Duke, Chicago, Cornell, Vanderbilt, Harvard, Yale, & MIT
According to the Fiske Guide To Colleges 2020, Rice University has 3,900 undergraduate students and almost 2,800 graduate students.
Snow in New Haven- maybe in December, definitely in January and February, some years in March. Once every 20 years November, once every 30 years in April. New Haven sits on Long Island Sound, so the pictures you see of “snowy” New England are taken in places like Litchfield County which are hilly and far from the shoreline.
Just to correct the “trudge through snow most of the year” comment. I don’t know anyone who “trudges” through 2 inches of snow which- due to climate change- is what is typical. And some years- a dusting. I have friends in New Haven who have not unpacked their snow shovels since moving down from Boston four years ago…
I am curious why you don’t want grad students?
Yale, WashUStL
I, too, recommend checking out Case Western Reserve University.
Rice: ~4000 undergrads
CWRU: ~5000 undergrads
CWRU: has NASA Glenn nearby
https://online-engineering.case.edu/blog/nasa-glenn-research-blog
CWRU has residential colleges
https://case.edu/studentlife/residence/
CWRU has 4 Physics Nobel Laureates
https://case.edu/ir/faculty-honors-and-awards/nobel-laureates
CWRU is northern…in Cleveland OH
CWRU is known for merit scholarships…avg. Merit scholarship is $ 23,188
https://case.edu/ir/sites/case.edu.ir/files/2020-05/CDS_2019-2020_0.pdf
@physicsfanatic I’m biased b/c I go here but COME TO BROWN! 
It’s located in COLD and SNOWY Providence, Rhode Island; and while I can’t speak to the strength of the Physics department (applied for public health/pre-med,) it has a VERY STRONG graduate admissions rate (90%+) and a small graduate school population (~3000 if you included the ~500 medical students.) Brown’s also famous for the Open Curriculum which has virtually no requirements (except two writing based courses, which are available in multiple fields like Bio) and you can S/NC (Pass/Fail) any class (great for electives like a language class, or that one about memes) as well as VERY student friendly grading policies (no +/-.) You’ll be surrounded by people in your classes who genuinely WANT to be in the class, not just taking intro physics or math b/c they HAVE TO satisfy a general education requirement lol.
The Open Curriculum also makes it extremely easy to double concentrate (major) and you can even create your own!
List of majors here: https://bulletin.brown.edu/the-college/concentrations/
Independent Concentration Examples: https://www.brown.edu/academics/college/advising/curricular-resource-center/independent-concentrations/current-independent-concentrators/current-independent-concentrators
As a member of the Ivy League, Brown DOES NOT offer merit scholarships, but DOES MEET your FULL demonstrated need W/O LOANS (under the Brown Promise.) Definitely run the financial aid calculators at financialaid.brown.edu as you might be surprised with the result, even if you didn’t think you’ll get any aid!
The one disadvantage about Brown vs. Rice is that Brown doesn’t have the Hogwarts-style residential college system of Harvard, Rice, Yale etc. but the Open Curriculum is also much > than the distribution requirements of Rice if you don’t want to take English literature for example ever again lol.
If you do LOVE Brown, or any other college that offers ED, I highly, highly recommend that you apply ED as long as ALL of the following is true:
- You LOVE Brown (or any other college) and would 110% attend if admitted.
- You're extremely confident that you can present a well thought out and crafted application by the ED deadline, which is usually November 1st.
- You and your family can afford Brown (come to Brown lol) if admitted.
Hope this helps! Good luck with admissions (hopefully at Brown!)
According to one poll, you may want to add small NE colleges from this list:
Wellesley (#10)
Colgate (#12)
Wesleyan (#15)
Haverford (#18)
Davidson (#19 )
Vassar (#21)
The OP never returned. No reason to bump an old thread. Closing.