<p>Does anyone have information about the math and applied math departments at Rice?</p>
<p>DD just received a full tuition scholarship offer. She is interested in studying math. She's also been accepted to MIT and U Chicago, where the math departments have better reputations but she'll probably receive little or no aid from those schools.</p>
<p>I'm surprised no one has answered you yet. Well, I don't have anyone at Rice, but we toured it more than once last year and D interviewed and was accepted there. We also toured and she was accepted at U of Chicago. She didn't apply to MIT, but I've been to Boston and seen the campus, and they sent D lots of cool stuff in the mail.</p>
<p>Rankings. In USNW 2007 book for general math they are MIT (2), U of Chicago (6), Rice (27). For the subspecialties, MIT is in the top ten for almost everything including Applied Math, and U of Chicago is in the top ten of lots, but not Applied Math; Rice does not appear to be in the top ten of any. The online premium edition could probably tell you if Rice is in the top twenty or whatever, and I just know I read somewhere they were really good at Applied Math, so it surprises me they're not top ten.</p>
<p>Wow. Full tuition at Rice. My first reaction would be to say "jump on it". But where does your D want to go? Has she visited the three schools? They are very different, and there is the obvious weather difference between Houston and the other two cities. Would the climate be a big difference for her?</p>
<p>I guess my point is that there is the "reputation" aspect to consider, but it's not like Rice is a slouch on math. Would your D really be happy and have more fun in one place or another? Is the money crucial? I would go where she's going to be happiest, no matter the rep, unless money is crucial. I think Rice would give her an excellent education and be a bargain to boot. The school's reputation won't matter if she's unhappy or you're strangled to death with bills.</p>
<p>The structural engineer who worked on my house had his degree from MIT, but he sent his daughter to Rice.</p>
<p>I think Rice sounds like a great place to study undergrad. Throw in a full ride, and I would definitely consider it carefully. It's my impression that if she did well at Rice in math or applied math, and had a chance to do research there with profs, she could go on to a grad program any place. If you can get info on that, it's the important point. Ask the math or applied math departments at Rice what their students do after graduation. The rankings are based on graduate programs, but there are many colleges out of those top ten -- especially liberal arts colleges -- that still send their students on to top ten grad programs.</p>
<p>Thanks for the responses. D has visited all three schools and is leaning toward MIT or U Chicago because they seem to have larger, more active undergraduate math communities. The reputation and location of the schools are less important than the quality of the teaching, involvement of faculty, and presence of math majors who are actively engaged in math outside the classroom. Finances will not be the primary consideration but it's hard to ignore such a large scholarship offer.</p>
<p>Those rankings from USNews are, I believe, graduate school rankings. Rice is a lot stronger for undergrad than grad.</p>
<p>I like to look at this instead of rankings:
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Lowell_Putnam_Mathematical_Competition%5B/url%5D">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Lowell_Putnam_Mathematical_Competition</a>
When looking at this, make sure you consider the fact that Rice is smaller than the other 2 and was a lot smaller than it is now 50 years ago. Still, all three schools fair well.</p>
<p>yeah... usnews is all about the grad school rankings, so it's pretty pointless and misleading to take them into consideration when talking about a school for undergrad.</p>