@ClarinetDad16:
““Oh jeez, @PurpleTitan”; rankings don’t tell the entire story.”
That’s rich for you to say, considering that you’re the one who first brought up b-school rankings!
Really? Where does the OP say that? Here’s what I’m seeing:
@marvin100 the op stated in another thread
I think it’s more useful to OP to provide some context for the numbers. The 2 million people in Houston are spread over a very large area. In fact, Houston’s population density is only 1/3 of Evanston’s. The high population density of Evanston is reflected by the fact that Northwestern students have 100 eateries within walking distance (Evanston downtown and Central street). While Evanston is suburb, it offers benefits of high-density urban living and high walkability; it borders Chicago and it’s easy to travel to Chicago through public transit. On the other hand, while Houston is technically a city, in substance, it’s basically a cluster of many suburbs. Popular hangouts are in the form of malls or strip malls.
Evanston’s awesome / Houston is the home of Screwed Up Records & Tapes. Tough call 
@IWannaHelp let me educate about Rice which unlike Northwestern isn’t twenty miles from the city and doesn’t border towns like Skokie and Wilmette. This is a good resource I put together.
Houston is the 4th largest city in the country. It has 10,000 restaurants. Rice neighbors:
- Texas Medical Center - (Rice touches it)
The largest medical center in the world with one of the highest densities of clinical facilities for patient care, basic science, and translational research. The center contains 54 medicine-related institutions, consisting of 21 hospitals and eight specialty institutions, eight academic and research institutions, four medical schools, seven nursing schools, three public health organizations, 2 pharmacy schools and a dental school. The Texas Medical Center is the 8th largest business district in the U.S.
- Museum District (Rice neighborhood) The Houston Museum District is an association of 20 museums, galleries, cultural centers and community organizations located in Houston, Texas, dedicated to promoting art, science, history and culture. Attracts 8 million visitors annually. Many are free to students.
- Rice Village (next to campus) Rice Village, is a fashion-oriented shopping haven with an eclectic mix of national brand names and unique, one-of-a-kind boutiques. The Village, as it is known by locals, has been one of Houston's oldest and best-loved shopping destinations since the 1930s. With more than 300 shops / restaurants in the immediate 16-block area, Rice Village is known for its small and eclectic shops and boutiques. Rice Village is also home to some of the best and most varied places to eat in Houston, featuring Italian, French, Indian, Mediterranean, Spanish, Mexican, Chinese, Japanese, Thai, and Vietnamese restaurants.
- Hermann Park (few blocks campus) Hermann Park is one of Houston's most-visited public parks. Situated between Fannin Street and Cambridge Street, it is within walking distance from the Texas Medical Center, Rice University, and the Museum District. The historic 445-acre (180 ha) park space is home to numerous cultural institutions including the Houston Zoo, Houston Garden Center, Miller Outdoor Theatre, Houston Museum of Natural Science, and the Hermann Park Golf Course.
- The neighborhood around campus Rice campus is surrounded by multi-million dollar homes owned by TMC doctors, Rice professors, oil executives and professional athletes.
- Within couple miles all on Metro Rail (station Rice Campus)
- NRG Stadium (2 miles) Home to NFL Houston Texans. Host 2017 Super Bowl.
- Toyota Center (4 miles) Home to NBA Houston Rockets. Host 2016 NCAA Final Four.
- Minute Maid Park (4 miles) Home to MLB Houston Astros.
- Jones Hall / Wortham Center (5 miles) Home to Houston Symphony and Grand Opera
- Within 15 minutes in city
- Chinatown Houston is home to the second largest Asian population in the United States (behind Los Angeles), so naturally a part of the city is full of restaurants and businesses run by the Asian community. The area is known colloquially as “Chinatown,” but is by no means limited to only Chinese influence. Originally, Chinatown was located on the East side of Houston (now known as EaDo, now has grown and largely relocated to the Southwest. This section of Southwest Houston is populated by Houstonians with Vietnamese, Indian, Pakistani, Chinese, Korean, and many other heritages.
They are comparable institutions, but NU is a better choice for an economics major.
idk what you want to do with “business” but if you want to go into finance/consulting, Northwestern is the better choice
Do you really want to go to school in Texas with the gun culture and open carry laws there?
Rice Village is a shopping mall. Thanks for confirming what I wrote. Skokie may not have much but it does have an outdoor mall called Old Orchard that is similar to Rice Village and is rated higher on Tripadvisor. Apparently, that marketing narrative that you copied from somewhere should be taken with a grain of salt.
I told you already Evanston borders Chicago. Yet you are telling people they are “twenty miles” apart.
When I visited NU this summer, it was literally just a 20-30 minute subway ride from Evanston (I got on at a station a 10 min walk from NU’s campus) to Chicago. If you want numbers.
It is a 40 commute between the NU campus and downtown Chicago. It can take longer if you mis-time a train or drive during rush hour.
Rice does not have Greek life like NW or a rah rah sports culture. Very few Rice students even go to the football games. Rice has a good baseball team. The Rice campus life is centered around the residential colleges which are modeled after those at Yale. Northwestern has a spectacularly beautiful campus on Lake Michigan. Rice is in one of the prettiest parts of Houston and has a lush campus surrounded by live oaks. The Rice Village is an outdoor shopping/dining area right off the Rice Campus. You won’t have to have a car at Rice but it would be helpful to venture very far away from campus. Mass transit in Houston is very limited. It is 71 degrees in Houston vs. 33 in Chicago right now. They are both great schools.
@iondondad, I would sure rather go to a state with open carry laws than one with the out of control crime and murders of Chicago. Sorry to offend those in the windy city, but I wouldn’t send my kids to any school near Chicago till that place gets their crime under control. No matter the quality of the school. If you live there you know where the bad spots are, but college kids don’t learn that fast enough. imo.
Evanston isn’t in Chicago, and is very far from the South Side, where those murders are taking place.
idk why people are talking about gun stuff when that is hardly ever a relevant problem in a college student’s life.
Chicago is way more than just downtown, unlike many other American cities. While the train ride is about 40 mins to downtown, it’s a shorter ride to other cool spots such as Lakeview or Lincoln Park. Just in case anyone is concerned, most of the gun violence is in the south / southeast side of Chicago and away from the lakefront while NU shares the border with the northern side of Chicago along the lakefront.
Evanston’s an awesome college town, fwiw.
And btw Rice does not have open carry. And is in one of the best neighborhoods of any top college.