<p>DD has a tough call to make. She is planning on majoring in Civil/Environmental engineering. She has visited Rice, but not NU yet. She likes Rice a lot and I don't think she can go wrong at either place. Thoughts?</p>
<p>I’ve visited both NU and Rice with my kids. The weather, obviously, couldn’t be more different. Heat and humidity at Rice. Freezing cold and winds at NU. Not all the time for either, but it’s something for your kid to consider. Their is a huge theatre and a cappella scene at NU, not very much at all at Rice. Again, this may not make any difference to your daughter. No frats/sororities at Rice.</p>
<p>I think both schools are great academically. I think the issue would come down to a social “fit.” Will she have the opportunity to visit NU before a final decision is made?
I have a freshman at NU.</p>
<p>She may visit we have to see the “package” first before any more trips though.</p>
<p>Personally I believe NU is measurably better school than Rice, but that is irrelevant really. A students personal drive, work ethic, and ambitions (measured in SAT scores, GPA, etc.) are much more acurate predictors of success (at least financially) then prestige of the school to which they enroll. New theme for 2011: Choose with you pocketbook… even if it’s UT Austin …the cheaper option will give you the best ROI.</p>
<p>NU if she plans on working in the Midwest and Rice if she plans on working in the South.</p>
<p>OP: DS is considering the same schools for engineering. He is attending Owl Days and I’m hoping NU offers something similar that will help him decide. Will your D go spend the night on the 7th?</p>
<p>And like you, we need to see if NU offers a “package”.</p>
<p>NU is highly ranked in civil. But at the undergrad level, it probably doesn’t translate to significant differenece. That said, NU has probably the best transportation research center in the nation and you can earn a certificate/minor in that so if her interest is in that sub-area of civil engineering, NU would be a clearer choice, at least academically.</p>
<p>givings- Probably will not do the Owl Days. She visited at the end of Feb. so i think it will be fun but redundant for her</p>
<p>SamLee- I don’t think transportation is her thing. Probably more into Water issues and environmental angle</p>
<p>She is athletic, likes the idea of intramural and/or club sport, but not at all interested in “Big Sports” Football, Basketball. Also not interested in greek.</p>
<p>The academic programs in Civil, Environmental Eng at Northwestern are better ranked and somewhat stronger - deeper - broader, but enough so to overshadow the even more significant differences in location, size, personality of the two schools? None of us can answer this. I’d suggest she head out where she feels the strongest connection.</p>
<p>I’m a current student making the same decision (while waiting for Stanford and my Ivies), but Rice has offered me a great financial aid package and I expect that of Northwestern to be about the same (both are need-based awards for me). I’m also a chemical engineering major at Rice and a materials engineering major at Northwestern.</p>
<p>Generally, I feel like Northwestern Engineering is more recognized and well-known, but Rice also has a great engineering school. I think Rice’s smaller student body size means that there’s more interaction with professors than at Northwestern, but I’m not as familiar with Northwestern’s engineering classes (I guess that shows which college I’ve been researching more). Northwestern also seems extremely frigid to me (yeah, I’m from Southern California.)</p>
<p>Good luck to your DD, she really can’t make a bad choice! My two cents are that personally, I’m leaning toward Rice.</p>
<p>^Actually in material science and engineering, the students:faculty ratio is about 3:1. There are typically 20 students majoring in it each year, depsite the fact that the department is always in the top-5 and the birthplace of the field. The department claims there are more internship spots given to the department than the number of students that can fill them.</p>
<p>I see that you pick a major based on the school. Just in case and fyi, while there’s significant collaboration between chemE and matsci faculty for research, esp. nanotech, chemical engineering and material science don’t have much overlap at the undergrad level (curriculum).</p>
<p>That’s actually really good to know about Northwestern matsci, thank you! I will definitely look much more closely at NU now 
I’m actually excited for NUMB if I end up at Northwestern, too. And I chose ChemE at Rice because there the matsci department is within the mechanical engineering department, and I like the chemistry side of matsci more, so I thought I would lean that way.</p>