<p>Rice or Duke better for premed? plz answer honestly :)</p>
<p>Rice! Granted, I'm biased, but hey - this is the Rice forum!</p>
<p>I do really have a reason for thinking this. Texas medical center! 13 hospitals, 2 med schools and a whole host of other institutions gives you so many opportunites for research, internships, volunteering, etc. And it's all right across the street. </p>
<p>Plus, Rice is much smaller, so you'll get more personal attention from your profs and they will be able to write better recs.</p>
<p>And Rice/Baylor is a great program, if you are interested in that.</p>
<p>lol..wow i got opposite in duke forum...so confused now</p>
<p>ahh, what do you expect? </p>
<p>But FWIW, I absolutely hated duke when I visited, and loved Rice. Have you visited both schools?</p>
<p>just to note, though, the Baylor/Rice program accepts no more than 15 students all over the country and half are from Houston.</p>
<p>clewless, please get your facts right before posting.</p>
<p>Rice/Baylor accepts about 17-20 students in order to creat a class of approximately 15. But my Rice Baylor class has 18. </p>
<p>There are no quotas for Houston (or Texas) residents. Students in Rice/Baylor mirror the rest of the Rice population, approximately (which shows that there is no more discrimination in Rice/Baylor than in other university admissions):
about 1/4 from houston-area, another 1/4 from elsewhere in TX, and about 1/2 from out of state.</p>
<p>It's a fabulous program, and despite the long odds, someone has to get in, so it may as well be you. but not if you don't apply!</p>
<p>I wasn't sure if half came from Houston or TX. But if you consider that Houston has some GREAT schools like Bellaire High School and St. John's School (schools that have tons of NMS) then it makes it pretty difficult. My friend went to BHS (last year) and got into the Baylor/Rice program. However, he was LOADED with the best grades (top 5%), extracurriculars, summer programs, interships, leadership positions etc. Plus, he's a fantastic writer. Yes, someone has to get in, but you should also try to tip the scale in your favor, meaning apply earlier. My friend applied ED and got in. Again, keep in the mind the percentage for each decision program.</p>
<p>the rice/baylor app doesn't really have an official deadline except it says "late february"....would submitting it earlier improve your chances of admission to rice/baylor?</p>
<p>the rice/baylor app DOES have an official deadline. It is in BOLD on the Rice/Baylor letter. No later than Feb.24.</p>
<p>when do you get the letter if you applied for the dec 1 deadline?</p>
<p>when you receive the envelope in the mail...I think for ID it's Feb 10...</p>
<p>thanks smazn for pointing that out!</p>
<p>From experiences of one child who went to Duke and one who passed on Duke to go to Rice, I would have to give a slight edge to Rice if you are limiting the evaluation to the quality of undergraduate instruction, particularly in the sciences. Duke has much larger classes in the core pre-med science courses and makes liberal use of graduate assistants. It also has a more competitive atmosphere among pre-medical students. Rice has smaller classes, much smaller when you get beyond first year courses, and students seem to be eager to help each other. </p>
<p>Graduates of both schools are highly regarded by the top med schools. Rice has a 96% acceptance rate for students applying to medical school. </p>
<p>Rice also provides equal if not greater opportunities for undergrads to do medically-related research. True, Duke has one of the top medical schools and Rice does not have a medical school. But Rice is part of the Texas Medical Center, the largest health complex in the world, which includes Baylor College of Medicine, St. Luke's Hospital, Methodist Hospital, Texas Children's Hospital, and M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. All are within walking distance of the Rice campus, and all welcome Rice undergrads in their laboratories. A high percentage of undergraduate professors in engineering and the sciences are involved in collaborative research with institutions in the TMC. Similarly, the bioengineering department at Duke is involved in research at DMC, but the scope of opportunites for undergrads, on a per capita basis, is somewhat broader at Rice.</p>
<p>As for intangibles, the campus at Rice is merely beautiful; Duke's campus is breathtaking. They are equally diverse, but Duke seems to be more interested in political correctness. Duke has a Greek system as well as independent housing. Rice has residential colleges and officially prohibits any form of exclusivity. Duke has its own forest (8000 acres worth). Rice is near a huge park that includes the Houston zoo. Houston has the Astro's but Durham has the Bulls. Gotta go with the Bulls. Houston has the Rockets, but Durham has Duke. No contest there either. Duke has a 50,000 seat stadium that is sometimes nearly half full (homecoming). Rice has a 70,000 seat stadium that sometimes packs in as many as 5 or 6 thousand people. Houston has a huge array of restaurants, the best being close to Rice. Duke has Bullocks and Honey's. Advantage Duke.</p>
<p>You will have access to unlimited opportunities at either place. If you are a very disciplined self starter you will do fine at Duke. If you want an equal education in a smaller, and perhaps somewhat more supportive, environment, you should strongly consider Rice.</p>