Personally, I am a big believer in fit opposed to prestige. A happy student is a successful student after all. I think with engineering in particular this is especially important, for wherever you do engineering it will undoubtably be difficult. Having a support structure and easy social group does wonders for ensuring that you are performing at your best, or at least are enjoying doing so. Plus, as long as the major is ABET accredited it often makes little difference where one gets their degree from. I will pretty much guarantee there is hardly any difference in the average starting salaries for engineers coming out of any of these schools. When factoring in cost of living (since many graduates tend to stay in the general area), I’d even hazard to guess that Rice engineers actually make the most comparatively. Feel free to test out this cost of living calculator http://money.cnn.com/calculator/pf/cost-of-living/ and this salary list http://www.businessinsider.com/colleges-with-the-highest-starting-salaries-2015-8/ if you would like to test out my theory.
To answer your question more directly, I will admit that I do not have extensive personal knowledge of MIT or Princeton, but I do Rice. This is what I have gleaned from talking with friends attending, alumni, visits myself, and research…
Location: Rice is located in an awesome part of Houston—the Museum District. This is a beautiful area with tons of greenery and places to explore, including several museums, parks, theatres, and the Houston Zoo. Also, I do believe that Rice students are given free access to the zoo and nearby museums with the Passport to Houston Program. Apart from that, Rice is also right next to Rice Village—a fun, medium-to-up-scale shopping district with tons of shops, places to eat, and some nightlife. (Torchy’s Tacos, Ruggles, The Chocolate Bar, Star Pizza, and Oh My Gogi! are all great, popular eateries.) If Rice Village isn’t enough, there is always the Galleria (a massive shopping center) a few miles away with a shuttle running to it.
Houston itself is an incredibly diverse city and boasts the second most Fortune 500 companies. Considering Houston is also the Energy Capital of the World, internship opportunities of practically all types are fairly easy to find. Switching gears, if following sports is your thing, or you are simply looking to catch a game every now and then, Houston has got you covered with some pretty good teams (Rockets, Texans, and Astros).
Research: This is where I think Rice truly excels, especially, but not only, for pre-meds (cough 87% med school placement rate cough). The significance of the Texas Medical Center cannot be overstated. When it is the largest in the world and houses fantastic institutions like MD Anderson (#1 Cancer Hospital), Baylor College of Medicine, Houston Methodist, and Texas Children’s, it shouldn’t be ignored. Additionally, Rice also seems to have a very strong relationship with BCM (they almost merged a few years back) and sends many of its grads there. I can also confirm how easy it is to get research in the TMC, for multiple friends of mine, as well as myself, have gotten to do research at MD Anderson as high schoolers. Rice also has the BioScience Research Collaborative, which further cultivates the relationship between Rice and the TMC. Here, Rice educators and students work hand-in-hand with professionals from the TMC on leading research in human medicine and health.
On campus research is also widely available (paid and unpaid) thanks to Rice’s 60/40 undergrad to grad student ratio. Furthermore, Rice’s smaller size allows students to form personal relationships with professors, which makes finding research opportunities that much easier. I even remember reading how some CS professors were personally inviting students to do research with them over the summer, but were having difficulty because almost all the students had internships lined up.
Campus: Personally, I find Rice’s campus to be absolutely beautiful. It is almost like a little oasis in the middle of a massive city. The campus is fairly small, but not too constricting. There are large open fields, tons of shaded walkways and resting areas, and a 5k loop around campus that is perfect for jogging. It is a self-contained campus (which I prefer because it doesn’t isolate specific groups) opposed to one sprawled throughout a city. And finally, it just seems to convey this sense of calm energy that makes you feel at home. I highly suggest you try and visit campus, or at least look at Google street view because it’s sight I would hate for you to miss.
Social: As I’m sure you are aware, Rice utilizes the residential college system. This is where freshman are randomly (except for legacy) sorted into one of the 11 different residential colleges on Rice’s campus. These colleges serve as a student’s home over their entire Rice experience, providing an immediate sense of community to entering freshman and act as a social/party unit for all of the college’s members. They really help students develop a sense of family on campus, for nothing brings people together like a little camaraderie and healthy competition against the other colleges. Since the colleges are composed of students from all years, they provide an excellent support structure and place get advice regarding classes, professors, etc.
Onto parties, Rice has a reputation in Texas for throwing some pretty eccentric, odd, and really fun parties–let’s say that none of my friends at Rice seem to be overly bored. Without the presence of frats on campus and with the residential colleges acting as the major social unit, much of that sense exclusivity is eliminated. Rice is also the only wet campus in Texas meaning alcohol is definitely present. Cops are not overly stringent on drinking age requirements (as long as you aren’t driving or making a ruckus) and private parties have mostly free rein. However, just because Rice has two pubs on campus doesn’t mean people are pressured to drink. None of my friends, some of whom don’t drink, have ever told me they felt uncomfortable. Rice being a wet campus coupled with the relaxed atmosphere prevents a divide from forming between drinkers and non-drinkers and actually encourages people to stay on campus to have fun.
Community. I have referenced this a couple times, but not without reason. Rice serves as a community for its students, and it isn’t one built on competitiveness or trying to best the person next to you. Instead, it’s about shared success and the desire to actually learn. Students are encouraged to work together and the generous honor code allows for a bunch of freedom. There will no doubt be some students who never venture out of their dorm room and fight for every point of their GPA, but they are by far in the minority. There’s definitely a reason why Rice is ranked #1 for Happiest Students.
Traditions: From an outsider’s point of view there are 3 main traditions in which Rice students often partake. The first being undoubtedly beer bike. This is where each residential college fields a team of bikers and chuggers. They then compete in three divisions: men’s, women’s, and alumni (it’s that big of a deal), in a relay race. Reminder, this only occurs after a massive campus-wide water balloon fight. Can’t forget that part! (For those concerned: no, the chuggers are not actually chugging beer but rather water.) Another historical tradition is Baker 13 where students will run around campus wearing nothing but shoes and shaving cream every 13th and 31st at 10:00 pm armed with cans of shaving cream. And finally, there are ton of traditions unique to each college that help to further create a sense of identity.
(Part 1 of 2)