<p>What really were the most compelling reasons for going to Rice over those other best schools?
How did Rice win your hearts?</p>
<p>Okay, I hate to sound cheesy, but the people were SOOOOO nice! I felt like I fit right in at the dinner table. And everyone was so enthusiastic about their colleges and Rice. I don’t understand why people say Rice doesn’t have school spirit. I mean, they might not have the “YEAH OWL FOOTBALL WOOHOO” spirit at sports games (not even sure if this is true), but I saw some real excitement about the college. It seemed like every one I met could have be a tour guide. At other schools, my hosts’ attitude toward their schools was pretty much apathetic. And there are other reasons along the lines of that… </p>
<p>Yeah, even though Rice wasn’t the best choice academically (or based on prestige), I chose Rice for its amazing students. =]</p>
<p>On that note, I should really get off CC/Rice forum at 12:30 in the morning…</p>
<p>^ Well, in fairness to Rice, there are only 6 schools that can lay a claim to be better than Rice for academic quality and prestige and that’s HYPSM+Clatech. I think Rice is just as excellent as any Ivy apart from HYP.</p>
<p>Hmmm, not necessarily. I would say Rice is strong than HYP at engineering and that HYP is stronger than Rice at everything else (except architecture and music?). And there are other more prestigious schools (read: DUKE) that aren’t as strong academically as Rice (for the most part).</p>
<p>modulation I totally agree with you. The people were some of the friendliest, nicest, group of people that I ever met. Every was just so happy. I swore that there must be somthing in the food lol.</p>
<p>Honestly, Rice has so many things going for it that my fingers might fall off trying to type them all.</p>
<p>^Yep… unfortunately people flat out don’t apply because it’s in Texas. =[</p>
<p>Then again, do we really need people who are that intolerant? =]</p>
<p>exactly, people egg me all the time about Rice being in Texas (teachers included). I keep trying to tell them that Houston is a great city and Rice is an awesome school and I would have applied even if it was in Death Valley or Antartica.</p>
<p>Duke’s prestige is inflated, especially in Ohio! My parents thought I was nuts to turn down Duke for Rice, even though it was a more academic school and a lot cheaper too.</p>
<p>$$$$$$$$$$$$$</p>
<p>Truthfully, could not say no to 46 thousand buckaroos</p>
<p>What do you mean, tomackze? 46k Aid?</p>
<p>yep 46k financial aid… that was the big deciding factor for why I decided to apply ED to Rice.</p>
<p>Did my research and found that Rice is really good with Financial Aid for poor income family, and that they usually come through. So I knew it was a win-win situation.</p>
<p>And part of me did want to experience life in Texas just because it is something so unorthodox and something I might not like at all, so I decided to take this chance and here I am… going to Rice next year as part of the 2013 class</p>
<p>I’m sure this was discussed somewhere else, but Duke’s “prestige” mostly comes from the basketball team. And other than its BME program, Duke’s engineering has got NOTHING on Rice’s.</p>
<p>It’s awesome.</p>
<p>^Yep… to sum it up…</p>
<p>Modulation: With two BME grads in the family–one from Rice and one from Duke, I can attest that Rice’s program is every bit the equal of Duke’s; and IMHO the learning environment and quality of undergraduate teaching at Rice are superior (and I am also a Duke grad).</p>
<p>@Modulation. Duke also has a pretty good Med School… and it’s law school is T14.</p>
<p>It’s ranking comes mostly from the grad program, in addition to the basketball team</p>
<p>Texas only gets a bad rap because of Dallas. Houston, San Antonio, Austin, and the hill country are awesome. West Texas is kind of a wasteland (I never have any desire to go out to Midland/Odessa), but overall this is a great state.</p>
<p>When people think Texas, they think big hair, guns, pickup trucks, and right-wing nutjobs. Can you believe that Lyndon Johnson was once the unofficial spokesman for this state instead of George Bush (who was born and raised in Connecticut, mind you)? This is a great state with a lot of culture, diversity, and beauty. Yes, some of us hunt deer on the weekends, but then we bring it back, make venison sausage, and share it with everyone else. Yes, some of us are right-wing nutjobs, but just as many of us are left-wing nutjobs, and even more of us are somewhere in-between. Yes, UT Austin is a big state school with a huge frat scene and successful sports teams, but it’s just as much a big state school with a huge hippie/hipster scene and awesome restaurants and music venues nearby.</p>
<p>People dislike Texas until they come here (unless they go to Dallas, in which case their suspicions are only confirmed). I’ve lived in Texas for only three years, but I feel more at home here than I ever did in Georgia (where I’ve lived for nine years — three overlapping with Texas) or in upstate New York (twelve years).</p>
<p>Here’s a great site to check out. It’s about Houston, not Texas, but it highlights all of the positives of Houston, while not ignoring the negatives:
[Houston</a> its worth it…](<a href=“http://www.houstonitsworthit.com/]Houston”>http://www.houstonitsworthit.com/)</p>
<p>Rant over.</p>
<p>@NYSkins1 are you sure? I’d assume that all the major cities in Texas (Dallas, Austin, Houston, SA, etc.) are all very liberal and not very “gunsy” while the rural cities are more conservative and gunsy…</p>
<p>But I don’t know much about TX. Is Dallas very conservative or very liberal? I always thought of Dallas as liberals</p>
<p>They are reasonably liberal and not gun-toting wackos. The state does get a bad rap for being backwards, but the cities are not too bad.</p>
<p>If you are from Northern Ca or the North East, its still wayy more conservative in ways. Thats what it feels like to me</p>
<p>I’m from the North East… NYC, it is very liberal here</p>