Can you attend admitted student days at any of the schools you listed? Sometimes those give you a better feel of the vibe on campus and you hopefully get to spend more time there to interact with and observe the study body.
My daughter goes to Rice and was accepted at UIUC where both myself and her father went. Her father was an engineering major at UIUC, though admittedly it was a long time ago so I’m sure things have changed!
A personalized experience where I feel like I can talk to professors or seek unique opportunities like research.
You can definitely get this at Rice. It’s a smaller school with a smaller grad population so professors rely on undergrads for help with research, teaching assistants, etc. My daughter had a cool engineering design type internship on campus one summer and has been asked to TA quite a few times. She hasn’t done research (by choice) but many of her friends have done it since freshmen or sophomore years. My daughter did an independent engineering design type project for credit one year and got so much help and support. My husband often comments that the experience she is getting at Rice is so much more hands on than what he got at UIUC and she is so much better prepared for the workforce.
A friendly and open student body that isn’t very competitive, Greek life heavy, or cliquey. I’d say I’m more introverted than extroverted and am not a huge party/sports lover
I don’t know a lot about Cornell but I was under the impression it had a more competitive reputation. I have no idea if that is accurate though. I don’t remember UIUC being particularly competitive and it’s a large enough school that you will have a variety of students there and should be able to find your tribe. UIUC has Greek life and pretty big time sports but they don’t dominate the social life - you can choose not to participate and be fine socially. The very friendly atmosphere and non-competitive student body are my intorverted daughter’s favorite thing about Rice (next to O-Week and Beer Bike). I swear they try to admit nice kids. My daughter says the students are competitive with themselves but not each other. Students don’t really talk about grades and compare and they do lots of study groups and such to help one another out. Sports are not a big thing which is a downside to some. Some students go to lots of games but most do not. My daughter has gone to smaller sporting events (girls socceer, volleyball, cross cross country, etc.) to cheer on friends. Again, admitted student days might help you get a better idea of the atmosphere at each school.
Good internship, grad school, and job prospects. I strongly value having good opportunities for jobs outside and during college. I’m not sure if I’ll pursue grad school but I want to leave my options open.
I would think all of these are well respected enough that you would have good opportunities during college and after. One thing I have commented on to my husband after watching my daughter go through the grad school application process this year is that I think an advantage she had is that she really knows her professors. It’s a smaller school and there are several professors she’s had for classes multiple times. She’s been asked to TA for them, she was asked to work on a project with 2 of them, one was sort of a mentor for an independent project she did, etc. So her recommendation letters were very strong since they had substantial things to say about her (besides this was a good student who I had in one class). I’m not saying you can’t get these experiences or good recommendations at the other schools, but you might have to work a little harder for them when there is a big student body.
I know this was very pro-Rice since my daughter has had such a good experience there, but I really think you need to decide what school is the best “fit” for you. All are great options with different pros and cons.
Good luck!!!