Rice or Northwestern for Engineering

College Search & Selection
1

Hello!
I am so incredibly torn between these two school to the point in which I have no clue on which one to commit to, so I was wondering if I could get some insight on both these schools.

I am currently going for civil engineering, but that could easily change as I get introduced to new forms of engineering, so I wanted to know which school was stronger in opportunities for engineering students overall.

Btw. I don’t really care about sports so that is not a factor for me, neither is finances, I am hoping they both soon will give me a fairly equal and good package.

2

Is cost an issue? How about location/weather?

3

@ChezCurie no, cost is not really an issue. As for weather, I guess I prefer warm weather over cold, but I live in Pennsylvania so the cold won’t be an issue either.

4

Many CC members like Rice because of the residential colleges. But you asked about the academics.

Northwestern

  • Entering students who indicate a specific major are assigned a professor from that department as their freshman adviser, but they are free to choose a different field when they officially designate their major, typically at the end of their first year.
  • Chicago is cold and windy.

Rice

  • other than Shepherd’s school of music and the Architecture you do not have to decide major until Sophomore year and can switch majors.
  • Houston is hot and humid.

I would ask about job prospects after college, and think about where you want to work. Here are two websites you should check out.

http://studentachievement.rice.edu/employment/

https://www.mccormick.northwestern.edu/analytics/overview/career-internship-report.html#class2018

5

I think it’s hard to compare “opportunities” unless one has extensive knowledge of both schools. You can still compare their academic offerings on their websites. I went to their websites and from the first glance, Northwestern has an industrial engineering & management sciences department and Rice doesn’t. I don’t know if that matters to you. As for civil engineering, it’s probably a toss up unless you are interested in transportation. Northwestern has probably one of the leading transporation research centers in the country, which offers an undergraduate minor program.

6

@saarinen
Northwstern students can still change majors during sophomore year or up. I am not aware of any strict deadline but the later one decides and sticks to it, the less likely he/she will graduate in four years.