<p>Hello, I am lucky enough to be able to choose between these two schools, but I was wondering if Penn is worth to extra 100K I will be forced to pay. (Rice is ~30K/yr and Penn is 55K/yr). If I go to Penn, I will be a part of the Vagelos Integrated Program in Energy Research where I will work towards a BSE in Chemical Engineering and a BA in either Chemistry or Biology. On the other hand, if I attend Rice, I will work towards a BSE in Chemical Engineering and also complete the pre-med requirements, as I am debating applying to medical school. So far, I am unsure of what I want to do in the future, but if I go to Penn, I am probably going to rule out med school.</p>
<p>Overall, taking into account the prestige, research opportunities, future career opportunities, student body, and overall happiness, is Penn worth the extra 100K? I am probably going to go to grad school if I attend Penn, and either med school or grad school if I attend Rice, so money is factor. Also, my parents are not poor, but are also not rich. I also have another sibling currently attending college (will be a junior when i'm a freshman) that costs roughly 50K per year.</p>
<p>Thank you so much!</p>
<p>Rice sounds like better option.</p>
<p>Good Luck!</p>
<p>I live in Houston so I visited Rice a while ago. I love the school. The atmosphere, the location, and the people are amazing. One drawback is that it’s in my hometown and I’d like to get out.
I don’t like Penn as much, mainly because of the atmosphere. This school is big, competitive and I didn’t sense much of a tight knit community. It has prestige, however, and Philly is a much more beautiful city than Houston. I’ll be attending Penn this year.</p>
<p>My son will be graduating from Penn in three weeks. I would heartily endorse Penn 
Rice is also a great school, but/and I have to say that Penn far exceeded any expectations that we had in the beginning, and my son had some great choices as you do as well. Going to school in Philadelphia has been pretty fabulous, and as a parent, I’ve enjoyed every visit we’ve been fortunate enough to make in the past four years. I will miss Philly quite a bit, and I’m sure my son will as well. </p>
<p>As for the finances, Penn is very generous with financial aid and need based aid is given mostly in the form of university grants that do not have to be paid back, unlike some schools. You may not see that 100K differential you expect, based upon what you’re expecting to pay, vs what you will actually pay. We have been quite blessed by Penn’s generosity and willingness to work with us each year to make things work. </p>
<p>I hope that you will be attending (or have attended) the Penn Accepted Students Days. It will really give you a nice overview of what to expect, and the weather in Philly in April is most often quite lovely.</p>
<p>Good luck. Please PM me if you have any specific questions about Penn that I might be able to answer from a parent’s perspective or I could ask my son other questions, too. My son was in the Bio-Medical Engineering program initially though switched to Bio his junior year to complete Pre-Med (Bio with Economics). It was a bit stressful, but when he realized that what he really wanted was to go to Med School, it made it necessary (for him personally, and graduate on time, etc.). The University was very helpful for the most part with his transfer to the College (from Engineering). A word of caution if you do want to do both (Eng and Pre-Med), it is doable, but maintaining your GPA in Engineering to the level of what medical schools are looking for, will be challenging. A 3.6 for Engineering is considered great, for Pre-Med, not so much! Having said that, my son is soon to be in the “Med School Class of 2016”, though not at Penn, we’re thrilled. Woo-hoo! :)</p>