<p>I need to decide soon whether I will attend Washington University or Rice. Which city is better: Houston or St. Louis? Which school allows greater access to humanities programs? What are typical students like from each school? Which school has a student body more supportive of its sports teams? Is the weather too harsh at Wash U?</p>
<p>I’m originally from Missouri. The weather in St. Louis will be very cold indeed in the heart of winter. </p>
<p>This is just my opinion, but I like Houston a lot more than St. Louis. The area surrounding Rice is downright beautiful. I love warm weather, and Houston often feels like a vacation spot as far as weather goes. I sometimes feel like I’m on vacation when I walk back from class! There is no shortage of things to do in St. Louis, but these are present in even greater abundance in Houston simply because of Houston’s size.</p>
<p>One thing to keep in mind is that, having grown up in Missouri, I may be subconsciously biased against St. Louis. Or to be even more precise: Houston has the feel of an exotic and faraway place to me, an impression that St. Louis will never have for me. I suggest you visit both places if you can or haven’t already. In the end, you’ll want to rely on your own opinion of the cities, not the opinions of others.</p>
<p>The generic argument I would give in favor of Rice over Wash U would be the residential colleges, the honor code, the small size, the weather and beautiful campus, and the extreme accessibility of research opportunities. I’ve been at student both Mizzou and Rice (I transferred), and I can say that the residential college system has a far greater and widespread influence on undergraduate life than I ever would have expected just from reading about it. </p>
<p>Specifics will depend on what you want to accomplish in detail.</p>
<p>I do not feel qualified to comment on the humanities programs at either school. I’m a pure mathematics major at Rice and am, of course, not even a Wash U student. Also, well, let’s just say I don’t know what’s going on in sports currently. 
Many people here do; I’m just not one of them.</p>
<p>Finally, I’m clearly biased since I chose to come to Rice. Please keep that in mind!</p>
<p>I feel particularly qualified to answer this question since I have one son at Rice and one at Wash U.</p>
<p>Both are really fantastic schools and both my sons are very happy. You really can’t go wrong with either.</p>
<p>These schools have a lot of similarities – both have really friendly, down-to-earth, collaborative and happy students who are bright and interested in academics. The Rice student body tends to seem a little more quirky and less of the more social kids in high school (note I said high school because I think they come into their own while at Rice). The residential college system promotes greater interaction among classes, while Wash U’s South 40 provides a great community of freshmen.</p>
<p>Both Rice and Wash U have fabulous campuses – beautiful and with outstanding facilities. The location is also similar, with both next to a large public park (complete with golf course and zoo) and have light rail stops at the edge of campus. Wash U has the Loop within walking distance and Rice has Rice Village (which is a little larger and has more shopping and a wider selection of restaurants).</p>
<p>With regard to which is a better city, well I find it funny that an incoming Rice student from Missouri thinks Houston’s better (on the Rice forum) and an incoming Wash U student from Houston thinks St Louis is better (on Wash U forum). Both have their positive and negatives, but I’ve found that both cities are filled with really friendly people. From a parent perspective, Houston is a growing city with a large number of Fortune 500 companies with great internship opportunities, and St Louis is a declining city. Houston also has a more abundant amount of great restaurants. I’ve really tried to find good restaurants in St. Louis, and it’s definitely more limited. I’ve also found that on Parent’s weekend in St Louis that it’s difficult to get a reservation because there are only a handful of restaurants that are worth going to. In Houston, that would never happen. But from a student perspective, so much time is on campus that the cities are really a wash.</p>
<p>In terms of weather, Houston weather is hot and humid the first month and a half of school and that’s it’s pretty sunny, pleasant and mild for the rest of the school year (except for torrential rainstorms now and then a few cold days thrown in). My Houston-born son thought he was happy to leave Houston weather and was shocked at how cold and gray it was in St. Louis (and for how long).</p>
<p>But in the end, they both absolutely love their schools and couldn’t see themselves anywhere else.</p>