<p>Rice</a> University - Best Colleges - Education - US News and World Report</p>
<p>[Best</a> Colleges - Education - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/]Best”>http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/)</p>
<p>Complete rankings.</p>
<p>It seems a bit strange to think of Rice as being #17 – or any other number.
You really have to talk to the students, spend time on the campus, walk to Rice Village to get a feel for the Rice experience. These virtual tours may help bring #17 to life! [Rice</a> University - Virtual Tours](<a href=“http://www.rice.edu/virtualtours/]Rice”>http://www.rice.edu/virtualtours/)</p>
<p>Complete BS that we are tied with Vandy and Emory, quality of students is noticeably lower at each of those schools. Damn NE bias against Texas.</p>
<p>Lol…ya I would say Rice is better than Vandy or Emory. However, look at this this way, you guys are right behind a decent ivy, Brown. Btw…how the heck does Brown lose to Cornell every frickin year?</p>
<p>State University ( [Top</a> 2000 Ranked Universities for Highest Overall School Score](<a href=“http://www.stateuniversity.com/rank/score_rank.html]Top”>http://www.stateuniversity.com/rank/score_rank.html) ) posted their rankings. It’s all based strictly on data, no opinions.</p>
<p>Sry, forgot how to link on cc.</p>
<p>But it is #11 in where it matters on these boards (undergraduate), and ahead of most of the Ivies: [Best</a> Colleges - Education - US News and World Report](<a href=“http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/national-ut-rank]Best”>http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/national-ut-rank)</p>
<p>Complete BS? Get your head out of the ground there buddy. I’m assuming you’re going based purely on statistics, since I’m not sure what else you could use as an objective measure for comparision.</p>
<p>Going to each admissions website, it was a little difficult finding the most recent class data, but:</p>
<p>Rice (class entering fall 2007)
25% acceptance rate
ACT: 29-34
SAT Reading: 640-750
SAT Math: 670-780
SAT Writing: 640-730</p>
<p>Vanderbilt (class entering fall 2008)
25% acceptance rate
ACT: 30-33
SAT Reading: 650-740
SAT Math: 680-760
SAT Writing: 650-730</p>
<p>Emory (class entering fall 2009)
28% acceptance rate
ACT: 29-33
SAT Reading: 640-730
SAT Math: 660-750</p>
<p>Granted, Emory might be on the easier side, but whatever, I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. Rice is awesome, but perhaps you should stop stroking your own ego.</p>
<p>whodunnit, if you look on the US News site, Rice’s acceptance rate in fall 2008 was 23%, which is lower than Vanderbilt’s and significantly lower than Emory’s. It’s also interesting that you suggest that we should base our opinions solely on objective measures, since a sizable portion (25 percent, if I recall correctly) of the US News rankings are based off of subjective scoring from academic higher-ups.</p>
<p>As NySkins said, peer assessment reviews weigh in heavily at 25%. Lots has been said about the unfairness of these ratings…
[News:</a> Reputation Without Rigor - Inside Higher Ed](<a href=“http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/08/19/rankings]News:”>http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2009/08/19/rankings)</p>
<p>I think what really counts is not “the number,” but the research you do with the help of college guides, college visits, counselor talks, data, etc. And this forum is an easy way to ask questions, without leaving home.</p>
<p>NYSkins, I never said USNews was completely objective nor did I say that the 5 stats I listed provided a completely accurate measurement of student quality. I listed those because I imagine that’s what westside was basing his opinions off of, but since you want to nitpick the 2008 stats, Vanderbilt’s acceptance rate for the class of 2013 is 18.9%. To my knowledge, Rice’s acceptance rate for the class of 2013 is 22.23%.</p>
<p>Who…-- IMHO Rice is selected ahead of many Ivies by some, whereas Vanderbilt and Emory are not. The rankings of Rice speak for themselves, but when you personally know a number of students who choose Rice ahead of acceptances to many of the Ivies, you tend to rank Rice with the Ivies … actually, I also know students who select Rice over MIT for its balance of environment, culture and academics in certain areas. Also (2009 Princeton Review)Median scores:</p>
<p>CR- 650-760
M- 680-780
W- 640-740
ACT- 30-34</p>
<p>I’m not trying to get into a measuring contest where you say yours is bigger and I claim mine is bigger. Don’t get me wrong, I think Rice is fantastic and I have no doubt that some do choose Rice over Ivies…but also understand I have friends who choose Vanderbilt over Ivies as well (myself included), even when there wasn’t a difference in amount of financial aid. While Rice’s residential college system is attractive to some, so is Vanderbilt’s academic/social life balance. </p>
<p>The dismissive attitude/superiority complex exhibited by some of the people in this thread is what I was getting at. NYSkins then chose to nitpick and bring out the statistics for Rice’s class of 2012, so I threw the statistics for the class of 2013 right back at him/her. If he/she wants to use the fall 2008 as demonstrative proof that Rice is better, then if I’ll follow the same line of logic: Vanderbilt is clearly superior to Rice this year.</p>
<p>whodunnit, you’re setting up straw men left and right. Let us recap:</p>
<p>westside made a statement that the quality of students at Rice is better than that at Vandy or Emory. He did not say whether this was an objective statement, so we can assume that this is his subjective opinion.</p>
<p>whodunnit invoked admissions statistics (from different years), saying that they are the only objective measure he/she can imagine that westside could have for claiming that Rice students are of better quality than those at Vandy or Emory.</p>
<p>I challenged whodunnit’s assertion that westside has to use objective criteria to judge that Rice students are of better quality, since US News is 25% subjective anyway. I also invoked Rice’s 2008 admissions statistics, since those were the ones being used in the US News rankings.</p>
<p>whodunnit said he/she never claimed that US News was objective, avoiding my argument that he/she was hypocritically holding westside to standards of objectivity. He/she also invoked admissions statistics from 2009, which were not used for this year’s US News rankings.</p>
<p>OldCard listed some scores.</p>
<p>whodunnit accused us all of being dismissive, when we were in fact trying to engage him/her in intelligent discourse, only to have our arguments repurposed to suit his/her needs.</p>
<p>westside made subjective statements: agreed</p>
<p>I used statistics that were available directly from each school’s respective admissions website as a rough measure of student quality. I never asserted that westside had to use objective criteria to compare the schools, I merely assumed that’s what westside was basing his opinion on. </p>
<p>NYSkins stated Rice’s 2008 statistics because he felt they were necessary to make comparisons for the rankings published this year in USNews: now better understood. </p>
<p>NYSkins claims I hypocritically stated USNews as objective. </p>
<p>I used statistics to refute westside’s statements of superiority. Not once did I mention USNews rankings. Pay attention to the data and what I say, not what you think I mean or meant to say. Just because westside’s comments stemmed from USNews rankings and I responded to his comments does not mean our comments are based on the same thing. Let’s be clear: I stated statistics, not rankings.</p>
<p>If NYSkins was trying to engage in intelligent conversation, then he should have better understood what I was saying instead of being incredibly presumptuous.</p>
<p>Who-- on the subjective side, Nashville has been rated one of the top 10 most depressive cities in the country. We have been there and have friends there. Have you been to Rice? Houston is rated the #1 City in which to live and find opportunity. D chose Rice over Dartmouth and others down the line. Somewhere below the Ivies (Dartmouth was her second choice), Williams, et al, probably 2/3rds down was Vanderbilt. Perhaps it matters what your interests are. With respect to research and science, the affiliation with the largest medical center in the world-- The Texas Medical Center – offered too much opportunity to pass up. Depending on your interests, in several areas Rice offers the most resources of ANY university in the country. Premed, bioscience, nanotech, environmental, aerospace, etc. It has the means since it has the 4th largest endowment of any school in the country, per student and is focused on undergraduates. So taking the objective data, the location and opportunities it presents, the somewhat negative connotation the economy is having on the Ivy establishment and NE, think West young man. USNWR apparantly recognized this with its ranking of undergraduate focus as #11. All that said, you have to find your right fit and then you will make the most of it. Good luck.</p>
<p>That list of the most depressing cities piqued my interest, Old Card, so I did a Google and found that the #1 ranked “most depressed” city was Portland, Oregon. I found it somewhat ironic because I’ve consistently seen Portland ranked at or near the top of US cities for “quality of life” surveys over the past few years.
While these comparisons can be entertaining most seem to be quite subjective, inconsistent, and irrelevant. I still laugh at the study that had Buffalo, NY ranked tops for culture & the arts a year or so ago.
As for the college comparisons, I think that Rice’s current ranking in relation to Vanderbilt and Emory is more a testament to the advances of those other schools in test scores, lower admission rates, etc., over the past 2 decades.
Having lived on the East Coast and Midwest over that time period it seems that a lot more kids nation-wide have heard of and/or know people at Vanderbilt(especially from the exposure it gets through college football & basketball, which affect applications often) and Emory(popular in the Northeast & Mid-Atlantic) whereas Rice, is viewed as more of a regional, “Texas” college. Of course serious students and scholars know Rice on its own merits, but it does seem to be lesser know nationally.</p>
<p>i like the he/she’s NYskin
very pc</p>
<p>whodunnit,
our attack owls will swoop down and eat your commodores
our flock will then spit out owl pellets with the remains along with the commodore pirate hat</p>
<p>Team f#@king RICE!</p>