<p>If you don't mind sharing, what schools did you turn down to attend Rice. I am just curious and as D-Day comes around for other schools, I will be hearing from others (already accepted at Rice and very happy about it). Thanks</p>
<p>Columbia
Berkeley
Harvey Mudd
UNC - Chapel Hill</p>
<p>...some others too...I think. Wow, it's been a year and I can't even remember where I applied. Once you get to college, stuff like that won't matter.</p>
<p>Those are some pretty good schools. What was your deciding factor? Money? Location? Campus? Resources? Something else?</p>
<p>There were a bunch of reasons. In the end I wanted to go to both Columbia and Rice equally, but I chose Rice because it was cheaper.</p>
<p>Location was never really important in my decision. In fact I wanted to be further away from my home in PA. After being accepted to each of these schools I went to visit them...</p>
<p>When I applied to Harvey Mudd, I was thinking about physics or engineering. When I visited it, I began considering pre-med. Given HM's very rigorous coursework I decided against going there, which ended up being a good decision because when I got to Rice I was pretty sure that I was going to be pre-med. Now, a full year later, I'm almost certain to major in the social sciences (which aren't even offered at HM).</p>
<p>Berkeley was beautiful, but I chose Rice because I felt that although the institutions were comparable in academic strength and breadth, I thought that I might like a smaller school. Also a good decision. One of the reasons that I like Rice so much is because I see a lot of the same people everyday. Rice's residential colleges even further creates a sense of community among undergraduates.</p>
<p>I wanted to go to Columbia because of NYC and I had friends there. Also, I wanted to go to Rice because of its small size and because it would offer a better background in the area that I was interested in (biochem). In the end I went to Rice because it was cheaper.</p>
<p>I applied ED, but if I hadn't been accepted, I planned to also apply to Stanford, Northwestern, Pomona, U of Rochester, U of Richmond, Emory, SUNY Stony Brook, and maybe Wellesley.</p>
<p>D, a voice major, turned down Oberlin, Indiana, BU, CIM/Case Western, New England Conservatory.
Her BF turned down Dartmouth, Wesleyan and some others. Financial aid was a consideration, as was weather and the awesome Rice campus.</p>
<p>DD turned down UF (just applied because of the free-ride for NMF), Oberlin, College of Wooster, Bowdoin, Carleton, McCalester, and Grinnell. She liked the size of Rice (bigger than most of the LACs she applied to), faculty to student ratio (more profs to choose from in each department), people she met at Rice when she went to Owl Weekend, financial Aid package (which wasn't THAT much better than merit aid/ FA from other schools, but we knew it would stay as good all four years, and transportation costs would be way less), campus and all the great stuff Houston has to offer (especially restaurants and the light rail), proximity to home (3 hours), opportunities for research, music, res college system, calendar. She really liked Carleton, too, but the FA package was not as good and the weird trimester calendar meant it was going to be very hard coordinating with the summer job scene at home and all her home friend's calendars.</p>