<p>I am an international transfer student from Malaysia, admitted as transfer for fall 2010. However, I have a tough decision here. My family never supported me to go Rice U despite I have government full scholarship. This is because, I am the only person going to Rice U and all my friends are going to Wisconsin-Madison. Besides, I don't know anyone from Rice and I really wish to stay on-campus. However, my sponsor is going to give me around $975 per month and that is not enough for me to stay on campus.</p>
<p>The living standard around Rice U is also higher than Wisconsin-Madison. I don't know whether my allowance per month is enough in the future for housing and food.</p>
<p>My family cannot support me financially if anything happened. The world ranking from the website doesn't support Rice U as a better choice than UWM except the US ranking.</p>
<p>I don't know how to convince them that my career will be better in Malaysia if I choose to go Rice instead of Wisconsin...</p>
<p>I did a lot of research before I applied, I know Rice is truly a great school. But I don't know how to choose.</p>
<p>I’m not particularly well versed in Int’l Applications, but can’t you apply for financial aid from Rice? That seems like it would solve some of your problems.</p>
<p>Well… TBH, as much as I like Rice, you might actually be better off at WM simply because of circumstances. It is also a highly regarded university, and I’m not sure it would make sense to go to Rice given your conditions. The logical choice seems to be WM in this situation. </p>
<p>Can you give me any really strong reasons, besides innate desire, to go to Rice? (I mean, realising that they’re both rather strong schools).</p>
<p>Tough call. My DH went to Wisconsin and my DS went to Rice.Very different schools, size, climate, etc. All that said, if money is the major defining criteria and Madison is in your budget while Rice is not, I’d have to tip the hat to Madison, even though personally I prefer Rice.</p>
<p>Even speaking as a recent Rice graduate who loves his school, it’s difficult to tell you anything other than to follow the money.</p>
<p>$975 a month is actually livable in the Rice area, though your budget might be tight. If you can find people to live with, you can get housing for around $550 a month including utilities. Then you have food expenses, say around $100/month, then you have a bit left over for entertainment.</p>
<p>UW-Madison and Rice are very different schools. However, both are very good schools academically. Academically, you can’t go wrong with either. As someone who lived near Rice during HS and lived in Madison after college, the cost of living is actually cheaper in Houston than it is in Madison. If you live close to Rice campus, it’s going to expensive, but if you live a little further away, the rent is a lot cheaper. The only problem is that Houston has very bad public transportation. Even so, $975/month should be plenty of money to live off of.</p>
<p>Other things to consider is that Madison is cold, VERY cold, most of the academic year. My first day at work, it was -20F (-29C). You’ll have to trek through snow and ice to class. </p>
<p>However, IMO, Madison is a much better college town, and there’s a lot to do - sailing, snow kiting, farmers market, film fest, etc. Hoofers (sailing) is a great student organization to join if you go there. Students are more social than those at Rice.</p>
<p>You can’t live on 100 dollars worth of food for a month. Are you kidding me, you need like 300-500 bucks a month for food. If you spend 10 dollars a day on food (only 3.33 dollars a meal, which is really pushing it), you need at least 300 dollars for food/month. 3.33 dollars a meal is very little these days, will probably need like 5 dollars a meal…</p>
<p>^Well, that depends on if you shop at McDonalds, go out, make your own food, or whatever, but yeah, I think I have to agree. $100/month is not enough for a normal person to live… very well at all as far as food is concerned. Now, you don’t actually need three meals a day, and you can usually get by on frozen dinners or whatnot, depending on whether you have the facilities for them, but I’ll just say you’ll need close to $8 average due to going out and such. Which still leaves you at $250/month. That’s still rather reasonable though, with $975/month, as that leaves you a bit of wiggle room with $550 for housing. Even if you end up spending another $100/month than anticipated, that leaves $75/month for whatever you want, although I’m not sure you’ll be extremely happy with it.</p>
<p>My normal weekly grocery bill when I lived on my own last summer was $20–$30. I ate a lot of rice and pasta, though. I figure eating out goes into entertainment expenses.</p>
<p>Thank you all for the advice. I really like Rice University very much. I think I will probably work there if I have a hard time trying to survive with $975 per month.</p>