I plan on majoring in computer science and was admitted to both Rice and Brown. I received a full tuition four year scholarship at rice vs a small amount of need based aid (13k for one year when my brother graduates) at brown, so Rice is clearly much less expensive. However, I’m fortunate enough to be able to attend brown and only graduate with around 30k in debt (assuming paid summer internships), so the money aspect isn’t the most important part of my decision.
After visiting Brown its clear that they have a fantastic cs department, but I don’t know too much about Rice’s department. I really like Rice’s weather, residential college system, and campus, but my primary concern is how Rice’s lesser prestige and worse reputation (compared to Brown) could affect my job and internship opportunities, especially in silicon valley.
Does anyone have any insight in to the quality of cs education and job/internship opportunities at either or these schools.
I would not say that Rice has a worse reputation that Brown. Both schools are prestigious and if you can graduate from college without debt at a school like Rice, then I would go with that option. Plus, Brown is freezing during the winter.
If you really think Rice is not prestigious enough for you, go to Brown.
If you care about other things, consider what would make you happier: Big city vs small town. Wearing shorts vs down coats, a bit conservative vs super liberal, required classes vs no core curriculum.
Yeah I think I sorta disagree about the worse reputation, at least in terms of a CS dept. That is, I would believe that some places hold Brown in higher regard than Rice, but as a CS major at Rice I think our name gets out there pretty well. Relevant Quora: http://www.quora.com/What-are-the-best-undergraduate-programs-for-computer-science-in-the-United-States. Don’t take it as scripture but it shows that both schools have great recognition. I find the CS classes at Rice very good and very difficult. Likewise with the professors: great teachers and they do some really cool research. I can’t really speak to how the two schools compare in program quality or how you should measure that, but I am very happy with Rice.
My friend put it best when he said Rice punches above its weight when it comes to hiring. For example, I would bet money that Google and Facebook hire a greater ratio of the CS undergrad population at Rice than of the CS undergrad population at UT, one of the best programs in the country. There’s a strong alumni network for CS (as a freshman I got referrals from recent grads at Facebook, Google, Square, and Dropbox). Of the 7 junior CS majors I can think of at my residential college (please tell me if you aren’t familiar with that term), this summer 2 are going to Palantir, 2 to Google, 1 to TwoSigma, 1 to TripAdvisor, and 1 to Facebook. If I think outside my residential college I could go on forever about friends going to big name internships and jobs. Rice also has an advantage if you want to check Austin out, though Brown would have the advantage in New York or Boston. This is complete conjecture, but I think that the fact that tech is such a west-coast field may actually hurt the Ivies, because the names don’t mean quite as much out there. They still do really well, but my point is so does Rice.
This is one of the few posts on here where Rice is the cheaper option, so I’m savoring this. That being said, 30k isn’t terrible debt for a Rice CS major. If you get a job at a top tier company in SF you’ll start around 100k/yr.
Brief aside that you didn’t ask for: there are a lot of other reasons I would suggest Rice over Brown, namely a better academic and social atmosphere and better weather. That’s my opinion but I’m guessing you posted this on the Brown one so it’s only fair 
Let me know if you have any other questions! (Source: CS Sophomore)
Both institutions are top notch. You will do fine in terms of hiring in CS at either one. I would base the decision more on what you feel would be better for you- environmental fit. Also, it is a huge advantage to graduate without debt. But for CS, $30,000 total debt can be easily paid off I would think. Go with what you think will work for you. Rice has the residential colleges and Brown has the open curriculum. Congrats on getting into these two fine schools. My husband has a doctorates in CS and says you can be successful career wise upon graduating at either of these two great schools.