<p>I've been obsessed with Rice for a long time and was basically 90% sure I was going. But after visiting Cornell, I was quite impressed with their academics and am totally doubting my previous feelings toward Rice. </p>
<p>Here are my concerns/questions with both colleges...</p>
<p>*RICE *</p>
<p>-I love the residential college system, but I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to meet people and maintain friendships outside of my college.
-I love the small campus feel, but again I'm afraid it'll feel small after four years (my high school has 3200 people).
-Rice has a strong engineering school, but I feel like it's not as strong as Cornell's and thus won't have enough resources (specifically, environmental engineering).
-I'm a Century Scholar, but will I be able to do significant research?
-I want to go to grad school, does Rice have a strong grad school advising program?</p>
<p>CORNELL</p>
<p>-Weather is a huge concern. Even though I'm from Minnesota, I'm not sure if I can handle long, cold walks across campus. I've done dual-enrollment at the U of Minnesota, and I felt miserable.<br>
-The engineering academics are amazing. But is it really significantly better than Rice's? My parents talked to other students and they made my "Rice vs. Cornell" seem like a joke. I've always thought they were on the same tier.<br>
-The social scene is interesting... I went to a frat party when I visited, which was fun and all, but it seemed to be more about drinking and sex than socializing. I want to drink/have sex but meeting new people is fun too.</p>
<p>Basically, I really like Rice. But it's the prestige/acadmics thing that's holding me back. Honestly, is it THAT crazy to choose Rice over Cornell? My parents and teachers and (most friends) are making it seem obvious that I SHOULD choose Cornell. </p>
<p>If you can shed some light on my concerns or answer some questions, that would be great! </p>
<p>Living on the East Coast, I’m used to people’s blank stares and confused looks when I say I’m going to Rice. In terms of what other people are saying to you, they might just think that Cornell is the obvious choice because they don’t know much/anything about Rice. </p>
<p>Academically, Rice and Cornell’s engineering programs are equal (in my opinion), but you might get more opportunities at Rice because of its size. At Cornell, since there are basically billions of undergrads, you’d have to work much harder in order to stand out and take advantage of opportunities.</p>
<p>I’ve also heard that at Cornell there is really cutthroat competition over curved grades. </p>
<p>In terms of Rice feeling small to you after four years, I can’t really relate because my high school is tiny, but if you start out “loving the small campus feel” I can’t see why you would like Cornell’s campus, which is completely the opposite.</p>
<p>Obviously I’m biased but these are just my opinions!</p>
<p>Cornell is good in engineering, and Rice is also good in engineering. Cornell is more regarded, but not by much. At both schools, you should learn similar material, be around equally qualified students, and have similarly good professors. I think at Rice classes will be smaller and you will have a great opportunity for research with the Century thing. Cornell has more engineering clubs, I think, if you’re into that. I don’t think its crazy to choose Rice over Cornell. I was going to choose Rice Engineering over Cal engineering.</p>
<p>Oh yeah, and about the competition thing, I heard Cornell has really tough cruves as well to weed out the weaker engineering students.</p>
<p>Along the lines of centimeter’s comments – I agree that Rice engineering is on par with Cornell, those who count (as in grad schools and employers) are familiar with Rice, you have more of a chance to be connected and shine at Rice (especially if you are a Century scholar and can start research as a first semester freshman), and Rice’s engineering is more collaborative and less cut-throat. My son is a sophomore at Rice and turned down Cornell. He’s had incredible opportunities and is going to be published soon as a result of his research as a Century scholar. One of his professors used to teach at Cornell and she said that the students at Cornell care more about the grades, while students at Rice care more about learning.</p>
<p>Cornell has a higher ranked engineering program, but Rice is less competitive. In terms of research opportunties, they both have great opportunities. Cornell has an excellent co-op program, while Rice has more undergrad research. They’re both great schools for grad school. If you want to go to an ivy grad school, Cornell would probably be better. Rice is really hot and humid and Cornell is really cold, but I don’t think it’s any colder than MN.</p>
<p>I’d trade a January or February day in Houston for a January or February day in Ithaca any time! Houston isn’t hot or humid then. Remember that the worst months for weather in Houston during the school year will be August and September. After that, it’s really rather pleasant.</p>
<p>Seriously, both are great schools and you’ll be getting a fine education at either. But in the end, it’s YOU who will be going to college so it’s your decision that matters the most. If you truly like Rice more than Cornell, go to Rice. If you like Cornell better, go to Cornell.</p>
<p>Both institutions will give you a fantastic engineering experience either way.</p>
<p>This is a little anecdotal, but my friend at Cornell is an engineer and he hates it there because it’s so competitive and he’s planning to transfer out next year. I think overall Rice kids are happier than Cornell kids, but to each his own.</p>
<p>I had the same concerns, and ended up picking Rice over 3 higher-ranked and better-known schools. The reputation (or lack thereof) shouldn’t strongly affect your success after graduation. I know rice has a great rep amongst grad schools, as you can probably see by the link in the above post. They both have great engineering programs, and since Rice is small there won’t be a million kids fighting you for research positions. I know Rice has a summer research thing that pays. Plus, Rice kids are happier than Cornell kids, from what I’ve heard. AND Rice gave you money… seems like an easy decision to me.</p>
<p>p.s.
“I want to drink/have sex but meeting new people is fun too.” –> hahaha, that’s how I felt when I visited Duke</p>
<p>Honestly, the differences in rankings between the top programs are not significant, and Rice grads do amazingly well with grad school placement. DS easily turned down UT-Austin honors engineering even though it is slightly higher ranked than Rice. He knew that he would get more attention, assistance, research opportunities, mentoring, plus have a great time at Rice. (And honestly, do you think employers or grad school departments look at your resume and say: “Bobby here went to the 9th ranked Chem E program, so he will be a better employee than Joan, who went to the 14th ranked program”? Heck no! They say, "Joan has been researching amino acid clusters with Prof E. and presented a paper at this conference and has 3 years of summer lab experience and a semester internship with megachem corporation, great recs from my good friend Prof F, and her proposal would make her a strong candidate for our PHD department. — likewise when evaluating Bobby. Rankings are not very meaningful. Experiences, research, network connections, etc are. BTW: DS is doing research full-time this summer with Environmental Eng. prof, in spite of not having any research experience, and he is being sent out-of-state for specialized training, too. There are so many opportunities at Rice and abroad. (Have you checked out Rice Engineers-without-borders?)</p>
<p>you might find Cornell engineering is more heavily recruited, based on posts I’ve read from Rice engineering alum aibarr on CC. And perhaps less regionally focused. On the other hand, grad school placement from Rice may not suffer at all.</p>
<p>Suggest check registrar’s course listings to compare the breadth and depth of engineering, and other, course offerings available at each school. What you can learn someplace bears some relation to what they teach there.</p>
<p>Modulation, we are in the same situation once again, except I have UCB’s in-state tuition to think about too and I didn’t get the Century thing from Rice. Tell me which school you decide!</p>
<p>Anyone who tells you that the college system is limiting socially is either really closed-minded, bitter, or lazy. The college system encourages you to get to know people that you wouldn’t otherwise, and then it’s your choice to branch beyond the college (and it’s really easy to do so).</p>
<p>It sounds like you really want to go to Rice, and I think you should go with your gut. Rice and Cornell are pretty much on par for undergraduate academics in almost every comparable department, including engineering. But you’ll be happier at Rice. I think most people would be.</p>
<p>Something to keep in mind when everyone you know is telling you that going to Cornell over Rice is a no-brainer:</p>
<p>Sure Cornell may be ranked higher and have a stronger reputation in the north (incl. Minnesota), but keep in mind that Rice engineering is king in the south. I grew up in the south, and I wanted to be a ChemE for a while in high school. The only schools I looked at for engineering were Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech, Texas, Stanford, MIT, Duke, Caltech and Rice. Maybe [probably] I was naive, but I didn’t know anything about Cornell being as good as those schools for engineering until I met some kids from the northeast at Rice! A lot of southerners don’t even know that Cornell is in New York, let alone the fact that it’s an Ivy–it’s just one of those “good northern schools” that people hear about occasionally, but never really pay attention to. Rice in general, and engineering at GT or UT have better reputations down here. And if you’re dreading 4 more years of snow and misery already, chances are you’ll end up living in the south for a good chunk of your life after college. This whole reputation issue, of course, excludes the most important people: your future top-notch employers, grad schools, and highly educated peers. These people will know how great both Rice and Cornell are. So, in the end, it doesn’t really matter, but just know your friends and parents and teachers probably have understandably skewed perspectives because you live in the north.</p>
<p>Plus, Cornell is really cut-throat and huge and cold and depressing. Ithaca is in the middle of nowhere… isn’t there some infamous waterfall that students jump off to commit suicide? People at Rice are warm and happy. A friend of mine goes to Cornell and says, “Cornell: Where Hell really does freeze over for 5 months of the year.”</p>
<p>Thanks for all the insights!! I THINK I’m going to go to Rice…</p>
<p>The big and cold campus at Cornell is a major turn off. I’m pretty sure I would have an equal chance of getting into Stanford or MIT for engineering grad school at either Rice or Cornell.</p>
<p>The campus seems large initially only until you understand that there are whole large areas of it that you need never go or master, based on your areas of study. This process happens very quickly. However, these other areas provide you with additional challenges, so in the upperclass years there remain new vistas to explore, rather than getting stale and bored at a small school.</p>
<p>It’s true that it gets cold there. You may find MIT gets cold as well.</p>
<p>Your grad school chances may indeed be equivalent, but you may want to check the course listings to see the extent of the options you will have in each case to inform your chosen path along the way.</p>
<p>I think your decision should depend on what you want to do after you graduate. If you want to stay in Houston or anywhere in Texas, you should definitely go to Rice. People in Houston treat Rice grads like gods. If you want to go to grad school you should also pick Rice. If you plan on living in any other state and working right after undergrad, you should pick Cornell. Its reputation far outweighs Rice’s. It shouldn’t, but it does. The thing is, most people don’t read the rankings.</p>
![http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ithaca_Hemlock_Gorge.JPG]File:Ithaca](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Ithaca_Hemlock_Gorge.JPG%5DFile:Ithaca){kind=link}
