<p>How do the economic programs at these two schools compare? I know Rice is great for research but are the business/economics classes much weaker (if at all) than similar programs in Cornell's College of Arts and Sciences. </p>
<p>i.e. Where would it look better to graduate with an economics degree--Rice or Cornell, and is there a huge difference?</p>
<p>This is a very difficult question to be answered. First of all, someone needs to understand the business economic classes of both Cornell and Rice. Secondly, someone needs to graduate from Rice, have a an economics degree, and understand if a Rice or Cornell economics degree is better.</p>
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i.e. Where would it look better to graduate with an economics degree--Rice or Cornell, and is there a huge difference?
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Look better to who? I suggest you focus on where you'd like to be for the next 4 years; do you prefer huge and cold, smaller and warm? Residential college system or not? Personal and tight-knit or larger and looser? (And no, there is no huge difference. You can be equally successful, or not-successful out of both schools. Rice will give you a great education, and is well-known in academic circles.) :)</p>
<p>and you'd still need to go to grad school (Business school) to get the degree that will look much better than a College degree</p>
<p>Look, please don't choose schools based on majors. I came into Rice all pumped about being a Mathematical Economic Analysis major. Rice has an Economics and a Mathematical Economic Analysis major, the latter being very attractive to financial consulting firms such as JP Morgan Chase, although right now Wall Street isn't doing so hot right now. Anyways, I changed my major twice, unofficially (as in I haven't filled out an official Major Declaration form yet), because I found out that economics just wasn't for me. I hadn't taken economics in high school and was bored out of my mind not to mention confused and frustrated by all the stupid supply and demand graphs we had to draw (probably just me, if you love economics and are good at it then of course you'd have a different experience than me ;) )</p>
<p>So right now I'm looking into History and Chemical Engineering... the latter of which I never would have DREAMED of thinking of majoring. But hey, I think it's interesting now and am going to seriously look into it. My point? Don't narrow down your choices based on majors because you are against some pretty heavy odds of being persistent in studying the major you wrote down on your college application for all four years. You might take a biology course and think hey, I find studying Drosophila flies to study a potential correlation to cancer pretty interesting, etc. Or maybe you might find sociology and the study of racial and ethnic disparities in health care up your alley, after all. Who knows what your interests will change to a couple years from now.</p>
<p>So, if not narrow down by major, what should you instead focus on? Rice and Cornell are in entirely DIFFERENT atmospheres. Rice is quite small, <3000 undergrads, although President Leebron wants to incrementally increase that number, and Cornell is something around 14,000 undergrads? Don't quote me on that, but it's substantially bigger than Rice. Cornell is also in icy Ithaca while Rice is in balmy Houston, that difference at least should be quite obvious. Ithaca basically revolves around Cornell, but Houston is the country's 4th biggest city and leads the country in home to the largest number of Fortune 500 companies (sorry NYC). </p>
<p>Rice is also in a much more collaborative environment than Cornell's relatively much more competitive atmosphere and features a unique residential college system, awesome traditions/parties like NOD and Beer Bike, etc. I don't want to go on and on, but I'm just giving you some examples of other kinds of aspects of the universities to focus on. Where can you see yourself going for all four years?</p>
<p>Those are just environmental differences, but it's a start. It's much better if you can visit both campuses, if possible, to get a feel for both universities to see how they're like. Rice and Cornell definitely have same caliber of students (lots of cross-admits, as I've found out) so obviously you won't be compromising intellectuality choosing one over another.</p>
<p>good post....</p>
<p>Thanks for your responses guys. Let me give you a little more info on my situation...Right now I go to Cornell, I'm a sophmore, currently an econ major in the college of arts and sciences. Ive been thinking about transferring because I really do not like the cold weather or the rural environment (Everyone says its beautiful up there but I find it cold, grey, and downright depressing for a majority of the year...except for maybe 2 or 3 months when its fine.) </p>
<p>For some reason I never really looked at Rice when I was looking at colleges, maybe because no one in the NE seems to know about it. Ive talked to my mom about it and she knows that Rice is a great school but she thinks I'll be hurting my chances of getting into a good graduate school by going to Rice instead of sticking it out at Cornell. She keeps saying its only 2 1/2 years. So idk what to do...someone on this site said do not do Rice economics if you want to get a good job after but gave no reasons. I'll post this in the cornell forum and get a different perspective as well. Any advice/knowledge is appreciated. Thanks!</p>
<p>trust me... grades are the only thing that gets you into grad school.</p>
<p>They can care less if you go to Rice or if you go to Cornell or even if you go to CUNY... a 4.0 GPA is a 4.0 GPA.</p>
<p>And according to US News, Rice is a top 20 school (Ranked #17), grad schools will know about Rice. Personally that was one of the main reasons i chose Rice, it is an AMAZING school and yet most people in the East coast have no idea that it is so good. I am from NYC and many people here always ask me why i want to go to Houston or what not because they DO NOT know how good Rice is...</p>
<p>Rice IMO is better than Cornell, better teachers, better faculties, just a better environment. And they are not far in ranking...</p>
<p>If ranking is the issue, Rice is just as good as Cornell... if fame/recognition is the issue, trust me Grad School only cares about GPA and would rank Rice and Cornell in the same league. If bragging rights is the issue, choose Cornell because people from NE will not know how good Rice is. But it is a great school</p>
<p>Whoever said the stuff about good jobs isn't researching enough. careers.rice.edu</p>
<p>It has graduate surveys, and unless that person believes investment banking, trading, and consulting aren't good jobs, then they will be sorely mistaken.</p>
<p>Rice may not be known PRIMARILY for its economics, but honestly that's due to more of the fact that Rice is not on the East Coast, and therefore most NEers don't really care about Rice in general. Whatever, their loss, there's plenty of good schools up north too. Cornell's a good school, people have similar stats to people at Rice, but I easily chose Rice over Cornell because of the size and the weather, as well as the residential colleges.</p>
<p>I don't know who to side with between you and your mom. She's wrong about grad school, because Rice students usually get into their top choice grad schools (including b-school, my dad knows a couple Rice alums through work, they went to Harvard and MIT for b school, so yeah). But I'm not sure if it's worth it to just pick up and leave Cornell, 2 years into college, only you can decide that for yourself.</p>
<p>4.0 GPA is a 4.0 GPA</p>
<p>not necessarily true. A 4.0 at Rice is very different then a 4.0 at Texas Tech (local state school)</p>
<p>Trust me... it isn't a huge difference. A 4.0 is still a 4.0...</p>
<p>Chances are the 4.0 in Rice will have just as good of a chance as a 4.0 in Texas Tech. Because people want diversity...</p>
<p>and even if that isn't the case, 4.0 in Rice vs 4.0 in Cornell is pretty much identical</p>
<p>Sorry, I posted in the Cornell version of this thread to. Just choose wherever you will be happiest. You should not be waiting to get out of college; these are supposed to be the best years of your life. If you are not happy at Cornell, I would highly recommend that you transfer to Rice. The academics are so similar and any differences are likely negligible. Just remember that each side is going to be somewhat bias on what college they go to (notice how both threads have people saying their college is slightly better) and choose the college that you will enjoy.</p>
<p>If you're able to, I would suggest you fly down and visit Rice for yourself and get a feel for it, since you are already familiar with Cornell and its environment. Visiting and talking with professors, current students, etc. would probably prove helpful in your decision.</p>
<p>Dude a 4.0 at Rice is not the same as a 4.0 at Tech, other than the fact that theyre the same number. I could get a 4.0 at Tech without studying or doing HW (of which there is none at Tech).</p>
<p>4.0 and 4.0 at Rice and Cornell are definitely the same though, because they have similar student bodies.</p>
<p>totally agree with westsidewolf on this one. tomackze if your saying that, then a 4.0 at a community college is the same thing as a 4.0 at Harvard (which its definitely not)</p>
<p>well i know for law itself, a 4.0 GPA and a 174+ LSAT will get you into HYS regardless of what undergrad you are a part of.</p>
<p>A 4.0 in Harvard is different from a 4.0 in Community College, but the difference is so minuscule that it is often ignored. The standardized test, the essays, your own info (like diversity statement, etc.) are so much more important.</p>
<p>So yes the school you go to won't make or break you</p>
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A 4.0 in Harvard is different from a 4.0 in Community College, but the difference is so minuscule that it is often ignored.
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</p>
<p>Uh, buddy, this is completely wrong. I think you're thinking of medical school, where the undergrad institution doesn't really matter as it really comes down to GPA and MCATs. Business and law school on the other hand, the prestige of your undergrad and your connections matters a lot more.</p>
<p>A 4.0 in Harvard is a LOT different than a 4.0 in community college. How can you not understand that? You have people who've scored 2400's and won Intel competitions, etc. who are at Harvard versus people who basically failed out of high school and couldn't get into a four-year college and thus are opting to go to community college instead. You must be joking me.</p>
<p>Undergrad matters more for business and law than it does for medical, and Harvard, the world's best university is a WORLD better than the average state community college up the street.</p>
<p>Actually, now that I think about it, most community colleges are 2-year and you'll need to transfer out to a more "credible" 4-year institution and complete your college stint there before you can go on to graduate school.</p>
<p>The caliber of people, professors, opportunities and overall academic and social environment of Harvard (and any other top 20 school such as Rice) completely overshadows that of the average community college. Harvard has what, a $35 billion endowment? Now it's slightly lower due to the ailing economy, but in comparison to community college? Harvard and other top 20 schools educate their students to become tomorrow's leaders, doctors, lawyers, teachers, whatever... while community college is just a Segway and a second chance for students who didn't perform well in high school to do well and get a degree.</p>