Rice vs Cornell

Colleges and Universities A-Z Cornell University
1

<p>I'm almost decided, but I wanted a few more opinions. </p>

<p>My Background: I'm from NY. I'm Chinese, and I plan on majoring somewhere in the sciences / engineering (most likely biological / biomedical engineering or environmental engineering)</p>

<p>Rice:
(+): community like/friendly, I think I'll be slightly happier there, Will offer me a very new experience, Urban, smaller class sizes / more attention</p>

<p>(-): Very very far away, ~15000 more expensive per year than Cornell, It's in Texas, very very demanding work</p>

<p>Cornell
(+): 15,000 cheaper a year than Rice (because I live in NY, I get a discount at the CALS school), Awesome academic opportunities, many other extracurricular opportunities, offers strong environmental / business programs, Should be fairly happy there (I thought after visiting), Beautiful / lovely campus, some friends are also going there</p>

<p>(-): Less community / friendly (I'm a little concerned about being able to make friends in college.. i'm not amazing at socializing), extremely demanding work, freezing winter (not as big of a deal.. i'm used to it), major part of campus life is frats / drunken parties (i've asked around.. and got very mixed opinions... can anyone comment on this?)</p>

<p>Basically, the only thing that I'm concerned about is happiness at the two schools. Both Rice and Cornell easily satisfy my other goals. </p>

<p>My parents prefer that I go to Cornell... Also, due to the significantly cheaper cost of Cornell / the fact that the problems I mentioned don't seem TOO significant, I really am leaning towards Cornell. </p>

<p>Thanks so much.</p>

2

<p>There are so many people in so many activities with so many diverse interests at Cornell that you should be able to find your niche. There will no doubt be other people who enjoy the same things you do.</p>

<p>Just because other people like frats doesn’t mean it will affect you. It may be a larger part of freshmen year because of the novelty/pre-planned party aspect, but after Spring semester freshmen year it’s much less of an attractive option. If you don’t ever want to step foot in a frat you don’t ever have to, and you can find other people to do other things with instead.</p>

3

<p>cornell is more chinese friendly than rice…it has all these chinese programs and stuff lol. </p>

<p>15k more for rice is NOT worth it. houston is the opposite in terms of weather vs. cornell in that where at cornell you will have 4-6 months of cold winter you will have 4-6 months of humid summer lol. although every building in houston will have air conditioning…whereas cornell doesnt have A/C in all buildings :(</p>

<p>there are more Vietnamese in houston…not sure about rice though.</p>

<p>edit - i know many people at cornell who have managed to get jobs/internships at houston’s medical center during the summer so going to rice is not your only way to gain access to houston’s medical center! :D</p>

4

<p>I was in the same situation as you man, but I’m from Texas.</p>

<p>Go to Rice, Texas is an amazing place and you’ll love it (even if it’s Houston)</p>

<p>That said, I go to Cornell and it’s great, but you have to branch out. Plus the weather sucks.</p>

<p>Oh and I promise you that Rice will be easier than Cornell</p>

5

<p>I’ve read on CC that something like 55% of Rice grads wind up working in Texas.
I personally would not want to wind up in Texas, I’'m a Northeast/blue state kind of guy.
I don’t like heat & humidity either. I guess the rest of my family feels likewise, none of them applied to schools in the south.</p>

<p>But many others do not share my orientation or whims. And of course there is the other 45%.</p>

6

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<p>I can’t speak for Rice in terms of community, but Cornell is a community of different communities… what I mean by this is that everybody can find their own place at a diverse school like Cornell. If you don’t want to be around frats and drunken parties, you will not have to be – there are plenty of students who will be in the same position as you – and instead you can stay in and play board games/watch movies or go out to events that are put on around campus at the museums or in some of the other dorms. I used to have a group of 8-10 friends who stay in and play games like Mafia or go out to dinner on the Commons, etc.</p>

<p>It may seem that everybody at Cornell is going out to the fraternity parties, but that is far from the case – you just need to look around a bit.</p>

<p>At the end of the day though, Cornellians tend to create a pretty tight community even if they have a lot of disparate interests. Different Cornell traditions, like Slope Day, Cornell Hockey, Dragon Day, or public service events tend to unite us with common interests. </p>

<p>Besides, you can’t have a snowball fight in Houston:</p>

<p><a href=“http://vimeo.com/10818723[/url]”>http://vimeo.com/10818723&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

7

<p>

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<p>That’s true, however a significant majority of those 55% are Texans to begin with. Given that we’re a tid bit afraid of the outside, and that there are enough jobs to go around here, it’s not really such a bad thing.</p>

8

<p>By the way, here’s just a small sample of the non-alcoholic activities you could have done on campus last night:</p>

<p>O, Musika!
7:00PM Music
Sage Chapel</p>

<p>The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
7:00PM Film
Uris Hall</p>

<p>What Scientists Really Think About Religion
7:00PM Roundtable
Big Red Barn (BRB)
Dr. Elaine Howard Ecklund</p>

<p>The Girl on the Train- Ithaca Premiere!
7:15PM Film
Willard Straight Theatre</p>

<p>Break Free 2nd Annual Showcase
8:00PM Dance (Performance)
Bailey Hall</p>

<p>CU Music: Festival Chamber Orchestra
8:00PM Music
Barnes</p>

<p>Fiesta!2010: The Flavors of Peru
8:00PM Cultural
Statler</p>

<p>Flavio Solorzano
Illuminations Chinese Dance Showcase
8:00PM Dance (Performance)</p>

<p>Anabel Taylor
Last Call All-Male A Cappella Presents: Straight Up XV - The History of Last Call (Part I)
8:00PM Music
Statler
Last Call All-Male A Cappella</p>

<p>Me and Orson Welles
9:30PM Film
Willard Straight Theatre</p>

<p>The Lovely Bones
9:30PM Film
Uris Hall</p>

<p>RATED R 4: “Beiruting”
10:00PM Dance (Social)
Ho Plaza(HP)</p>

9

<p>You’ve already made your decision.</p>

10

<p>Students in general are happy no matter what college they end up at. I think you’ll be happy at Cornell even though you think you’ll be happier at Rice. As for community, regardless of where you go, your experience is what you make of it. If you want to have a close group of friends and to be close with your professors, then you have to take initiative no matter where you go. Sure it might be easier at a smaller school, but not by much; lots of students still manage to be connected to peers and professors at large universities. $60,000 over 4 years does not seem worth the possibility of more happiness IMO. You will probably be happy at Cornell, and you can have $60k of pocket money, or you could just save your parents that much and you have $60k less on your conscience.</p>

11

<p>rice has housing colleges modeled after princeton i think…</p>

<p>i think rice owls are more INVOLVED in their athletics than cornellians are…but that’s probably b/c there’s less of them…</p>

<p>lot of tailgate parties and such…frat parties are mostly independent of sports…</p>

12

<p>I would go to Rice if only to branch out and experience a different culture. That’s not to say that all New York culture is the same, just that there is a perceived cultural disparity between Texas and Cornell.</p>

13

<p>I personally like Rice’s community/attitude better, but Cornell does have all the other things on it’s side…</p>

14

<p>15,000 is a lot of money and Cornell will be a lot more convenient. You will be more adjusted to the weather and it has that Ivy League status. Although you could make a pun about being Chinese and going to Rice ^^ but I don’t think it’s worth 15K.</p>

15

<p>I’ve decided - Cornell it is!</p>

16

<p>Equilibrium, you are going to have a wonderful time at Cornell. Congratulations on making your decision. Have fun!</p>

17

<p>Based on what you posted previously, IMO you ought to make a concerted effort to develop a good social network there, right from the outset. Maybe get together with new first years from your area this summer. Figure out some clubs you want to join, and join them. And go to them, even if you have a lot of work. Some extra effort you invest upfront in the social arena can go a long way towards ensuring that you have a great experience there.</p>

<p>Good luck.
You are a lucky guy.</p>