<p>So now you’re going to cherry-pick numbers from doctoral program ranking in order to compare the undergrad programs of two universities? Not to mention the fact that one of your chosen departments did not even establish a doctoral program until a few years after the NRC was done collecting data for its 2010 rankings? Pardon me if I don’t immediately agree with your conclusions.</p>
<p>Not sure where Duke fits this very important factor but Rice was listed as the #1 school for happiest students. Watching some YouTube videos regarding OWL week (their orientation) one can see why…</p>
<p>Prestige/Smestige…you are moving on to a post graduate degree of some kind (medical or other) it is THAT school that you can attach your prestige label to…perhaps move on to Johns Hopkins who is #1 in BME and would ‘trounce’ both of the schools you are choosing from - I know, trouncing in silly - if a school is in the top ten for their category, you get plenty of prestige…</p>
<p>make the choice for the atmosphere you feel You will flourish in…there is NO substitute for how well You will perform vs how well the school you attend performs. Thus the formula:
You flourish = your education offers a greater spring-board for your future. if You do not do as well, who cares what the cashe of attending that school was…</p>
<p>good luck and enjoy!</p>
<p>Goldenboy- You are simply incorrect. Rice grads are getting excellent jobs (to the extent anyone is in this market). I hope no one is listening to your advice.</p>
<p>^Give me one objective metric in which Rice performs better than Duke. Duke is not far superior to Rice, but it is demonstrably superior. A good analogy would be the difference between Duke and Yale for instance. Yale is not infinitely better, but it is superior nonetheless.</p>
<p>the posting requested help to formulate a college decision - I hope these rants have helped…</p>
<p>the advice I offer is consistent - go with the best fit…YOU will win jobs, grad school opportunities and the such far more than your university will win these for you…</p>
<p>since this discussion includes two worthy destinations, the ideal selection criteria is to project how you will perform based upon comfort and fit…good luck and enjoy!</p>
<p>Duke beats Rice in terms of arrogance of CC posters. I’d even say it trounces Rice, soundly.</p>
<p>^Good thing CC is not representative of student bodies. There’s like a sample size of 3 frequent obnoxious posters for each school, which certainly can’t represent universities of 10,000+ students…</p>
<p>In any event, I’d just choose where you think you’d be happiest. Just go with the gut. I would perhaps also consider if you want to live in Houston postgrad or not - certainly, Rice students can go elsewhere as their degree is strong, but there are a LOT of Houston companies hiring Rice students and thus a large percentage stay in the area (plus, Rice has a lot of Texans in general). Having a lot of top-notch companies, particularly in the energy field, in your backyard is certainly a positive in my mind, though, but it may be dissipated if you really don’t want to be in Houston long-term. Rice has a pretty rare residential college system which a lot of people enjoy and enriches the experience, as I understand. Duke has a good combination and balance of top notch academics and athletics, which leads to a lot of pride in the university and a sense of community as well. Good luck with your decision - you can’t really go wrong.</p>