<p>yes, but the same faculty also teach undergrads, so there is some benefit in having prestigious grad programs</p>
<p>I saw this thread on the Duke board and posted and someone suggested I copy my post on the thread here as well so here goes (it's a bit long):</p>
<p>I'm at Rice and I chose it over Duke last year. I know a bunch of people here who also chose Rice over Duke (both enginerring and liberal arts majors). We're happy here, but it's hard to compare your college experience to another university you've never attended. If you go to Rice you will not know what the Duke experience is. If you go to Duke you will not know what the Rice experience is. Funny thing is, if you are a high school senior you can hardly know what the experience at either university will be like.</p>
<p>Yes, choosing a college does seem like a big deal. You will be there for the next four years of your life. Or possibly three, or possibly five or six. Or maybe you'll transfer, or study abroad a year. Who knows? My point is, it's impossible to know what the future has in store for you. Often in life you have to put yourself out there, take risks, make big decisions that you are not completely certain about. Take choosing a career, or moving to a new region, or getting married, for instance, which may be a bit more important than which college you went to.</p>
<p>I know a lot of highly intelligent people here like to closely analyze and pick apart a major situation like this - weigh all the pros and cons, attack it from every angle, add up every last detail, and consider all rankings, ratings, and intangibles. All this with the showering advice and two cents from numerous friends and family. But colleges cannot really be judged or compared quantitatively --- at the top levels it can really be a matter of preference -- choosing strawberry or chocolate ice cream --- although of course a much bigger decision. Yet are you going to seek other people's opinions or analyze direct head-to-head competition tournaments to pick what flavor ice cream you want?</p>
<p>Rice and Duke do have different student bodies and atmospheres -- but it's impossible to really know what these are and how you'll respond to them unless you've lived the life of an undergrad there for a month (don't start getting any ideas now). And yet, in my opinion, a school's student body is the single most important thing about a university. </p>
<p>Yes, I know, the strength of a schools departments and its various academic opportunities and its renowned faculty are oh so important. But consider that you only spend an average of 2.5 hours in class a day (less if you're on a quarter system). Thats an average of 12.5 a week. You will be spending the vast majority of your time outside of class. Not to mention, the quality of each class itself is almost completely determined by the professor, who has a great deal of autonomy in what he/she wants you to do. </p>
<p>Not to mention, most professors here at Rice have been profs at many other universities. I'm a freshman yet I've taken classes from professors who came from Stanford, Cornell, UMich, and Princeton -- and those are only the ones that bothered to go into their life story. So how do the profs at Rice compare to the profs at school X? I don't know, last year students at Cornell were taking this guy's class, this year I'm taking it. He's the same guy teaching the same class! But even if the professor is particularly funny, witty, challenging, harsh, open, reserved, conservative, liberal, sexist, or insane --- you're basically learning the same concepts from the same textbooks. Intro to Econ, game theory, the laws of physics -- these do not change university to university. And no matter what school you go to ---- you WILL be happy when class is cancelled.</p>
<p>Most of your college life will revolve around the people you meet and interact with from day to day and the goofy adventures you have (outside the classroom). You will not know who will be there--- the freshman class, your roommate, they have not even arrived yet. Your dorm, the insanity of your roommate, how hot your neighbors are -- two guys at Rice or Duke may have completely different experiences at the same place. You cannot be totally certain or prepared, and to a degree you can shape your own college experience.</p>
<p>All I know is that a friend of mine I met here and myself both had one long, agonizing month before making our decisions between Rice and Duke. I hope you have fun agonizing over your decision as well. Although I will tell you that Duke has greater name recognition than Rice up North, and laypersons who don't know much about Rice may be surprised when you tell them you chose it over Duke. Which doesn't mean much, but just letting you know the truth here.</p>
<p>*Btw, there's something in psychology where when someone makes a major decision in their life, such as choosing a college, after they choose it, his/her opinion of the college significantly increases as to rationalize /reduce dissonance or what have you. So Duke students and alumni are obviously going to have a higher opinion of Duke than the average person and ditto for Rice students and alumni and Rice.</p>
<p>Anyway, have you considered you'll be happy at either school?</p>
<p>Lol, thanks for reading this long-winded response, I rather got carried away.</p>