Rice vs. Emory

<p>Hello,</p>

<p>I've applied to and been accepted to both Rice and Emory.</p>

<p>My goal is to medical school, and while I enjoy both chemistry and biology, I'm pretty sure my major will be more biology-oriented than chemistry oriented. I also want to minor in business, possibly major in it. </p>

<p>With this in mind, I'm having a hard time finding facts about Rice and Emory that compare the two. I was hoping someone could shed some light on them as far as a comparison goes. I'm interested in hearing about how they compare as far as their natural science departments go, preparing pre-med students, opportunities like hospital volunteering, internships, social atmosphere, etc. </p>

<p>Thanks for your help!</p>

<p>Rice generally has a 90% acceptance into med school and it is also in the heart of the hospital hotspot of the south which a lot of Rice students get internships at.</p>

<p>Emory has a hospital on campus but one of my relatives dissuaded me from attending Emory after being accepted because he said all his pre-medicine friends hardly had the opportunity to intern at their own campus hospital.</p>

<p>I’m personally taking up Rice between the two.</p>

<p>I feel as if both colleges are very comparable and that it’s only slight nuances that make the difference between them. It seems that when it comes to costs, social atmosphere, and location, Rice and Emory differ, but their education standards and their ability to produce top-notch pre-med students is pretty comparable. So, maybe the nuances will make the difference. Personally, I would be fine at either university, but since I live in the Houston area, from a logistical perspective, going to Rice makes tremendous sense. It’s just at the end of the day, I want the best education I can possibly get, and the choice I make is a life-changing one.</p>

<p>If you are a pre-med, I would highly encourage you to come to Rice. If you can go to Owl-Days or at least come visit, you should. Rice offers an enormous amount of opportunity for pre-meds with the amazing social life. Both schools are great, but I don’t think Emory gives anywhere nearly as many opportunities as Rice for pre-meds. It’s also very collaborative here due to the residential college system which is very unusual from what I hear. I have a friend who transferred from Emory (he is doig CAAM though) and loves it here far more.</p>

<p>How is Rice on Financial Aid decisions? Can decisions be appealed? Rice is giving me no money whatsoever merit or need… Emory just offered me a renewable $15,000 scholarship. And I do plan on attending the Owl Days.</p>

<p>You should attempt to negotiate if Rice is your top choice. You could do that in person while visiting during Owl Days.</p>

<p>Good luck and enjoy your visit!</p>

<p>For opportunities, is Rice linked with the hospitals close to it?</p>

<p>I think that Emory has some times to multiple hospitals and apparently is next door to the CDC (which is really cool). </p>

<p>So can Rice trump that? And also, anybody know how compromising the Financial Aid office is at Rice?</p>

<p>Personally, I’m looking forward to the Owl Days to explore Rice. I did research at the Fondren Library and thought the campus looked pretty nice, but I didn’t really see too much of Rice at the time. So this’ll be my first time getting a chance to do so.</p>

<p>Thats a sweet offer from Emory. Have you visited both campuses? Asking for a FA review/reconsideration is worthwhile, but not always hugely succesful.</p>

<p>I haven’t had the chance to visit Emory but I’ve visited Rice before and will be visiting Rice again soon for an actual tour.</p>

<p>Have you posed a similar question in the Emory forum?</p>

<p>That offer from Emory makes it hard to turn down. I have a friend that goes there and he said the Pre-med opportunities are endless! Either way, both schools can’t be a bad choice</p>

<p>I have posed a similar question on their forum as well.</p>

<p>Yeah, I can’t say I’m sorry to be in this situation - it’s just that I’ve got make up my mind soon and I’m leaning towards Rice but the financial situation is a wrench in the system for me. </p>

<p>Medical school costs are just as expensive as undergraduate if not more and so every little bit counts. I wonder if Rice would reconsider its offer if I showed them Emory’s offer. Any thoughts?</p>

<p>Of course you can ask for a FA reconsideration. No harm in that. Keep in mind that Rice’s COA is about $6k/yr less than Emory’s so even if Rice does a review, they may not match Emory’s offer. That said, if $$ is a concern, think not about the FA award but the bottom line cost to you to attend. </p>

<p>Another side comment-- Rice didn’t give my older s. much $$ over and above the National Merit at first, BUT he received some departmental scholarships each year once he attended ( and he LOVED Rice).</p>

<p>Emory gave my younger s. a $6K merit award. He’d gotten a huge full tuition (plus National Merit) award elsewhere, at a good school. Emory reviewed their offer but didnt budge. Younger s took the big $$ scholarship from the other school (Tulane). Socked away the college fund $$ in anticipation of attending med school, but changed his mind soph year and changed majors from Chem to Chem E. He wouldnt have been able to do that at Emory.</p>

<p>PS- med school is usually more expensive than undergrad (though some instate schools are less, and sometimes you can score a scholarship).</p>

<p>My son is a freshman at Rice (pre-med). We also visited Emory during his senior year in HS. He liked Rice much better and didnt even apply to Emory. Both schools have outstanding pre-med program and med school admission stats so go to the school which will give you the most FA or merit scholarship. Merit scholarships for medical schools are very difficult to get… much more difficult than undergraduate universities.</p>

<p>Emory has given me the better deal with their merit scholarship, but I think I like Rice more than I do Emory. Now that being said, I’m not going to have a chance to visit Emory’s campus. I don’t want to be wading through debt as I leave undergraduate to go to med school, and I’m not sure how difficult it is to earn scholarships as a college student, especially at Rice. </p>

<p>I really want to follow the money, but for some reason, that doesn’t sit right with me. This is the biggest decision that I’ll be making for myself until now. How I choose will change a lot of parts of my life, and I don’t know if following the money is the best reason for making this decision. It makes me pretty frustrated.</p>

<p>

You do know there is no undergrad business major at Rice, yes??</p>

<p>Sorry, I meant economics. So, I’d also like to major in economics. Sorry for the mix-up. How is the economics department at Rice?</p>

<p>Hard to choose between 2 schools when you visit one twice and the other not at all. JMO. Try to make the time to visit Emory instead of Rice a second time.</p>

<p>Yeah, I’m actually planning on visiting Emory soon, but I didn’t want to pass up the chance to do Owl Days. Also, my first visit was more me going to their library and doing research. I didn’t really explore anything, but yeah I see where you’re coming from.</p>

<p>What are your parents thinking of your choices and about the ability to help out? Have you truly worked out the logistics of paying for either option?</p>