<p>I will be a freshman at Rice in the fall, so while I can’t provide you with the amount of information from personal experience that a current student can, I’m replying to your thread to simply contribute my perspective/experience as a class of 2015 applicant. </p>
<p>I understand exactly where you are coming from; my school peers, as Californians, hadn’t even heard of Rice until I was accepted via the early decision plan. I was at first very perturbed when people asked “Where will you be attending school, academician11” and I’d respond with “Rice University” and they’d quickly fire back with, “What the heck? I thought you’d be going to Harvard or Yale and now you’re going to some random school in Texas?” It’s hard to convey to people what a great school Rice is when they think that the only good schools outside of CA are the Ivies. This has been somewhat disconcerting to me at times, but I realize now that it doesn’t matter if no one knows what an excellent school Rice is…the people who will be reviewing our applications for grad school know what an incredible school Rice is and that is truly what matters. You can always go to an Ivy for grad school :)</p>
<p>"^ In describing Rice, you also described Yale. This is exactly what is so hard in choosing. " - Two great choices and large price tag differences for OP. For each family, the decision will depend upon the Ivy name value vs family finance burden.</p>
<p>snspmom, you might want to think over a couple of more things. You are going to be saving A LOT more than 150k. If your son ends up getting into R/B, I think Rice would definitely have the edge over HYPS. Think of it like this. He is guaranteed a premier UNDERGRADUATE education and you are saving money at this level. But you are also saving TONS of money at the medical school level. Most private med schools are at least 65k/year and Baylor is much less than half that. Do the math. Plus, it’s a solid, top-flight medical school.</p>
<p>He’ll be flying pretty far with a top-notch med education at the world’s largest medical center and with an extra 300k in his pocket.</p>
<p>Any violin performance majors out there? I got into both. I know I would like the social scene better at Rice, but I like the flexibility that Vandy allows in obtaining a more liberal arts based education. I ultimately do not wish to become a musician. Any insight is helpful.</p>
<p>Without considering “the gucci factor” or cost (N/A), I am REALLY having a tough time in justifying any school as being “better” than Rice. This is probably true for any top 20 school. Rice is not brutally cold in the winter, and uses a semester sequence (not a quarter system ala Stanford and Dartmouth).</p>
<p>Not an easy decision at all, but it is getting there for DD. We’ll see after the visits.</p>
<p>While not a musi major, or musically inclined in the slightest, I did make the decision to turn down Vanderbilt for Rice last spring. I LOVED Nashville, Vanderbilt’s campus, and the ease in which I could take just about whatever I wanted. What really separated Rice for me was the social scene. I frankly just did not want to have to join a frat. At Rice, the social scene is diverse and inclusive, and the Residential college system is absolutely fantastic in taking the great parts of the Greek system, while leaving out some of the negatives. </p>
<p>It’s truly my favorite part about the University.</p>
<p>As for academics–at Rice you have to take distribution courses in an effort to “round out” your education. I’m an Economics major, but I also have to take (or AP out of) 12 credits in Humanities and 12 credits in Hard Science/Math in addition to the 12 credits of Social Sciences I cover with my major.</p>
<p>My daughter, who is not in the Shepherd School, has lots of friends who are “Musi’s”. From what I can tell, everyone at Rice is well integrated! That’s what the residential colleges do. Because you’re placed at random in your college, there will be people of every major/interest/personality/etc in every college.</p>
<p>Musi’s (like any major) tend to be a mixed bag. If you want to integrate into your college, there is nothing stopping you. We had O-Week advisors who were musis, I have a few musi friends, and they seem to generally have a good time. On the other hand, there are some who segregate themselves either to their musi groups, or to themselves to practice 24/7.</p>
<p>This honestly is no different than most majors. If you want to be part of the community, it is more than welcoming. Some people just prefer to do their own thing, and that’s fine too.</p>
<p>Cool Running and Writer, have you made your decisions yet?</p>
<p>S has narrowed it down to Rice v Princeton v Yale. Similarities–great people, incredible intellectual life, top science (he will go engineering or medical school track), residential college system, strong networks for graduate school and post-grad. Financial aid about the same all three places.<br>
Pressure is on; changes mind every day. Any thoughts?</p>
<p>If your son is interested in engineering, I’d narrow it down further to Rice and Princeton. I know a lot of Yalies, and I don’t see the Yale culture as being conducive to science / engineering. Here at Rice there are a great number of quirky, fun, and smart science students who collaborate on projects. For example, have you seen the ODEK? [Rice</a> University Oshman Engineering Design Kitchen](<a href=“http://oedk.rice.edu/]Rice”>http://oedk.rice.edu/)</p>
<p>Next it comes down to fit. I know, personally, I wouldn’t fit in at Princeton. It’s not my type of place. Does your son have any feelings on that?</p>
<p>Thanks so much, Owl and Antarius,<br>
I think S is very taken with both Rice and Princeton, for similar reasons-- and price tags not too much different for us. So he has tough (but ultimately happy, I’m sure–) decision to make in the next couple of days.<br>
Good luck to all and have a good year!</p>
<p>paragpon:
If anything, I’m less decided than I was initially. I visited Yale and Harvard and liked them both a lot; the similarities to between Rice and Yale were made even more obvious. However, Y and H have a public health school, and H’s applied math program has the opportunity to do a sociology area of study, while the CAAM program at Rice is shaping up to not be what I am looking for at all. Also waiting to hear about whether I will be selected in the second round of this scholarship at Duke. I’m having a hard time finding the right social and academic fit/ knowing what the right social and academic fit would even look like! Plus considering the issue of the amount of debt that Y and H would create for me(taking out loans for the entire amount and paying them off slowly).
And honestly, none of the visits were uber magical for me. Am I too adaptable? Perhaps, or too picky :/</p>
<p>Yes! Sorry, that was unintentionally vague. Basically I want to get an mph in epidemiology, and I like math. H and Y applied math programs require you to pick an area of study to apply math to, and mine would be sociology, since I’m interested in modeling in the social science area, that sort of thing. It seems as though the CAAM program has a really good depth in computation, but I wouldn’t really get an opportunity to experience epidemiology, like would be available to me because of the public health schools on campus at the other schools. Also, does Rice have a good sociology program? How hard would it be to double major in the two?</p>
<p>writergrl94 - CAAM is Computational and Applied Mathematics. Epidemiology is much closer to statistics/biostatistics than it is to pure or applied math.</p>
<p>Antarius: Sometimes, at Rice that may be true. Even in terms of biostatistics though, there doesn’t seem to be many opportunities.
Harvard offers a separate applied math program in Sociology. I’m not interested in statistics as much as mathematical modelling. Which I was under the impression was different. I could be wrong though.
Thanks for the links Ottoline! I will look them over.
Do you guys think that the course selection and extracurricular opportunities at Rice are fewer than they are at Yale? Be honest
Also, I read on another thread that a lot of you said that if you had gotten into Yale or Stanford, you would have gone there instead of Rice? This alarms me a bit, tbh. Does that mean there is NO reason other than financials to go to Rice over Yale (assuming I love them both, which I do.) If that is the case, I should just go to Yale right? I don’t want to decide based merely on financials, because I think I would regret that.</p>
