<p>There are plenty of reasons other than cost that one might attend Rice over Yale. Rice is smaller, the weather is better for a large portion of the school year, and its engineering program seems to be generally more highly-regarded, just for a start. I also think Rice has the superior college system, but that’s more due to personal bias. Rice and Yale were the two schools I felt the strongest about back when I was applying, and if I had gotten into Yale my decision would have been a lot harder, but I think that there is a strong possibility that I would have chosen Rice even if Yale had been an option.</p>
<p>I have to second Dorian about this. I know a few people who did choose Rice over Yale for reasons other than financials. Rice is in a major city, weather is good for being outdoors, the baseball team, engineering school, nanotechnology, undergraduate research, high/highest med school acceptance rate, #1 rated quality of life etc etc. Read the featured thread about 101 reasons.</p>
<p>Finally, even if one gets no aid at either school, Rice’s tuition is much less.</p>
<p>There is the whole med center literally across the street from Rice - [Texas</a> Medical Center - About the Texas Medical Center](<a href=“http://www.texasmedicalcenter.org/root/en/GetToKnow/AboutTMC/About+the+TMC.htm]Texas”>http://www.texasmedicalcenter.org/root/en/GetToKnow/AboutTMC/About+the+TMC.htm) “All of the institutions of the Texas Medical Center are not-for-profit, and are dedicated to the highest standards of patient care, research, and education. These institutions include 14 renowned hospitals and two specialty institutions, three medical schools, six nursing schools, and schools of dentistry, PUBLIC HEALTH, pharmacy, and virtually all health-related careers.”<br>
There is lots and lots of opportunity to intern and do research in collaboration with TMC!</p>
<p>Also, the global health initiative stuff at Rice (lots of travel and research opps) is really wonderful. Have you checked this section of the Rice website out? [Beyond</a> Traditional Borders](<a href=“http://beyondtraditionalborders.rice.edu/]Beyond”>http://beyondtraditionalborders.rice.edu/)</p>
<p>@ writergirl94: I spent a year at Rice before transferring to Duke. Now, I was quite happy at Rice… the main reason I transferred is that Duke offered a much stronger undergrad environmental sciences program, and I want to get an MD/MPH after undergrad and not spend an extra two years getting a Masters in Environmental Management. Duke and Yale are similar sizes, so I can reasonably assume that Yale is going to have more course variety/extracurriculars than Rice. Rice is an amazing school with very friendly students, warm weather, and collaboration, but it is a small school, and with a small school comes limitations. I would suggest looking through the course catalogs of Rice and Yale and comparing the courses for your prospective major (Rice’s course catalog is at courses.rice.edu). Even though Rice may have less courses than a place like Duke or Yale due to its smaller size, Rice still offers a tremendous amount of classes in most standard disciplines (i.e. engineering, biology, chemistry, physics, humanities, social sciences, music, architecture, etc.). Unfortunately for me, they didn’t offer a lot of classes in the environmental sciences. So if you are looking to do a very specialized/niche major like I am, then you’ll want to carefully look at the course offerings at Rice and compare them to Yale’s. Best of luck with your decision! You can’t go wrong either way :)</p>
<p>BTW, if any of you are premed, I personally believe that Rice is a better place for premed than most of the Ivies. Rice has the world’s largest medical center right next to campus, and Rice has a lot of partnerships with the Texas Medical Center institutions (i.e. MD Anderson, Baylor College of Medicine, UT-Houston Health Sciences and Medical School, Methodist Hospital, etc.). I have friends at Rice who do research at many of these institutions. Additionally, Rice recently built a large 8 story building (with a nice view of downtown Houston from all the floors) called the Bioscience Research Collaborative that is meant to increase collaboration in bioscience/biomedical/bioengineering research between Rice and TMC institutions. Very few of the Ivies, with UPenn and Yale being the exceptions, have large medical centers on campus or near campus. Rice boasts a 90% acceptance rate to medical school, which is higher compared to most of the Ivies. So if you are deciding between Rice and HYP, and you know that you want to become a doctor, save the money for medical school, go to Rice, and take advantage of the research/volunteering opportunities at the world’s largest medical center. Be sure to enjoy the warm weather and the friendlier atmosphere as well :)</p>
<p>My D just accepted by Rice/Baylor combined 8 year medical program(No kidding! one of the 14 students). She also accepted by Yale, Duke… The choice is btw Rice/Baylor and Yale–
tough choice. She likes medical, but 8 years plus 3+ more years as resident is too long for a girl. Choose Yale is mainly likes its prestege to us. Of course she can major anything else if decide not to persue medicine. After visit Yale now she like Yale too.
Tough decision.</p>
<p>Rice/Baylor gives you an amazing opportunity to pursue something you like regardless of field and still go to a top medical school. It is a unique opportunity provided to few. Some of my R/B friends have used it to study abroad, study the arts and film and branch out of the “usual pre-med track”.</p>
<p>I hope your daughter realizes the amazing benefits of Rice / Baylor and chooses Rice.</p>
<p>Another plus of Rice/Baylor is that it is not binding. She has Baylor acceptance in her pocket, but if she decides that medicine (or Baylor) is not for her, she can do whatever she likes.</p>
<p>Medicine is a minimum 11 year commitment post-high school, actually 14 years in many specialties. Many physicians are 32 years old or more when they get their first “real job.” If you are not sure that is the best path for her, exploring the options at a top Ivy League school such as Yale would be a reasonable consideration.</p>
<p>I’m not sure that the options at Yale are really that much greater than those at Rice, so exploring her options at Rice while holding onto Rice/Baylor in case she does decide to pursue medicine seems like a smart idea to me.</p>
<p>Even if one accepts that Rice and Yale are equivalent, wjss0806 lives in Houston, she “likes Yale,” and experiencing a different culture and environment for four years may be of long term personal benefit.</p>
<p>It may be of some personal benefit, but I don’t really think the culture of New Haven is different enough from Houston to make that a huge consideration. Things like finances would be much more important considerations to me, but wjss0806 didn’t mention anything about that so there’s not much to go on.</p>
<p>The issue of finances brings one to the difficult task of quantifying the intangibles of different universities in financial terms. Some students turn down full rides elsewhere for partial scholarships at Rice because of the “perceived prestige” of Rice. Others turn down scholarships at Rice to go to Yale because of the “perceived prestige” of Yale. Since Yale’s acceptance rate was 7.35% this year and their yield is 67-68%, apparently many people agree with them.</p>
<p>1mddad, what’s your angle? Your only posts so far have been in this thread and another Rice/Baylor thread, arguing for Yale over Rice/Baylor.</p>
<p>But I agree with Dorian. Rice/Baylor allows a student to pursue a variety of interests, secure in the knowledge that they can go to medical school even if they don’t pursue the traditional pre-med track. If someone is unsure about medicine as a career, it may make far more sense to do a program like Rice/Baylor, which is not binding.</p>
<p>One of the angles is expressed in this post yesterday by Harvard senior H2OPoloer which is worthy of consideration by those walking through this decision making process:</p>
<p>“As someone who got into Rice/Baylor and the Pitt BS/MD programs, I can say that it is tempting to go to these combined programs. I was leaning towards Rice/Baylor (back when Baylor had money, a hospital and was ranked 10), but then asked myself if I believed I could get into a Baylor-comparable medical school. I answered yes; so I went to Harvard and wouldn’t give up my last (almost) 4 years for anything. I will be headed to Michigan for medical school in the fall, but the resources, extraordinary people, and activities I’ve pursued at Harvard have made it worthwhile even if I didn’t get into a med school.”</p>
<p>In any event, wjss0806 per her post yesterday has turned down Harvard (and Yale) for Rice/Baylor and will be an Owl this fall. Congratulations to her for making a difficult decision and to Rice for attracting a top student.</p>
<p>OK, so the moral of this story is… go to Harvard, get a crappy undergrad education (albeit with a fancy diploma at the end and the ability to H-bomb everyone you meet) then go on to a crappy med school in Michigan (you’d think he’d mention the name if he were so proud of it). OR go to Rice, have an amazing time, receive a top notch education, and then go to a top med school guaranteed. Thanks for sharing.</p>
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<p>I cannot even begin to fathom where you come up with this. Just because we feel that R/B is a better bet does not make Harvard crappy. Seriously, we get people who got into both and so do they. Both are excellent schools. I do not agree with 1mddad as I feel that the combined programs give you more flexibility BUT I see the angle he is coming from. Some people would prefer the other experience. </p>
<p>Calling every school other than Rice crappy and worthless gives you and all of us less credibility.</p>
<p>Owl2014, I’m pretty sure the quoted poster was talking about the University of Michigan.</p>