<p>Turning down Harvard or Yale to go to Rice would be a mistake. 18 year olds are too fickle to identify what school would be the “best fit” based on an isolated campus visit. Since you don’t plan to become a professional in the sport, I would attend the better academic institution, especially if it is Harvard.</p>
<p>For ABET accredited engineering, Harvard has only engineering science; you would want to check its offerings to see if it has sufficient offerings in the types of engineering you are interested in.
[Accredited</a> Programs details](<a href=“http://main.abet.org/aps/AccreditedProgramsDetails.aspx?OrganizationID=22]Accredited”>http://main.abet.org/aps/AccreditedProgramsDetails.aspx?OrganizationID=22)</p>
<p>Yale has chemical, electrical, and mechanical engineering.
[Accredited</a> Programs details](<a href=“http://main.abet.org/aps/AccreditedProgramsDetails.aspx?OrganizationID=163]Accredited”>http://main.abet.org/aps/AccreditedProgramsDetails.aspx?OrganizationID=163)</p>
<p>Rice has bio, chemical, civil, electrical, and mechanical engineering.
[Accredited</a> Programs details](<a href=“http://main.abet.org/aps/AccreditedProgramsDetails.aspx?OrganizationID=418]Accredited”>http://main.abet.org/aps/AccreditedProgramsDetails.aspx?OrganizationID=418)</p>
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<p>Why do you say that Harvard is a better academic institution than Rice?</p>
<p>MrMom, I agree 100% with the east coast provincialism. Both my kids have encountered it. I’d like to believe they are more worldly. Of course, when you actually LIVE in flyover country you realize at a young age that there is a big world out there. :)</p>
<p>I have a kid who graduated from Rice and one from an Ivy. While each was the right fit for that kid, I would pick Rice in a heartbeat as the better college experience. You will love it. My kid found Houston to be a vibrant city with lots to do and great, inexpensive restaurants. The weather was great. We, too, were Texans at the time they made their college choices. I also am familiar with athletic recruiting and I think you will be pleased with Rice. My athlete was the Ivy grad.</p>
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This has to rank as one of the most absurd things I’ve read today. At ALL of the Ivies, Texans are about as rare a species as Californians. That is to say, they’re not. Someone from NY who goes to Princeton might be surprised that his roommate is from Texas, but only for the first day or so. After that, nobody cares, except when the temperature drops and the Northerners laugh at the kids from CA, Fl, and TX who act as if they don’t understand the concept of cold weather.</p>
<p>There is a great deal to be said for going where you ‘feel right’. My niece called finding a place where she got ‘the feeling’. If that is Rice…go there.</p>
<p>No, not all New Yorkers believe all Texans punch cows, but if you read the Letters section of the NY Times, especially the online version, it’s clear that plenty of sophisticated New Yorkers have a pretty unsophisticated, if not downright insulting view of the center and south of the country. </p>
<p>If I believed even half of what I read about my supposed self in the NY Times, I would go out and shoot myself.</p>
<p>Other than that, sounds like OP has pretty much settled on Rice, which should be a fine choice. Just didn’t want her to make the right choice for the wrong reason.</p>
<p>Large Texas companies, like TI recruit from all over. My young Princeton engineering relative interned at and now works in Dallas. You will get internship opportunities anywhere from both choices I’d say.</p>
<p>Also the travel time is likely a mental issue. You will go a couple more hours on a plane and that will be a deciding factor, really? I suppose the ease of driving could be a factor, if you feel the need to be close to home that would make it more feasible cost wise, but you seem like you won’t have a car. And really how would you have the time? Maybe it will mean being home Tksgiving vs not.</p>
<p>The sport will give you a set of instant friends, or at least a close circle to choose from, so it shouldn’t be an issue where you dorm. Dorming outside of the sports team will just increase chances to meet new people.</p>
<p>If there is more strength in Rice Engineering, that’s something to consider if you want to work as an engineer. My relative didn’t, he wanted to be the boss of the engineers and he is in management.</p>
<p>You act like the money is a near non issue, but since ivys don’t give athletes money, that may or may not be a factor to your family.</p>
<p>You really can’t go wrong. So you can safely go with your heart.</p>
<p>Don’t forget the “broken leg” test- if for some reason you can’t play your sport, where would you be most happy? Lots of things happen with athletic recruits. My kid was a recruit, but went injured and never got OK and was never a part of his sport in college.</p>