I was wondering if I could get some help on my decision on where to apply Early Decision. I have narrowed it down to Rice
and Penn. I have fallen in love with both schools, but cant figure out which one to apply ED to. I think I should apply ED to one, as I am unsure I will be accepted into either without doing so. I am interested in pre-med, economics and maybe a business job in sports.
Rice
Pros:
lots of medical research opportunities-right next to Texas Medical Center
small classes, collaborative atmosphere
houston offers new cultural experience (i live in boston)
have an sport management major (only top school that offers this) with lots of access to internships with houston pro teams
weather
not cutthroat
happy students
beautiful campus
very undergraduate focused
residential college system
easier to double major
Cons:
not as many clubs/activities as a bigger school
far from home
reputation in northeast, where I want to live as an adult, not nearly as strong as penn (not many I know have even heard of it)
pre med at penn is supposedly stronger
not strong sports (besides baseball)
Penn
Pros:
lots of research opportunities
strong economics department
sciences are very good
philly is close to home, comfortable setting for a bostonian
has unbelievable connections in not only philly, but nyc, dc, and boston
bigger school, lots of clubs and activities and different people to meet/interact with
ivy league prestige
Cons:
pre professional, stress inducing environment (or so ive heard)
not as small class sizes
no new cultural experience
no sports management program
students not as diverse
poor sports scene
double major is uncommon
Any input or knowledge about the two schools would be appreciated.
Good thread from a few months ago, OP is a student making the same decision, with input from a student who got into Penn and Rice this year:
Posted on Rice board
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/rice-university/2003523-rice-vs-penn.html
Posted on Penn board:
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-pennsylvania/2003520-penn-vs-rice.html
While I only carry the opinion of one school (Rice), I’m going to go out on a limb and say that the overall undergraduate experiences at both schools will be similar. Both are academically challenging, both lead to happy students, both have small school atmospheres, and I think in the end, both will offer similar opportunities.
I think it’s extremely important that you said you would like to stay in the northeast. If this is vital to you, I recommend Penn. I think Rice, as prestigious and highly ranked as it is, may not guarantee you a post-university opportunity in the northeast, unless you were to go to graduate school. However, you seem a bit undecided about what you want to do/study while at university, let alone after, so if you wanted a better guarantee of being able to live in the northeast, I think going to Penn is a better option.
That being said, if your desire to stay in the northeast is not that important, you may have more to consider. For example, maybe you really want to study sports management (which, given your username, seems probable) and since Rice is the only one of the two with that option, you may want to consider applying to Rice. I think that whatever you base your decision on, you should base it off the opportunity cost of attending one of the schools. Instead of comparing, say, social life vs. social life or ranking vs. ranking, perhaps consider what specific, exclusive feature you think is cool at each school and how you rank those.
Have you visited both schools? Likely you’ve visited Penn since its much closer to Boston than Houston. I would visit them both if you can. Whenever I visited a school for a day or two (preferably two) I felt like I got a sense of the place and the people. I visited Penn, and though I love Philadelphia and the Penn campus, which is especially beautiful on blazing autumn days, and though Penn has really bright students and excellent professors and some fun traditions, I ruled the school out before the end of my first day because I wanted a small college atmosphere and that is not Penn, certainly not compared to Rice. Penn, after all, has nearly 25,000 students, of which approximately 11,500 are undergraduates. That is not small. Another reason Penn was out: the large size of many of the classes I visited, lecture-size classes. By comparison Rice classes are much smaller. And by the way, Rice’s economics program is gaining in prominence. A few years ago Rice recruited economist Antonio Merlo from Penn, who in turn brought some very talented faculty with him from Penn. I can assure you the economics classes at Rice are not only small, they’re rigorous and taught by wonderful profs who are very accessible. Regardless, if you can, visit both universities and imagine yourself at each, and you’ll soon discover that you’ll imagine yourself at one more than the other. Then make your decision. Good luck.
Thanks for all the replies. Many of you have commented about my thinking double majors are not common at Penn,
and you are probably right. I was just going off the Penn CAS website which reads, “And while having an option of multiple degrees or majors might be appealing, just know that only 25% of students in the College graduate with more than one major, and less than 10% with more than one degree from Penn.” I think the point about Rice not guaranteeing me a possible job in the northeast is something I have to deeply consider, but I also am relatively inclined to study in graduate school, which would make this concern not important. I have visited Penn, and will likely go to Rice next weekend. I would not feel comfortable applying there ED without visiting first. I understand that I will be recieving unbelievable undergrad educations and be happy at both, but going of the specific advantages of each I think the difficult choice I must make boils down to, “Do I want the Rice specific sports management major along with the smaller class size or Do I want the opportunity to have a great job in the northeast if I decide to not go to graduate school?”. This is something I will have a tough time deciding, but I beilive my decision has been simplified. Thanks
It seems to me that you’re trying to weigh the reputation of Penn in the northeast against Rice’s much better fit with your interests. If it’s reputation, and only reputation you want, Penn is your answer. If you’re willing to let go of that a bit and consider some other options that might really engage your interests and offer you some different opportunities, Rice might just be your best choice.
Penn admits a huge percentage of its class ED. http://www.admissions.upenn.edu/apply/whatpennlooksfor/incoming-class-profile
Rice historically has not admitted as large a percentage of its class ED. https://futureowls.rice.edu/futureowls/Freshman_Profile.asp
You can ED Penn and if not admitted RD Rice. You can’t go wrong with either school.