<p>My son has a Century Scholarship and Trustee Scholarship, so COA at Rice is less than 1/2 the cost of Stanford (plus Stanford COA is 10K more than Rice's COA).</p>
<p>What factors should he consider in making his decision? I think that classes will be smaller at Rice and that he will have more research opportunities at Rice. I think the residential colleges are a big plus. He's not sure of his major --maybe environmental science. Rice offers an interdisciplinary environmental policy major that sounds interesting.</p>
<p>Any thoughts or comments would be appreciated!</p>
<p>I think it really depends on which school he feels has the best fit and your financial situation. You really can’t go wrong with either school. One of my son’s professors at Rice had taught previously at Stanford and she told him that Rice is like Stanford without the attitude. (I just thought I’d pass that along.) Congratulations to your son on such great options!</p>
<p>Thanks, Blackeyedsusan. I see you are from the Houston area, too. How has being local impacted your son? I think my son is a little concerned about staying close to home. I keep reminding him that he has study abroad options and that he can go to grad school far from home.</p>
<p>My son also had wonderful options at schools far away and received terrific merit scholarships from Rice. After visiting during Owl Days (it was really a weekend then) he realized how much he loved Rice and how it was a different world when he was on campus (as in, it didn’t feel at all like an extension of high school). In weighing his decision he realized that the only “downside” he could think of was that it was close to home, but that also had some advantages – no plane fares, Thanksgiving travel nightmares, etc. After choosing Rice I have made a concerted effort not to treat him any differently than if he was across the country. I contact him by e-mail and the occasional phone call, but I never have the expectation that he come home for family events and I certainly don’t randomly drop by to visit him! He doesn’t come home very often, so it’s not much different than if he chose a school in another city. He doesn’t even bring his laundry home – he does it at school. So it’s worked out very well for all of us!</p>
<p>That’s good to know. I think there’s a big difference in living in the city and living in the suburbs, like we do. Even though he knows some current and prospective students, there are also kids from all over the world at Rice.<br>
Last night, he voiced some concerns about how seldom he would be able to come home if he went to Stanford.<br>
Making the final decision is by far the hardest part of this process!</p>
<p>He will be a world away at Rice, even if he is just 10 miles away from home. It would be a no-brainer for me as a parent if the cost differential was that large, but that may not be an issue for you. Rice has been very, very good to and for my kids, so I am definitely a fan, especially the warm and personal faculty support and the whole college master/res college system.</p>
<p>Thanks, anxiousmom. I’m glad to hear that Rice has worked out so well for your kids. I’m sure there are families for whom money isn’t an issue – but we’re not one of them. We have one more to put through college and we’d like to retire someday.</p>
<p>And your son can always study abroad while at Rice, if he wants to “get away”. In her 4 years at Rice, DD actually went to Nicaragua, Mexico, Chile, Peru, Argentina, Armenia, China, and she’s now in Turkey (post-grad) on a Rice travel scholarship. The only one of those I paid for was the Chile - which cost me the same as if she was at Rice that semester. Obviously, she’s the queen of free/cheap travel opportunities, but those opportunities are there for others, too. Rice has work-abroad, exchange, internships abroad and practically unlimited study abroad choices. (See: <a href=“http://www.abroad.rice.edu%5B/url%5D”>www.abroad.rice.edu</a>) :)</p>
<p>Thanks for the link. I am going to tell my son about your daughter’s travels. He <em>really</em> wants to travel. We’ve been told that the merit scholarships can be used for study abroad. He has money saved from work and outside scholarships. Rather than using that money to help pay for a full ticket school (which he would have to do) he could use that for travel and would have to live less frugally while on campus.</p>
<p>I’m not sure how much day-to-day living at a school varies by location. Kids will be in class, studying and participating in school related activities. Of course, some schools provide different weather and scenery, and perhaps easier access to oceans and mountains. However, if the budget is tight, the opportunities to experience these amenities might be somewhat limited.</p>
<p>Rice is awesome and you cant go wrong either way. The one big advantage Stanford has is California. San Francisco and San Jose kick Houston (and Texas’) ass</p>
<p>^Riceward- it’s not obvious. The OP is getting a lot of money at Rice and the Century Scholarship is good for more than money (i think, correct me if I’m wrong). This would be a pretty tough choice IMO.</p>
<p>The Century scholarship is a guaranteed opportunity to do research with a mentor. The student can choose from a list of ongoing projects, or ask a prof to mentor them in their own research. The student can also get credit for the research.</p>
<p>I enjoyed reading this thread, especially the part about how great San Francisco and…San Jose are. (Antarius–have you ever been to San Jose??? I’d much rather spend a week in Houston.) We’re from Northern CA, so Stanford was a school my daughter considered too close to home and she didn’t even apply. Who knows what her chances would have been if she had. She’s now a happy freshman at Rice, with the same scholarships your son was offered. This sounds like a really difficult decision to make. Given the difference in cost, it seems like it would be hard to justify choosing Stanford, but the two schools are pretty different in culture, size and opportunities, so if you feel you could afford Stanford and there’s something that makes it a significantly better fit for your son, maybe it’s worth it. How nice to have such great choices, but I don’t envy you and your son having to make this decision. Good luck!</p>
<p>Oh, I love Northern California myself, and Palo Alto, where Stanford is, is particularly beautiful. It’s just the first time I’d seen San Jose mentioned with such reverence. On the other hand, Oakland gets a lot of criticism, and I think there’s a lot to like there, so maybe I need to explore San Jose a bit more.</p>
<p>If money isn’t a deciding factor (obviously it would be nice to attend the cheaper institution), your son should also think about the pros of moving far from home. I was planning on attending Rice from southern CA because of the cultural differences and to experience a completely different part of the country (I ended up not going to Rice but going to VA). Is it sometimes difficult not seeing your family for months and being in a new place? Absolutely. However, I found that the benefits of going to school far from home outweigh the challenges. I now have friends all over the country and can navigate around DC, Chicago, and NYC with ease, places I had never even been before. Plus, college is the one time in your life you can move away from your family for four years and be completely independent and then go back home after graduation.</p>
<p>With that said, I have personally found that all of my friends had much more meaningful college experiences with personal faculty interactions and a sense of community at smaller institutions. So Rice could be better.</p>