Rice vs. Texas A&M

Colleges and Universities A-Z Rice University
1

<p>S will likely have options to attend either school. We are not from Texas, so we are not up on the conventional wisdom on these schools. By this weekend, he will have visited both schools and have "tasted" their atmosphere. </p>

<p>His personality fits TAMU perfectly and will likely forego the honors housing to stay with the Corps. However, the residential college environment has always been his most important criteria. He considers the Corps of Cadets a residential college, as opposed to a frat or a military school.</p>

<p>I think that admission to Rice would be an honor and he would grow intellectually there and establish relationships with top professors. My impression on TAMU and the Corps is that he would get a huge dose of leadership training. TAMU will be considerably cheaper. </p>

<p>He does not drink or even take aspirin, but he is not religious. He is very conservative, but all his best friends are liberals. It seems like there are a lot of contradictions and these are two odd schools to be comparing as "short list" schools, but that's my son.</p>

<p>Are the engineering programs at TAMU as respected as they are at Rice? The reputation of the rest of the school? It is hard to turn down Rice as well as hard to turn down scholarship money at TAMU. As a parent, I just want him to have good options when he gets out.</p>

2

<p>Most people at Rice (in my experience) look down upon A&M (especially my econ professor). He justifies challenging exams with the fact that "this isn't Aggieland". </p>

<p>I have a friend in the Corps of Cadets at A&M, and he loves it. He also loves hunting, Fox News, riding on his 4-wheeler, his huge Texas-sized truck (he uses it to transport dead deer and his 4-wheeler), and Rush Limbaugh. No worries, though, another friend of mine in the Corps hates Rush Limbaugh. He's still conservative though.</p>

<p>My point is that almost everyone at A&M is veryh conservative. When Obama won, most of my Aggie friends wore black shirts the next day to mourn the "death of our country". Yes, they do take their conservatism too far, in my opinion. </p>

<p>At Rice, people are liberal on average, but there are a quite few conservatives. The main difference is that at Rice people generally don't care about politics as much, and they are much more accepting. There are exceptions, of course, but that's the overall climate. This is not to say your son won't fit in, especially since he has liberal friends already. One of my very good friends is more conservative than Ann Coulter, and his roommate has a poster of FDR above his bed. I'm in between - moderate - and the three of us get along just fine. It's pretty much like that everywhere at Rice: people get along.</p>

<p>And as far as engineering programs, Rice has a great program (trust me, it's hard - I know from experience). As much as I don't want to admit it, though, A&M has a good program as well, and it is well respected in Texas. </p>

<p>Remember, though, that at A&M it's much harder to change majors or pick classes. Rice is a small school, and changing majors to another department is completely normal. You don't have that luxury at A&M. </p>

<p>There are 1000 more reasons why he should pick Rice over A&M, but it's a personal choice in the end. At the end of the day, A&M is also a good school. And I'm sure someone can come up with a few reasons to attend A&M over Rice, but we'll leave that to the A&M forum. Oh, wait. ;)</p>

3

<p>i actually know someone who transferred from Rice to A&M, believe it or not. he was pre-med and pretty conservative, also liked to party and chase girls.</p>

4

<p>If he's doing engineering, he'll get a job out of school either way. Actually, I would say A&M degree would help him get an engineering job easier, especially in Texas, because of the large alumni base. If his aspiration is non-engineering grad degree like law, business, or med, then a degree from Rice would be more advantageous.</p>

<p>I think if your son is very conservative, he'll probably like A&M more. Rice isn't known for it's conservative student, so your son might not fit in at Rice. IMHO, for undergraduate studies, the overall college experience is more important than the academic ranking.</p>

<p>My vote would be for A&M. This is from a Longhorn who grew up near Rice.</p>

5

<p>From a Rice parent.
My son is in computer science and is about to graduate. He already has a fabulous job lined up. I know that Rice graduates are highly respected by corporations and valued. Corps know the students are extremely bright and know how to work hard and work cooperatively, important in any workplace.
Re; acceptance of other's views.
, My son is liberal, but he has a lot of different friends at Rice who are conservative and liberal, religious and non-believers, etc. It is not bad in this lifetime to live and study with people of different views. That in itself is a lesson that is very important to learn if you want to get along with all types of people. Why would you want to go to college with only people with the views you already hold?? That defeats the whole purpose of college, which is learning to critically think; not just sticking with what you have been told to believe.</p>

6

<p>Interesting dialogue. My son is also looking at engineering/computer science, and has been accepted at A&M, Purdue and Colorado. Still waiting on 6 privates, including Rice. I don't think he's a likely admit, but were he to get in, I'd be inclined to encourage him to go to Rice--for those 100 reasons not outlined above. That said, I wouldn't be heartbroken or worried if he chooses A&M (over Rice, or over any of his eventual choices). It's engineering program is nationally recognized, and the network is awesome for job security purposes. He visited for a long weekend program, and had a blast. He applied to A&M and NOT UT (which I would rank as a somewhat stronger school in a much cooler town, because UT seemed overwhelming and more impersonal. This seems wrong on paper (A&M is a huge school), but having visited and experienced both (I'm a UT Law grad), I think he's on to something: there is a real sense of community, brotherhood/sisterhood, tradition and support at A&M that personalizes that giant school. </p>

<p>As to the conservative thing--its my biggest concern with A&M. I'm a liberal and Obama supporter who's used to being a blue dot in a red sea, who would like to see his son (who isn't very political, period) escape the narrowness of the FOX-induced dittoheads and get some exposure to other ways of thinking. It's unfair to A&M to characterize it as intolerant or completely lacking in diversity, but as all have mentioned, it is a conservative, very conservative place. Great people of all (and no) political persuasion come out of it, however, and its positives are impossible to ignore. Just as the prior post pointed out the risks of self-segregation, I'm trying to be open to those positives.</p>

<p>Speaking of positives, Purdue shared this article: The</a> Best Colleges for Making Money at SmartMoney.com which highlights that Purdue came in 9th of 50 excellent univerisities when analyzed for "payback" --i.e., the combined monetary impact of near- and mid- term average salaries and the cost burden of tuition and room & board. A&M was #1! (and that's based on out-of-state tuition!). Rice is a relative bargain for its quality, but for anyone considering A&M, especially weighing it against expensive Ivies or privates, its a meaningful factor to add to your thinking. </p>

<p>[by the way, anyone have a well-informed opinion of the relative merit of A&M v. Purdue v. Colorado?--thanks} </p>

<p>Ultimately,</p>

7

<p>rljtexas: Son got accepted and visited Purdue during their "Scholar Day". I was there, so I can comment directly. The faculty and directors of the Engineering department are absolutely world-class people. Their priorities are with the students and they have a very global perspective. Their president was the Chief Scientist for NASA among other things. I thought their entire professional staff and the students were beaming with pride for the University. The engineers have their own study abroad program, and the school in general has may learning communities to immerse students in. Their tuition is reasonable, and they offer some merit aid. They enjoy a very strong international reputation. The engineering Dean travels to Turkey and France regularly. They are less selective than Rice of course, and therefore their freshman classes will be huge. You can compensate for this with honors courses. My son was very impressed, and had it near the top of his list. He liked Texas A&M better, mainly because of the spirit and the bonding of the students. For him, he thought the students were more purposeful than the Rice students. This is probably colored by his stay with the Corps of Cadets for two nights. USNWR ranks Purdue #9 in engineering, so they are a great program by anyone's measure. They are a Big Ten public school, so sports are huge. It's out in the middle of the cornfields, so it's similar to A&M in that regard. The students are mostly conservative, but apolitical. Politics seem not to be important. </p>

<p>All the students I met seem to be enthused about life. None of them appeared to be self-absorbed. This is very hard to fake. A&M has offered more money to S, and he likes it better, so we have ruled it out, but it is a great school.</p>

8

<p>Why would you choose a school based on your political beliefs? I'm very conservative and go to Rice...big deal.</p>

9

<p>Small school vs. Big School. That's what it boils down to. Generally speaking, the smaller schools offer better teachers.</p>

10

<p>I have to agree with Beef's post above. A&M is often mocked by Rice students. My daughter (Rice '07) worked for a year in Houston after graduation and had a bunch of A&M grads for co-workers. These aren't engineers, but she was NOT impressed and felt that the differences between her Rice classmates and the A&M people were astronomical in terms of intellectual curiousity and general abilities. That said, I think A&M is a wonderful place for the right kid- it is a HUGE school with an exceptionally ugly campus (one of the ugliest in the country, in my opinion). I have a friend who was on the A&M faculty for many years and he does not encourage high school kids to go there because it is a massive bureaucracy.<br>
Rice is accepting of all viewpoints, but it is definitely more liberal than conservative.</p>

11

<p>Keep in mind Rice is an extremely selective institution that attracts only the most intelligent students in the country and around the globe.</p>

<p>Whereas Texas A&M is only the second best public school in Texas after UT Austin, and attracts mediocre students at best.</p>

<p>Of course there are some brilliant kids there attracted by scholarship, but for the most part there is a MAJOR difference between these two institutions. You will have COMPLETELY different experiences at these two places. That isn't to say you won't get an excellent education at A&M, it just depends on what kind of people you want to surround yourself with. Rice has parties, but if you are a let's-party-instead-of-studying or i-want-to-do-hot-girls type A&M will probably be a better fit.</p>

<p>These of course are based on my biased opinion having stayed at both of these institutions... but this is shared sentiment amongst every person I know [except for a cheerleader I know, perhaps]</p>