leaning towards rice right now! i’m interested in studying medical sociology/anthro & public health, potentially pursuing the pre-med track but most likely aiming to get a PhD.
rice
pros: amazing quality of life; strong medical humanities program; great undergraduate experience; residential colleges & community feel; feeder to medical schools & proximity to texas medical center; diverse
cons: far from home; not sure if it has many connections with northeast institutions/companies; humidity
tufts
pros: in boston (great city & closer to home); solid community health program; direct entry to tufts medical school; smaller & more undergrad-focused
cons: one of the more expensive options
michigan
pros: amazing school spirit; great alumni network; top sociology & public health programs; ann arbor is nice; overall very dynamic life
cons: far away; larger class sizes; more party school vibes; cold weather
vassar
pros: close to home; open curriculum; 5th year MPH program w/ columbia; great social sciences programs
cons: too much of an art/humanities vibe?
davidson
pros: special/nurturing undergrad experience; tight-knit alumni network; good sociology & public health departments; academically rigorous; best weather
cons: might present less overall opportunities & have fewer connections in northeast?
Can only speak to Rice (daughter is current student there and chose Rice over Tufts). Your pros are spot on. The size of the school is very nice and the location (suburban feel in a big city) and opportunities that provides are a huge benefit. Proximity to TMC is great for many reasons. As for your cons, Rice seems to have a good reputation outside of Texas as most of my daughter’s internships (both ones she’s take and not taken) have been outside of Texas (Cal, Wash, Boston, Wisconsin, etc). Our daughter is a 4-hour flight from home, but the flight is direct and airports are close to Rice - so depending on where you are flying from, you may find that travel time is not that much different from driving several hundred miles (although cost, of course, is different!). As for humidity, yes, it is real! But for the school term (mid-August through early May), you really only experience the heat/humidity through early to mid-October and then the weather is quite nice (although rainy at times). My daughter primarily considered colleges in the NE, Rice, and Duke (and has friends at all) and says that in retrospect, she is much happier with the weather at Rice and would have been fine with weather at Duke too. Of course, she and all of her friends are from California so that take may be different for those who grew up in less ideal climates!
All of your options sound great and you will likely be very happy wherever you choose. There probably isn’t a right answer and you will just have to go with your gut feeling and then fully embrace your choice. Good luck!
Congratulations on your admission to so many wonderful schools. You have a tough decision to make if all are affordable. If you can visit some of the schools for admitted student days, that might help narrow your choice. My daughter visited her two top choices for admitted student days. My daughter decided she was ready to commit to Rice by lunchtime on her admitted student day visit.
@ax22 - Just want to throw out a few things to think about.
Sounds like grad school is already on your radar. If you are planning on going for your MPH then I wouldn’t be as concerned about location for jobs out of your undergrad.
It sounds like you may have some apprehension about going away and that’s an important consideration and if you feel you might struggle with homesickness then maybe you should lean toward something closer to home. However I did hear a great piece of advice. When you choose to go to college close to home you continue to strengthen your ties to the area and you will likely stay in that area after you graduate. When you choose to spread your wings and go somewhere different for college you become more open to opportunities all over the country.
My daughter is at Rice and her final 2 choices were Rice and Michigan. It was a hard decision, and the biggest negative for Rice was it was a lot further from home, but as someone else mentioned, it’s a pretty quick direct flight.
As for the weather - yup, it’s hot and humid the first month or so and then get’s pretty nice. Summers are brutal if you are on campus. Spring is absolutely amazing and we’ve been pretty jealous to be looking at snow out our window when it’s in the high 60’s - mid 70’s there. After living there my D can’t imagine every living in a truly cold climate again. She says she’s just happier when the weather is nice.
And finally, the “name recognition”. We were worried about that too and were told that for the people who matter (admission folks and top companies) the name is known just fine. My D has a great internship this summer for a company in California and she thinks the fact that she goes to Rice was what got her in the door. She has MANY friends doing internships with top tech companies this summer and quite a few attending top medical/graduate programs. I am going to link to grad school and employment stats from Rice and you can decide what you think!
One thing that has really helped my D is the size of Rice. Her program is relatively small (maybe 40 in her grade) so the students and faculty get to know each other well. She is an engineering major and has been working on an independent design project and the amount of help and support she has gotten has been phenomenal. She has great options for recommendations who truly know her well. She is an engineering major and while my husband was also an engineering major at a top school he feels the practical knowledge she has already is way beyond where he was at graduation.
You have some wonderful choices! Good luck to you!
That’s super interesting. The vast majority of kids in our state go to the state flagship or one of the many smaller public schools within the state system. And they never leave the state. We are not from here and have noticed how many people we know have lived here forever. My D went far away for school and now says she’s never moving back. She took an internship over 2000 miles away from home and school over some more local options. While she’s a little nervous, she’s also pretty excited.
thank you all so much for the insights! i truly appreciate it.
@ucbalumnus tufts & michigan are the most expensive options right now (so not at the top of the list). davidson gave some nice merit, and the rice/vassar financial aid packages were pretty good.
She’s a bioengineering major and a global health technologies minor. She loves the department. If you have any questions about Rice, feel free to message me!
