I know social life, and school size is different.
In terms of nanotechnology, entrepreneurship, and applied mathematics, which do you think is better?
Also,
Good Luck to all of you who are out there preparing for college admissions.
Peace.
The cheaper one
Michigan has Nanotech in engineering, entrepreneurship in Ross, and mathematics in LS&A. You will have to apply to one of those colleges, each of which have different admission and graduation requirements. Rice doesn’t make the distinction the same way. It may come down to which lets you complete your chosen path more effectively and , of course, cost.
My two cents – Michigan
Why not apply to both before deciding which school?
There is a huge climate difference between the locations.
op, weren’t you a senior last year?
You seem to be comparing Rice to a number of other schools (Yale, Duke, GA Tech) for nanotechnology. So to me it sounds like you are focused on Rice. In fact, there are no bad choices among these schools.
And from other posts it seems like you graduated last year and got into GA Tech. Did you commit to a college already? If so, then I’d go with the intent of staying four years and having a great experience at a great college.
@happy1 & @ClarinetDad16 Yeah I am focused on Rice, and no I wasn’t a senior last year. My friend however was, and he used my college confidential account because he felt as though he only needed to ask one question, and it was useless to make an entirely new account. He got in to GT, and will be going there next year.
Going to the cheaper one makes sense, but here is the thing, if I apply to Rice ED and get accepted, then it would not be possible to go to another school. That’s why before the school year starts I wanted to look through all of the potential options.
As for the difference in schools, I never thought about it in the way @TooOld4School said it. U of M might not allow you to do all of things at once, but rice through its open course selection might.
My question though pertained to how these colleges were in their academics. Is Rice just as good as U of M in nanotech and entrepreneurship?
Thanks!
Only apply Rice ED if you are sure you will get enough financial aid and you will be happy there.
Agree, I’d only apply to Rice ED if 1) is your absolute top choice school and 2) you have no need to compare financial offers.
Michigan is much larger and has far more resources and an enormous research budget. Academically it is ranked higher than Rice in the areas you are interested in, but, as an undergrad you may not reach a level where it makes much of a difference. Rice may give you a better experience at the intro levels, especially with the generally smaller class sizes.
My son interned at a Michigan microfab lab last summer. For safety purposes, there were restrictions on what he (in HS) could do, and also some for undergrads. Only grad students and staff could handle the highly toxic materials used in some of the labs.
You may want to check out the NNIN website for major research universities with nanofabs.
http://www.nnci.net/
I think Michigan - many more research resources,
These “greater resources” are things that only matter to grad students/post-docs. At the undergrad level? Rice is a much smaller, undergrad focused university. It is easy to build real relationships with your professors and get involved with their labs as an undergrad. These are the things that give you a great undergraduate education.
Bottom line is you are looking at a number of excellent schools. Of course the first trick is to get in. But assuming you get in and all of your choices are affordable, I would go with the school you feel most comfortable at, where you like the atmosphere etc. because IMO that is where you will have the best chance to be happy and most successful. If you like small, more intimate environment then Rice is a great choice, if you like a large college then UM. Assuming all the schools you are considering have good programs in your area of interest, at some point you just need to trust your gut.
I would have to disagree - undergrads at Michigan benefit greatly from the great research resources. I do not know if Rice has undergraduate research programs which compare to Michigan’s UROP and its residential affiliate, MRC.