Rice vs UChicago

I’ve been accepted into both schools. I’ve already visited Rice and will visit UChicago soon.

I applied to rice for engineering, and to UChicago as a math major, but I’m hardly committed to either of these. I’ve narrowed down my career possibilities a little bit (something involving math and science), but I’m undecided beyond that. I’m not even sure if I want to go into academia or the professional world.

All that indecision would probably make it seem like UChicago would be a good place to go, but I’m concerned that, should I eventually discover that engineering is truly my thing, I’ll be stuck. From what I’ve heard, it is much easier to go from engineering to another field than to go from another field to engineering.

But I’m similarly worried that, if I attend Rice, I’ll lose the chance to be exposed to a variety of fields and inevitably end up at least doing something very close to engineering - something that UChicago might have been better for.

On the other hand, Rice is about $2k cheaper a year. I have family that live near Rice, which comforts my parents. And as far as I can tell, Rice is almost as good/as good as Chicago for most of the sciences.

(There was a similar thread posted a couple of years back but I wanted to see if the general consensus has changed^)

Dear bandicoot12, actually, Rice’s mathematics program is very strong. I realize there are various aspects of mathematics that may interest you more than others, and these may not be factored into various rankings, but below are a few rankings I pulled from a search.

http://college.usatoday.com/2016/04/29/top-schools-for-applied-mathematics/

http://www.greatvaluecolleges.net/rankings/mathematics/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/cartercoudriet/2016/07/07/top-stem-colleges-of-2016/#5d8fecb55ba8

https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-science-schools/mathematics-rankings?int=9e8a08&int=a06908

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/student/best-universities/best-universities-physics-chemistry-and-maths-degrees

The last two rankings listed are the US News Grad School rankings and the Times Higher Education World University Ranking, which is also based on graduate schools. The fact that Rice is fifty in the Times World University Ranking is remarkable when one thinks how small its graduate school is when compared to the other universities on the list. Also, other rankings I came across don’t even include Chicago or Rice, so obviously one shouldn’t put too much stock in rankings. But the point is, if mathematics is a strong interest of yours, you’ll be fine at Rice; you’ll do great. The teachers at Rice are wonderful across the board and they enjoy interacting with their students in and out of the classroom, and don’t forget: classes at Rice are small. Rice has a one to six faculty/student ratio. And clearly, the opportunities for undergraduates in science, mathematics and engineering are considerable.

And yes, Chicago has superb liberal arts teachers and courses. I love the idea of its core Western civilization courses that all students are required to take, but Rice has wonderful liberal arts teachers and courses as well, everything from history to English to art history, ancient Mediterranean Civilizations (Rice’s version of classics), and many more. I should also add that Rice students are encouraged to study diverse fields of knowledge and to double major. Just about every science and engineering major I know is double majoring, often in a liberal arts discipline.

Then, too, Rice has the residential college system, which is a true gem of the university (even if you end up in Lovett College, lol). The residential colleges not only provide a close-knit social unit within the larger university, but they go a long way in making all students feel they are part of the university and something exciting.

Another thing to consider: while Chicago has a beautiful campus, so does Rice, but the big difference is that Rice is also in a beautiful part of Houston, surrounded by the museum district (one can walk to the city’s fine museums), Herman Park (a very beautiful huge park with a zoo, a golf course, a Japanese garden and many cool places to walk), the Texas Medical Center (the largest medical center in the U.S.), beautiful residential neighborhoods and Rice Village, a very cool place with fun pubs and good restaurants. And Houston’s METRORail stops right by the main entrance of Rice and takes you to downtown Houston. Houston is really an interesting city and Rice is located in a great part of the city. Yes, Chicago is a beautiful city, but I have heard students say that attending the University of Chicago is bit like residing in a green zone, as the South Side is not exactly the most desirable part of the city, especially at night.

Both are wonderful schools, but I’m very glad I chose Rice. In any event, you’ve now visited Rice and you will soon visit Chicago. After you have visited both, think about all the things you like about each (and didn’t like if that’s the case) and go with your instincts and what your heart is telling you. Good luck to you.

Also I’m pretty sure UChicago is on a quarter system. While this isn’t important for everyone, bear in mind this will affect when you get out of school and how fast your classes will be. For example, you might not have the same breaks as many of your friends who attend semester based institutions, I know this would have bothered me a lot.

Additionally, some argue that the quality of education isn’t as good in a quarter system because they try to cram in everything so fast. Others argue that the ability to take many more courses is worth it. You should considering this factor too.

I don’t see why you’d lose exposure to other studies at Rice. It has very lax university class requirements (3 classes from each division) and it’s pretty easy to get into most humanities classes. For example, many of the 300 and 400 level history / religious studies classes have no pre-reqs.

Wheret did you decide to attend?