<p>[Note I also posted this in the Rice thread]
Help! I'm really tied between the schools here and I would really appreciate some input</p>
<p>UT Austin
- admitted into the Cockrell School of Engineering for Chemical Engineering
- Dean Scholar for the College of Natural Science (looking into biochemistry)
- Pretty much a free ride for 4 years</p>
<p>Rice
- no aid
- most likely bioengineering or chemical and biomolecular engineering</p>
<p>In the future, I'd really like to do something research/engineering based I guess. So maybe synthesizing/creating pharmaceuticals or developing biomaterials? Almost 100% certain I'm planning to go to grad school. </p>
<p>So i like Rice because it's small and you get to really get to know everyone. The relationship to the faculty is really close. The class sizes are smaller and it seems like in general I could go farther with Rice (networks + brand name). Also the people there are more concerned about doing well/academics I guess. One concern that I have is that I'll be starting out on the same playing field as everyone else, which means it's a bit more competitive, whereas with UT I'm in double honors programs. </p>
<p>I like UT because it seems like with larger size, comes larger resources. I mean UT has money to give to students but it seems like I'll have to kind of dig for the opportunities and really carve my own path to get there. Another big concern is that I want to do something in ChemE that's pretty bio-focused and at UT i heard it's all about oil.... Also not too sure how personal advising will be with such a large class size. </p>
<p>Mainly concerned about
- rigor of academics and faculty, class size...
- advising
- opportunities to get out there and do things (volunteering, internships, research, study/research abroad)
- Flexibility in majors </p>
<p>So..... advice?
Thanks in advance!!</p>
<p>UT.
It is free.
As a Dean’s Scholar you are in an honors program, so you will be with a smaller, more select group of students.
You can find research to work on through FRI or by simply approaching a professor. UT isn’t just about oil. Its engineering, physics, and math programs are well regarded.
And it’s free.
You can switch to polymathic scholars if you want more flexibility.
Austin > than Houston to most young people as well.
Did I mention UT is free?</p>
<p>Hi, anniebells12.</p>
<p>I’m a student admitted to Cockrell for the class of 2014.
One of the main reasons I choose UT engineering over any other school was the fact that UT has an awesome Women in Engineering program (WEP). I’m assuming from your username that you’re also a girl.
Despite the fact that UT is such a large school, it shouldn’t be hard to find a niche at UT that suits your interests. UT tries very hard to create smaller communities within the university through its 360 Connections (<a href=“Explore Connections | TEXAS Undergraduate Studies”>Explore Connections | TEXAS Undergraduate Studies). WEP (<a href=“Women in Engineering Program”>Women in Engineering Program) is one of these 360 connections.<br>
I’ve attended a summer program sponsored by WEP and I have visited both UT and Rice within weeks of each other, so I think I can give you some insight into what both programs will offer you.
Because of WEP and UT’s honors programs, you should not feel worried about having to pave your own way through the program. WEP sponsors special career fairs and events to connect female engineering students with industry as early as your freshman year. With WEP, you will also have a female engineering student in your major who acts as your mentor. Also, you can join a Facilitated Interest Group (FIG) for WEP or your major(s). A FIG is basically a group of freshmen that you take intro classes with and take a one hour seminar with every week (with free lunch!). This will help your larger intro classes seem smaller. And, since you’re in Dean’s Scholars and Engineering Honors, from what I’ve read and what actual UT students have told me, honors students at UT are treated very well. As a honors student, you will have access to a special faculty mentor/adviser, so don’t be concerned about not having enough advising. If you live in the honors dorms, you will have an awesome community of like-minded intellectual folks to hang out with.
ChemE at UT is definitely not all about oil. One of the women I met during the WEP summer program was a ChemE student involved in the pharmaceuticals industry. She had an internship and job at Merck, and this year, she’s attending graduate school at Stanford. UT’s ChemE program is very well known (last year, it was ranked 6th and tied with Princeton by USNWR), and you should not have a problem finding a job in industry or getting accepted to graduate school.
At UT, there are tons of opportunities to get involved in volunteering. There’s even this huge service event day called The Project ( <a href=“The Project”>http://ddce.utexas.edu/theproject/</a>). I’m most interested in joining Projects for Underserved Communities, which is basically Engineers Without Borders, and SEEK, a mentoring program that connects UT Engineering students to students in inner-city Austin school to promote STEM. Here are some links you should check out: <a href=“Student Life”>Student Life, <a href=“http://www.cns.utexas.edu/student-organizations-special-interests”>http://www.cns.utexas.edu/student-organizations-special-interests</a>, <a href=“Office of the Dean of Students - Student Activities - View Orgs”>Office of the Dean of Students - Student Activities - View Orgs;
You will have many opportunities to get involved in research. As part of Dean’s Scholars, you will take an Introduction to Research Methods course and you can be in the Freshman Research Initiative (FRI). Engineering professors are very open about letting undergrads work in their labs. Many of the UT students I talked to said that all they had to do was send professors emails and express interests and the next thing they knew, they were working in a lab. And, from the Dean’s Scholars website, “All Dean’s Scholars are invited to do research with a faculty member. Our program assists students in finding a suitable faculty researcher in preparation for his or her senior thesis.”
UT is also a very international-minded campus. They have a special international living community in Whitis Court and are home to two language flagship programs.There are special opportunities to take engineering classes abroad/do internships (<a href=“UT Cockrell School of Engineering”>UT Cockrell School of Engineering). Check out other study abroad programs here (<a href=“Find a Program | Texas Global”>http://world.utexas.edu/abroad/programs</a>).
I’m not sure what you mean by “flexibility in majors,” but you should be able to complete two majors without too much difficulty. One of the UT students I met during my WEP summer program was working on a biomedical engineering degree at Cockrell and a biochemistry degree in the College of Natural Sciences, and she still had enough time to sleep 8-9 hours a day. If you’re a good student (and if you got into double honors programs, I’m sure you are), you should not have a problem completing two majors.
When I visited Rice, I though some parts of their engineering program were cool like their Engineering Design Kitchen that has lots of materials for designing awesome projects and several 3D printers. Also, their Mechanical Engineering building is gorgeous. However, I also got the impression that their engineering program isn’t quite as developed as UT’s and that there aren’t as many support groups for engineering students.
Overall, I think that Rice and UT offer similar opportunities. However, for the money, I think UT is much more worth it. A almost free ride at UT vs. paying $50000-$60000 a year at Rice is not really worth it for what you get out of it.</p>
<p>I hope this was helpful, and I hope I see you next year at Cockrell!</p>
<p>Is your family able to pay an extra $200,000+? If they are, I would suggest going to UT, and trying to convince them to give you the extra $200,000 when you graduate from undergrad or grad. That would be a nice nest egg when you start out your working life.</p>
<p>Oh, sorry. I’m actually admitted to Cockrell for the class of 2018, not the class of 2014, if that changes how you view my comment. </p>
<p>Agree with @socalda2. That money could be better used to start your career.</p>
<p>it’s funny people talk big classes, but usually core class in all schools are large. Here is what the numbers don’t tell you. The university will only admit about 7 thousand freshman. Of those freshman may 1500 are actually admitted to Cockrell. Moreover within each school they are split into departments, which subdivides the student population into 300-500 students per department. What one soon finds out is the university is actually a lot of small schools, with a lot of flexibility in terms of selection of course and majors. In contrast, small colleges do not have the same flexibility and cost considerably more. </p>