<p>What are the other schools your daughter is considering? </p>
<p>Another thing to note is that the Environmental Engr. department at Rice is small (part of the Civil Engineering dept actually) and I do not believe the major is accredited. </p>
<p>On a side note, my sister is doing something similar, in terms of marine and environmental biology at Occidental College. This past summer she worked for the California Air Pollution Control. She plans on a masters/PhD as well.</p>
<p>She has not ruled out: Rice, of course, University of Pittsburgh, University of Arizona or Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. An odd assortment, I know. We looked at Occidental last summer, beautiful campus. She really enjoys both math and science and problem solving hence the engineering bent. Though neither of us is an engineer, all of our sibling are.</p>
<p>Cal Poly is an excellent school. I have a few friends who attend currently and enjoy it immensely. </p>
<p>In my honest opinion, Arizona is not on the same level as the other three. Rice is a great school, but is not worth 150k extra over Cal Poly in my opinion. Remember, Rice does not have an accredited Environmental Engineering degree. You can ONLY get a BA from Rice as opposed to a BS from Cal Poly/Pitt. A BA will require a masters degree as fewer companies hire BA in engineering majors. Further, you cannot be a PE (Professional Engineer) with a BA either. </p>
<p>I think your daughter will have a great UG experience at Rice, but with the major and financial situation you have detailed, Cal Poly/Pitt seem to be a better bet. </p>
<p>Will Poly cost significantly more than Pitt?</p>
<p>From what we can tell, Cal Poly will cost us about 80k less for 4 years than Rice (we are OOS for CA). That said, most engineering students are told it will take 5 years to graduate from Cal Poly, so that narrows the gap to probably 45K.</p>
<p>The other good thing about CP is that there is the possibility of a 4+1 masters program is her chosen fields. She would NOT get a BA in engineering at Rice, but a BS in Civil engineering emphasizing the environmental side, she had already looked at this, but thanks for emphasizing that! The worst thing about CP is the difficulty in changing majors, whereas at Rice if she decides Bioengineering (or whatever) is more her thing it is easy to change.</p>
<p>She has full tuition at Pitt for up to 5 years, which sounds like a no brainer, but really doesn’t want to be that far away or in that cold of a climate. When you’ve grown up in the southwest, that much gray will be difficult to adjust to, especially when you already have a more academically intensive major.</p>
<p>So, I guess is having the freedom to explore what you’re really passionate about worth the extra money? Both schools are about equidistant from us too.</p>
<p>At this point, it depends on personal choice. If she feels that she will be happy at Rice and not as much elsewhere, Rice may be the right choice. If she does not want to deal with debt after graduation and wants a BMW as fast as possible, go to Pitt.</p>
<p>Who you are and what YOU can do is what really matters. The best of the best always shine through. I work with smart people from many different schools, many of which are not ranked nearly as high as Rice. Having a Rice degree does add to your resume, but you can do great from anywhere.</p>
<p>If Rice is the only place she wants to be, then Rice it is. If she feels that other schools are good as well, then Pitt is almost too good of a deal to pass up.</p>
<p>There are a couple of tough questions for your D to ask herself:
Bronzeleaf,</p>
<p>Initial disappointment and apprehension aside, would I be happy and appreciative with the opportunity to go to school at Pitt? CP? u.t.?
If the answer is no, why not? prestige, or does is the school’s environment not worth the effort for some reason?</p>
<p>Your D has great choices. At our company, we have a couple of thousand engineers. Companies care more what you have done while you were at the school than where you attended. After the first job, the school ceases to be important very quickly, UNLESS there is a fanatical alumni presence.</p>
<p>IMHO, I believe D should make a very short list of what she wants in a school. If you make all the variable important, the analysis will be overwhelming. Research opportunities, internships, AP credit, the need for interaction with professors, weather, diversity of the student body, location of campus, the presence of big time sports.</p>
<p>While it sounds like I’m making a case for not going into debt, I know Rice is a wonderful place that she can attend without any academic compromise. </p>
<p>My DS had the choice of Rice, Vandy, Notre Dame and other really good offers from large state schools with prestigious engineering programs. Send me a private message if you care to discuss with more detail. I am also intimately familiar with Pitt, and can comment on the environment and quality of the University.</p>
<p>
Excuse me, but totally not true! My son is graduating with an Environmental engineering degree from Rice and it is a BS degree! [Degrees</a> Offered : Rice University Civil and Environmental Engineering](<a href=“Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering | Rice University”>Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering | Rice University) It is the Rice University department of Civil AND Environmental Engineering and it is ABET accredited!!! There are other degree options, through other departments, that deal with Environmental issues - but this is the real McCoy. Antarius…tut, tut…;)</p>
<p>Anxiousmom, thanks for clarifying that. Antarius, it was still valuable to talk about a BA in engineering. D did not know there was such a thing at first, so she knows it is not the same.</p>
<p>anxiousmom - I only see a BA in Environmental engineering on the link you provided. I know you can get a BS in Civil Engineering with an Environmental focus.</p>
<p>Now I’m confused</p>
<p>I guess that it’s a semantics issue - so I’ll rescind the “tut, tut’s”. 
Environ E is a branch of Civil E, so the degree is listed as Civ E. on the diploma. It’s similar to UT and most other schools, in that the specialization/ focus is included under the Civil engineering umbrella. [Department</a> of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin](<a href=“http://www.ce.utexas.edu/technical-areas/environmental-engineering.html]Department”>http://www.ce.utexas.edu/technical-areas/environmental-engineering.html)
DS has a job as an environmental engineer now, parttime, going to fulltime at graduation.</p>
<p>Ah I see. I have a friend who did purely environmental engineering. Had to go to get a masters in order to be job eligible.</p>
<p>All the same, CivE with a focus on EnvironmentalE is a great choice. And anxiousmom, congrats to your DS on the post-grad job!</p>
<p>Thank you all for the great advice and help in choosing my school, I am incredibly thankful for all your time and efforts to help me and I hope this thread helps others in the future.</p>
<p>In the end, the decision wasn’t clear cut at all and was probably the hardest choice I ever had to make up till now. Despite this, I ended up choosing RICE! While both schools are amazing and had everything I could ever possibly need for my undergrad, I picked Rice because Houston is honestly the one place I feel I can call home. Additionally, Rice’s small environment will be much easier to transition into since I am coming out of tiny private school in another country.</p>
<p>Yes, I will have to take out loans, but I hope it will be worth it. Thanks again to everybody!</p>
<p>Great! I am glad you made up your mind and selected what you felt would be best for you.
welcome to Rice!</p>