<p>So here it is. I've been accepted into both UT and Rice and have to make my decision by May 1. I was wondering if anyone would be willing to give me their opinion on what would be best to do. </p>
<p>Additional info:
UT: did not get honors (really bummed me out), costs 23K or so per year (will be able to pay off loans in 2 years max out of college), UT has 4th be ChemE undergrad in country.</p>
<p>Rice: was my dream school, farther away from parents (live in Austin). KILLER: it will cost me 42K a year. </p>
<p>Overall, I think Rice is a better school. Rice has more of a college feel, I loved the campus and absolutely everything about it...but for engineering I do believe UT is better.
With this in mind, my question is whether it is worth it to go to Rice for what will be almost 5 times the cost, or to go to UT.</p>
<p>Right now I'm leaning towards UT, simply because it will cost less and I will be at a very well known engineering program. It just pains me to know I worked hard and can't go to Rice because my family isn't rich enough. </p>
<p>Funnily enough I had the SAME EXACT problem when I was deciding on colleges (double the cost, didn’t get into honors for ChemE, worried about rank, etc). I chose Rice for a multitude of reasons and stomached the extra costs with the support of my parents. I would definitely do it again and don’t regret the decision at all (even though I have some debt I will be paying off). If you want to, go search through my old posts to get more input to help you make your decision. It is a very difficult decision, but I ultimately think that given that you want to go into engineering, the extra costs will disappear after a few years in the industry and you will get far more opportunities here at Rice.</p>
<p>I can do my own research project incredibly easily here at Rice and I had a job working in a lab 3 weeks into school as a freshman. The grad school acceptance rates here are great and you meet so many brilliant people here. I felt I would be a number at UT and based on the input from friends over there, it basically is the case.</p>
<p>Last word of advice: don’t get fixated so much on rankings. A lot of the rankings have little to do with things that will matter to you (e.g. part of the rankings are based on how professors at one university view profs at other ones). If you only focus on these you may lose out on much more important opportunities. If you feel you will fit well enough at UT and that the difference isn’t worth the extra money, you should go there, if not I believe you will find Rice is well worth it.</p>
<p>I disagree with School Advice. The education at UTAustin is superior. You will rise to the top there, make an effort to connect with profs, get yourself you internship for summer after frosh. You’ll work harder a tiny bit for your connections, but there is so much more at UT than Rice. Rice is a wanna-be upstart , Houston money, Ivy and is not established with the resources of UT. Austin is one of the primo college towns and you can easily avoid your parents: live in the dorms, make dates withthem when you arrange it. Remember, it’s the last school you attend that is most important, your grad degree and you should get one - too many kids with BA and BS’s these days compared to 30 years ago. If you finish summa or magn at UT, you’ll get into a top grad school if you do what you should do at college. SAVE the money for grad school: think East or West coast.! easy decision…live in the dorms at least the first two years. Grad school is more expensive than ugrad, the loans are harder to come by with higher payback rates. Be smart. Dont’ be one of themany fools who take on unnecessary ugrad debt.</p>
<p>UTAustin, along with Berkelely, UCLA, UW, UNCChappel Hill, U VA are the primo public u’s in the US. and you’re in! Now, if you have $150,000 stashed somewhere for grad school apart from your ugrad expense, then sure go where it’s handed to you more easily and you don’t ahve to work so hard to stand out for those internships. </p>
<p>Trust me, if you got into Rice, you’ll be at the top at UTAustin. Good luck, go far, have fun.</p>
<p>While I will not contest that UT is indeed one of the best public unis, during my time visiting, it really did seem like I would have to swim against the current to get anywhere. I am also not sure why you assume that you would easily do well at UT. If it is indeed a superior school, I don’t see how you would do any better there unless the program is easier or the people are less talented/hard-working. </p>
<p>Also, while I may be wrong, Cornell is not a public university and there are a great number of advantages of going to a small school. UT felt like a giant engineering mill. It produces a good product in large quantities, but because there are lots of people there, it felt like it really didn’t tailor anything to any particular student and makes it very hard to explore.</p>
<p>If UT truly were the best choice, I don’t see how Rice would be so competitive to get into and why so many of my fellow classmates made the same decision in favor of Rice. Almost all of my former high school classmates opted NOT to go to UT for the very reasons I mentioned and almost all those who did did so because they didn’t get into Rice, Cornell, Berkeley, etc.</p>
<p>Lastly, about the debt. I am paying for much of the difference myself and have been be going positive (paying for last year’s debt) using the money I make from my summer internships. I got one that paid very well last year and will have one that does so this year as well.</p>
<p>The choice is not clear cut by any means, but I think that your arguments are unfounded corneliasusie. UT under these circumstances COULD be the better choice for the OP, but it is by no means “superior” in any way I can see and I did an ENORMOUS amount of research when I decided. But, once again, your decision may vary.</p>
<p>Well, technically Cornell does have some public schools, but calling it a public university is a bit disingenuous. I’m not sure why Rice being a “wanna-be upstart , Houston money, Ivy” should be considered important, but it’s important to keep in mind that you can’t do a direct comparison of resources between a 6,000-student private university and a 50,000-student state flagship school.</p>
<p>Anyway, they are both great schools. I faced a similar decision a number of years back, and chose Rice with no regrets. If you can afford the extra cost, I believe Rice offers an unbeatable undergraduate experience, and I wouldn’t trade my four years there for anything.</p>
<p>The $$ is a killer. Otherwise I would say Rice easy. To say “Rice is a wanna-be upstart” is simply absurd, especially considering Rice is ranked #17 in the nation while UT is ranked #46.</p>
<p>Cornell College (unaffiliated with Cornell University) and Cornell University are both private schools.</p>
<p>OP, I think you have gotten some valid information on both sides of the aisles. </p>
<p>How much would you expect to be paying in loans? Remember that you as a student can only sign for $5500 in loans your freshman year, all other loans would require a co-signer, which puts them on the hook for repayment if you don’t pay.</p>
<p>Rice if financial concerns were put aside here. I’d recommend going to UT because the thought of large sums of loans may drive you nuts after school. I visited UT/Rice for the last time this past weekend(thurs-sat) so I could also sit on classes. Austin was plenty of fun and everyone I met said they had absolutely no regrets ( some had chosen UT over Rice).</p>