Rice vs. UT Austin Health Science Honors and Plan II Honors?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Rice University
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<p>I got into Rice and UT Austin (HSH and Plan II) for biology major (premed).</p>

<p>I really like Rice's small size and everything but it is too expensive for me.
I like the location, the small community, the city, the residential college, the people, etc. but I don't really know if it is worth that much money.</p>

<p>On the other side, I got into UT's HSH, which admits only 50 people or so, and Plan II, which is a really prestigious honors program. HSH allows me to do research in my freshman year and give tons of internship opportunities. For a premed student, especially who is really interested in research, it is a really tempting offer. And Plan II has really small class sizes even though UT itself is a HUGE school. Also, I think I can get really good recommendations from Plan II professors since it is such a small honors community. One more plus of UT is that it is so much cheaper and I even get a tuition waiver for a year since I'm a valedictorian from Texas high school.</p>

<p>So.. questions.. Are there a lot of reserach and internship opportunities offered at Rice? Also, is it really worth that much money? Are there a lot of scholarship opportunities even for the international students? How big are the class sizes? </p>

<p>Side notes... I personally don't really like UT that much.. And it is largely because I currently live in Austin, and I'm kinda eager to go somewhere else. And I really never liked UT's campus. But I really like Rice, minus its super expensive tuition. What should I do?? Will I have a good chance of getting into good grad school / med school after graduating from Rice? I'm just really worried about keeping up good GPA at such a great school. And I feel like "honors" at UT should do me some favor but I'm not sure....</p>

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<p>So, I’m in a similar boat as you, but I’ve been accepted to the Deans Scholars for Chemistry. But, if your decision is between Rice and UT, I think you should definitely reconsider Rice. Rice really stands our because of its close connection with the Texas Medical Center. A lot of undergrads who are on the pre-med track volunteer/work at the TMC. Plus, Rice focuses so much money specifically toward undergrad research. Plus the HSH program at UT is relatively new. I think if you’re sure about pre-med you should think really hard about Rice.</p>

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<p>Both schools will give you good career opportunities after college. The first thing to decide is whether you can afford Rice financially. Is it going to be a stretch with tons of loans? or will your parents be helping out.</p>

<p>Rice is worth paying a little extra for. However if the cost is 15k for UT and 45k for Rice, go to UT Honors.</p>