<p>It's basically comparing UT-Austin's superior faculty/academic departments/grad programs to Rice's superior undergraduate experience (stemming from its higher selectivity and smaller size).</p>
<p>My main contention is that according to the National Research Council, UT is #1 in Texas in the majority of academic fields surveryed (something like 30 out of 37) and at least top 20 in the nation. This corresponds with other academic ranking sources that place UT's departments in high regard. Yet, even in Texas, Rice seems to get more respect (by non-academics at least) because of its more selective reputation. However, even according to USNWR, the undergrad peer reputation rankings are exactly the same. My question is how many potential Rice students consider UT and vice versa? If you are not considering UT, is it because of its size, its selectivity, or maybe just not being aware that it actually has the stronger faculty and departments? Its fair to prefer the smaller, more selective experience for undergrad. It's just not correct to assume that automatically makes Rice somehow superior.</p>
<p>I'm actually applying to both UT and Rice from out of state, so I don't know how people feel about this in Texas... but I know how it is viewed in my part of Alabama at least. As far as I'm concerned, Rice ranks much higher on my list than UT, mostly because of the size, location, and atmosphere. I plan on majoring in bioengineering, so Rice also has a lot of good connections and resources for that particular field. However, so does UT.</p>
<p>As far as Alabama is concerned, UT is much more well known... but mostly because of sports. Alabama is all about football, and well... Rice isn't exactly known for it's football. I hadn't even heard of Rice before I started my sophomore year, but once I started telling people that I wanted to go to school there, I was suprised at how many people knew about it (and thought very highly of it, I might add). It just doesn't receive that much attention where I'm from... but I don't go to a private prep school that sends kids to places like that all over the place. Most of the kids from my school go to Alabama or Auburn (with exceptions, obviously).</p>
<p>I did read the other thread... and I think it's an interesting debate... but it's kind of hard to compare two schools that are so different in both their demographics and their focus. Honestly, I believe it comes down to this: they are both great schools, but it depends on the individual as to which one they will ultimately prefer.</p>
<p>rice's reputation is rooted in academics and its undergraduate programs. it is not some tacit approval that a small, intimate school with a lower acceptance rate makes that school good. the academics are much more rigorous and concentrated on undergraduates, much more so than UT. what UT has, however, are immense resources that enable them to have departments, classes, and faculty than rice cannot have. </p>
<p>for example, rice has great programs in german, french, latin, and sanskrit, and even some courses in old english. at UT you can take those and courses in turkish, finnish, old icelandic, or swedish. so a much greater variety of courses are offered and hence a larger number of majors for students to choose. rice has by contrast very few majors and no minors (though they are discussing this issue). but not many undergraduate students find out they like a subject soon enough to penetrate an area to reap the benefits of a huge school. also keep in mind that peer rankings, even in the undergraduate rankings, are influenced by graduate reputation and larger schools have the advantage. </p>
<p>rice does have faculty to easily compete with UT, but rice simply does not have as many, so there are fewer publications, less funding, fewer major discoveries, etc. there is also the faculty/student relationship that comes into play. for example, what is the point of better faculty if they never make themselves accessible? rice certainly wins in this category, but im sure if you are very good at something and motivated, you can do the same thing at both rice and UT. </p>
<p>also in the linked discussion there is some talk about the overall institution. i dont see why that matters. its not necessary and doesnt help undergraduate or graduate applicants.</p>
<p>However, Rice doesn't have Japanese as a major, unlike UT. It's why I chose UT in the end.<br>
UT is the only school in Texas with a decent East Asian language program.</p>
<p>Rice has a larger endowment per student than UT Austin. Also Rice is higher ranked in biomedical engineering than UT Austing, which is what I'm going for. For me Rice is the better school.</p>
<p>I feel that Rice is a better school overall- academics and internship is superior and plus quality of life and influences are really good at Rice. I've visited UT and i HATED the atmosphere. The people were usually rude and Their were alot of drug/alcohol parties everywhere i went on campus</p>
<p>iambored10: You and I obviously had a very different experience when we went to UT. </p>
<p>I went down there last year for a few days in which I stayed with my friend in one of the honors dorms. Unlike your experience, I found the people to be, for the most part, really nice. As for the parties, some people go and some people don't. Although UT is quite a bit large for my tastes, one of the best things about a school of its size is that there's plenty to do if you're not a partier. </p>
<p>In the end, UT and Rice are both good schools that appeal to different types of people.</p>
<p>I got into both Rice and UT, and I chose Rice because if you're from Texas you know that you go to UT if you want frat parties and good-looking girls while getting a decent education and you go to Rice if you want a top-notch education and still have an awesome undergraduate experience. I chose the latter.</p>
<p>From the perspective of a native Texas, UT is a good school if you want to make it a good school. I know way too many kids who slide in throughthe top 10% rule to have any respect for the majority of the student body. The strong students at UT are mainly those a) from out of state, b) in honors programs, c) who used it as a safety and d) who got into better schools but chose UT for money.</p>
<p>I love Austin, I like UT, I've attended classes there and visited more times than I can count, I almost went there through dean's scholars/terry foundation, and while you may be being taught the same stuff your peers will just NOT compare to those at Rice. Sorry if that's blunt but I put a LOT of deliberation into this last spring and I think I made the right choice.</p>