He LOVED, LOVED LOVED Rice!! Turned down Ga Tech in a heartbeat for it. He was a bit shy, and not interested in Rah Rah sports or Greek life. The support, family feel and and intimacy of the Residential college system was perfect for him. And he was a serious student, meaning he likes to have fun, but he wasn’t a big partier, and enjoyed intellectual discussions as much as the silliness as Night of Decadence or as much as the Improv comedy group. The HUGE schools did not appeal to him. You think you will see your friends but in a campus the size of Austin you will not. Its easy to get lost in the madding crowd. You can fit the entire undergrad population of Rice in one of the Freshman dorms at UT.
He much preferred smaller classes, personal relationships with faculty, and the incredible opportunities there. I cannot say enough good things about Rice. He had a significant medical issue during his junior year and the Masters (house parents) were hugely helpful, as was the fact that the massive medical centers were right across the street. That was a huge help. And despite the major medical challenges, he had the assistance and support of friends and the House Masters, and he had his most academically successful semester ( and he was an engineering major with an overall graduating GPA of 3.75)
He started out as a physics major but decided he was tired of problem sets, so changed INTO engineering his soph. year, He still graduated in 4 years, had 2 fabulous and extremely well paying internships in the summers (the internship opportunities and placement services were fabulous).
He knew no one when he first went, though discovered that a friend from a summer program at Duke was in his Res College, and they have remained good friends. He got involved in student government, EWB (Engineers without Borders) - traveled with them to South America, and lots of other things. He traveled to France with his senior project team. He got involved with the entrepreneurial program (I forget the name) and worked closely with business leaders and developers in the area. He got involved in local politics. He was acknowledged for being a top engineering student with departmental scholarships in , IIRC, his junior and Senior years. Rice a place to try lots of things and be uniformly accepted for who you are. He just returned to Houston to attend the wedding of one of his buddies/former roommates. There is a core group of Mech Es that have stayed close and get together annually.
To be completely honest, looking from the outside, Rice is a more “prestigious” school (if that matters) than UT- Austin, and the Trustee scholarship will open doors for you. As an aside, he (and several of his Rice friends) are now in Silicon Valley. At his current place of employment he went through 9 interviews. The final interview was from someone in a different department… but who happened to be a Rice Mech E grad. That probably didnt hurt.
I know you think UT is the cats’ meow, as they say, but personally, I think you will get far more individual attention and opportunities at Rice. Be open minded when you return for a visit. Personally, I think you’d be foolish for turning down this INCREDIBLE opportunity. And if you dont like it, you can afford to transfer to UT. You will not have the opportunity to do the reverse.
