<p>What about Southwestern? I have a friend whose DS just started there (chosen mainly so he could play soccer and still be nearby), but I’ve heard good things about it. Limited choice of majors I believe, but I’m sure someone here could comment.</p>
<p>I just looked it up and Southwestern does have a Comp Sci major…I don’t know that I’d choose a LAC for a Comp Sci major, but they do have one. My Son is there and I think it’s a good fit for him but I coudn’t help but notice that the student body is *way *more caucasian than his HS class was. If you look at their diversity stats, they look pretty diverse, but I don’t know who they’re counting. Maybe Democrats?</p>
<p>We loved SW’ern when we visited. It’s fallen off ds’s list, but it was on until last month. Here’s a visit report from someone else that reflects how we felt: </p>
<p>[Southwestern</a> University Visit - bblfraser](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/visits/southwestern-university/1913882.html]Southwestern”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/visits/southwestern-university/1913882.html)</p>
<p>What I still haven’t gotten is a sense of what OP’s ds is looking for – small, big, etc.</p>
<p>
Both my kids live/lived off-campus at Rice without a car. Both save/saved money; both were within 6 blocks of campus. Rice has shuttles to stores on weekends. Not all the res colleges kick students off campus their sophomore year; most do it the junior year - though not everyone gets kicked off,even then, and many volunteer, and with the building of the new res colleges there will be less offcampus needed in the next few years. Really, there is a lot of very affordable housing within just a few blocks of Rice, and IKEA is close and cheap for basic kitchen stuff - plus you can buy it off the leaving students. We saved money with kids living off-campus, and they get more space and their own bedrooms.</p>
<p>This is probably a topic for a different thread, but I have seen the issue of guaranteed on-campus housing become a huge issue for parents. I’ll admit that I was a little concerned when my high-school daughter was applying to colleges. It’s hard to imagine while they are juniors or seniors in high school how ready they will be to live off-campus by soph and certainly by junior year. At Rice it really does not detract from the college experience at all the way it might at some schools.</p>
<p>Thank you all once again for the thought provoking responses. Yes, there are many many good schools out there and it gets overwhelming after a certain point to keep scouting boards and read tons of threads (I love it I admit), but i do get tired and confused.</p>
<p>Sons have lived in the states for only the first couple of years and then we have been moving with husbands job internationally. Lived mainly in big cities and hung out with people from different countries/cultures/religions. Kids enjoy this aspect of living abroad so sending older son to a remote place where he may feel out of place or lonely is my worst fear. </p>
<p>He has done EPGY programs at Stanford so he is keen on California. We all know how hard it is to get into UC schools anyway, hence Texas came into play. </p>
<p>Basically he is a city boy, he likes to walk to places and meet people. Intelligent but not by the book, wants to do CS but is not nerdy, not into sports. TAMU was on our list but after reading some posts here I got scared. Too many things seem to tip the scale out of favor.</p>
<p>Rice/Stanford environment seems perfect. Intelligent but unique/down to earth student body, good faculty, good programs. Trinity perked my interest because that was the only 2nd tier school which s***<em>**rev</em>*.com did not trash!</p>
<p>We have to choose between one of these for Comp Sc/General Engineering.</p>
<p>have kept UT austin on the list. </p>
<p>Both SMU and TU are small and have international presence. I am not too excited about the greek presence on SMU but son can handle that I think.</p>
<p>Trinity U.</p>
<p>I agree with ignatius - Trinity. (Unless he intends to live in Dallas after college, in which case SMU would be better for job contacts).</p>
<p>Trinity. More intellectual, less of a party scene, more nurturing community etc. The Greeks are not national at TU and are not a dominant presence. </p>
<p>Drinking culture seems particularly active at SMU</p>
<p>San Antonio is I believe the 8th largest city in the nation so there will be no shortage of internship opportunities there either.</p>
<p>Trinity, if choosing between Trinity and SMU. :)</p>
<p>oh and if you qualify they offer really sweet merit packages. D would have attended and agonized for weeks but in the end it was too far from home. “Mom, if it was just in CA it would be my number 1” Part of that was the appeal of the campus and school in general but the rest was that they offered her the best financial package of any of her accepted schools.</p>
<p>I am kind of still in mourning…can you tell??</p>
<p>Agree w/Trinity.</p>
<p>Yup - definitely Trinity over SMU. I am starting to look at Trinity for DS#2…first step - to see if there is a golf team!</p>
<p>Here’s a plug for the other TU - University of Tulsa. (For some reason in the central U.S. schools reverse their initials - KU Univiersity of Kansas, CU University of Colorado, etc.). Just 200 miles north of the Texas border is this engineering school (computer science too) with a liberal arts flair in a city of 400,000 plus. The NPR radio station for metro Tulsa is on the TU campus. Lots of merit aid, Division I sports for weekend fun; and a handsome tree lined campus not far from downtown (similar to Trinity U. in this respect). Texans tend to overlook nearby colleges and universities that are top-notch like TU.</p>
<p>TU is what Aggies (from Texas A&M) call UT-Austin.</p>
<p>That would be tu, anxiousmom. ;)</p>
<p>Have heard a few negative things lately about </p>
<p>Trinity (food/dorms/admin).</p>
<p>SMU (Frat scene/Party).</p>