<p>Shrivats:</p>
<p>It's great to collect as much information as possible, but don't decide until you have to. Give yourselves more time to gather information and to think things through. S1 did not make a decision until April 30 for a deadline of May 1.</p>
<p>Presumably you have had a rich community life within the Indian community at home. I don't think it is unreasonable to explore what this aspect of life would be like at your various choices. I would also look carefully at residential options. As 16 year olds your needs are somewhat different than the average freshmen. Do you have family members living near any of your choices? In order to have the richest school experience, it will be nice to have each other in the beginning, but over time you will certainly want to extend beyond this comfort zone. In short, make sure you are looking at the community aspects of the schools you are looking in, not only the ranking of the engineering programs. Congratulations on all your nice choices.</p>
<p>Thanks Marite, I'm sure our natural tendency to procrastinate will take care of that. :)</p>
<p>@anitaw: We've actually not decided to go to the same college yet. (In fact we're moderately hell bent on finally creating individual identities. :p :)) We actually turn 17 right before college, so we're not that young... We are definitely considering every aspect of the colleges we've been accepted to, not just the strength of their academics.</p>
<p>He he. D didn't decide until May 3 for a supposed deadline of May 1 due to conflicting visiting students weekends etc.</p>
<p>Take your time. Have you asked around on the forums here for each school? I do think that they tend to reflect the culture of the various places pretty well.</p>
<p>I thought Berkeley was too much of a lion's den for my kid. Campus housing is only guaranteed to freshmen. It's big and impersonal. I think you can have a great experience if you are fairly aggressive. For me - particularly with out of state costs - it just didn't seem like a good deal. (And it's tied for number 1 in computer science.) </p>
<p>My nephew is at Rice. He started doing research from day one. (He's interested in bio-engineering.) He loves it. My son was adamant about no Texas so he didn't apply. The residential colleges are great. That's my recommendation, especially since you guys are so young, but I don't know anything about Penn and Duke - someone else will have to pipe in about how wonderful they are.. (Well I know about the lacrosse brouhaha at Duke.)</p>
<p>I'd just also like to thank everyone who's responded.</p>
<p>@Alumother: We've been trawling these forums for quite a bit now (reflected in exceedingly large post counts :)); so we've been in the college forums quite a lot. The thing is, we found things to like and dislike about each of them; (of course CC in itself isn't really very representative and any college with thousands of people is bound to have many viewpoints and types of individuals), but I do see what you're saying about the culture of a college being evident in the forum (Princeton's was in other league (friendly, approachable and filled with lovely people) (and no doubt, most colleges would also have a large number of people who write exceedingly long sentences :))</p>
<p>Rice would seem to offer the most of what you know you want at this point--plus I think the forensics/debate program is great. It also seems to get great marks for sense of community.</p>
<p>I wouldn't want to recommend. And you have all wonderful choices.</p>
<p>I would just want to reflect back that, based on your own posts of what you are looking for/worried about, Rice seems to fit much more than the others. Your only concern about Rice seems to be whether it is ranked "as high" for Engineering. I wouldn't worry about that, as it is very highly respected for Engineering and is also strong in other fields you are considering.</p>
<p>And I second all of those who have commented on how wonderfully you come through in your posts here. Your thought process and approach, for twins of only age 16, is so impressive. Best of luck to both of you.</p>
<p>Let me put in a word for Berkeley -- the Regents Scholarship is very prestigious; it also will get you full need-based financial aid. You are guaranteed space in the dorms, if you want it (most don't after the first couple of years; there is a lot of housing in the area). The campus is beautiful, the school is amazingly diverse -- the other night, on campus, there was a group doing various kinds of Indian dances on Sproul plaza -- some Bollywood type stuff and some more traditional. There are large classes, but there are also smaller ones; the faculty is great. My kid went there and loved it. The weather is better than at any of the other options -- lovely, temperate. It is a great place to be.</p>
<p>Thanks jmmom, mmaah and mamenyu.</p>
<p>And to make matters even more perplexing we were both just accepted to Northwestern a few minutes ago :)</p>
<p>Another plug for Berkeley: our neighbor's son is in engineering (EECS?) and is a big debater -- the debate team at Cal is excellent (and would make the "big school" aspect less imposing). He's had a great 3 years so far. He's contemplating law school among his options. Frats are not a big thing here; it is not a preppy school -- wide economic diversity. The engineering school is the hardest to get into at a very competitive school (nearly 50,000 applicants, which means that being a Regents Scholar is quite a feat -- I attended the event for Regent's nominees this year and the kids were friendly and bright and have an organization that hosts events regularly -- you can find the website on line -- another way you could make the big-school scene more personal).</p>
<p>Just a quick comment -- a few posts back, Shrivats wrote:
[quote]
being an International at Berkeley is so very rare
[/quote]
That is a very mistaken impression. There is a huge and highly visible international presence at the Berkeley campus. It may be that most of the internationals are grad students, since in-state residents are favored for admissions; however given the fact that California is such a diverse state, many of the "in-state" applicants are also internationals whose parents have been living in California. But the point is: you won't stand out as international on campus -- wherever you walk on campus (but especially Sproul Plaza, the busiest/most congested part) --you will see people from all over and you will hear many languages spoken. </p>
<p>I'm not weighing in one way or another on which college you choose. I just want to make sure to clear up any misunderstanding that you may have as to the diversity on the Berkeley campus.</p>
<p>Kaushik: let me ask you this question. All your options are 45+k/yr options. Would you need aid to attend those? If so then money talks. All are fine schools. If money is no object, I would rank Berkeley and NU higher than your other options. Again, it depends on what you want to study. For engineering majors the exploration time in college is very short. At many places dual engineering major is not feasible. It may be at Rice because Rice does allow AP credits as course credits. I am not sure about other places.</p>
<p>And don't forget awards like regents scholorships etc may come with some perks as well. I think that was the point of the mega thread in the parents forum (it is still running).</p>
<p>First of all, let me say, I believe you when you say that you dream in Shakespeare. No wonder you have all those acceptances. You both write with such flair. All joking aside--are you really engineers at heart? Hah! What a loss for humanities departments at all the schools listed.</p>
<p>My kids go to school overseas--both are 9000 miles away at the moment. I don't have any problem with that distance. I don't think our relationship would be different if I were 200 miles away. They are busy shaping their adult lives, their passions. I am a thrilled bystander.</p>
<p>The trick for oveseas students is to select a school AND a city/location that will exceed your expectations and keep you enthralled and engaged. Have you travelled extensively? Do you have favorite cities in Europe or Asia for example? Dubai isn't the best city for a curious teenager--compared to New York, Paris, London. What aspects of your life to you hope to enhance?</p>
<p>Because I am a daft old dear, I cannot reconcile your verbal trilling with the thought of you in quiet, isolated bio-med research labs. For one thing, you are going to drive those bio-med introverts out of their minds with that verbosity!</p>
<p>Let's play a visualization game. Where will you both live when you are 25? 30? What sort of work would send you skipping to the office? Are you aiming for Nobels --or Booker Prizes? Whose life do you admire?</p>
<p>
[quote]
All your options are 45+k/yr options.
[/quote]
Rice was always quite a bit less expensive than other schools of its caliber. Has that changed? Or is it different for internationals?</p>
<p>well there is still some differential, but the gap is closing. 2 years ago it was about 7-8 k. Last year I think it was about 5 - 6k.</p>
<p>Yes, the gap closed some, but should not close any further -Rice is planning on staying about $6-7000 less a year than comparable schools. Fixed costs (tuition, fees, room and board) are $39,489 for new students. I wasn't able to find 2007-2008 fixed fees at Northwestern or Duke.</p>
<p>Why is JHU out of the picture???</p>
<p>Engineering Check
Other majors check (econ & IR)
City/metropolitan area check</p>
<p>Shrivats and Kaushik, Don't worry about your age--if you're 17 while starting college, you'll find peers your age and younger too! As for Engineering schools I have no idea about rankings and preferences (though I am an Indian-American with engineering background), but do think this over carefully as someone else suggested. Are you really engineers at heart or are you going into it because that's the field Indians traditionally expect their high-acheiving children to pursue? Do try to choose the school that will allow you to switch your major to liberal arts without making you jump through too many hoops--Physics and Economics that you mentioned in the first post or maybe English Lit which appears to be your secret passion. Good luck--you can't go wrong with all those choices--you will find a community of Indian-Americans in all those schools, if that's a consideration.</p>
<p>I will be paying fixed cost of 44k per year, so the diff. is about 4.5k/year at Rice or about 10%.</p>