<p>Hey aggies,</p>
<p>Currently I am a rising sophomore at Rice University, double majored(hopefully I can do it) in BS Mechanical Engineering and BS Earth Science. I am in a dillema about whether transfer to be an Aggie or not.</p>
<p>Rice is an awesome, open, wet campus. The people and faculty there are unbelievably friendly and open-minded.<br>
...But after one year, I figured that Rice doesn’t offer the major I wanted: PetroE. I would like to go for a Ph.D in PetroE or Energy Resources Eng. So right now I can only take both Earth science and Mech Eng classes at Rice. Btw I’m an international student. </p>
<p>If I stay at Rice I guess it will be hard for me to do two BS at the same time. But I'm pretty sure I will be happy about people and life here.</p>
<p>If transfer:
I am not sure about social life at TAMU. There are too many people and hardly professors notice you.
Also.. If I do transfer, I don't know if I should apply for Spring 13(deadline Aug 1, 2012) or Fall 13? Because PetroE are pretty competitive and might be already full at the time I’m transferring, are there any current PetroE undergrad can give me some info? If I get in another engineering div, is it hard to change major at TAMU?</p>
<p>About me:
GPA not particularly high(Engineering people are nuts at Rice): around 3.5.
I completely screwed up my first semester but did well in my second. I haven’t taken a lot of major requirement courses yet. But I took all intro math and eng classes, Diffe, Multi, intro to Matlab and some fun classes which ruined my Gpa.</p>
<p>My SAT(I wonder if they are still important..): around 96 percentile if I remembered it right. Something like 1400/1600.</p>
<p>Research: Have been doing research since the first semester. Not related to Earth Science though. Mostly Mech stuff.</p>
<p>Motivation:
My grandpa was a PetroE professor and has a lot of impact on me choosing PetroE.
It seems like UTA and TAMU have the best PetroE program. Right now I’m leaning towards TAMU because I just think TAMU people are more friendly.. Correct me if I am wrong..</p>
<p>Greatly appreciated.
Any comments about PetroE are welcomed.</p>
<p>Have you been to A&M? Rice and A&M are very different from each other. I am an aggie parent. Each of my kids was accepted to Rice, but none attended, due to costs. But from our research and several Rice visits, I know a little about each school. Since you didn’t mention costs, I’m assuming that costs aren’t a factor for you. But still – before you make such a move, you should be relatively certain that you’ll be happy with the tradeoffs between Rice and TAMU. They’re very different schools!</p>
<p>Also, like most engineering programs, the aggie Petroleum Engineering degree, starts hot and heavy right off the bat, so you’ll be playing catch up and extending the time it takes to get your degree. You can check out the TAMU Course Catalog under Dwight Look College of Engineering, then Curriculum in Petroleum Engineering to see the track your aggie peers will be on while you’re taking courses at Rice and applying for a transfer to A&M. Whether you choose spring 2013 or fall 2013, you’ll be behind.</p>
<p>To me, it seems like a lot of work, a lot of extended time devoted to earning an undergraduate degree, and a lot of additional cost, just to leave one excellent school for another. I’m surprised that, if this degree is so important to you, you didn’t think of it earlier in the college application process…</p>
<p>Best of luck to you, admixo. I hope that wherever you end up, you feel satisfied with what you’re trying to accomplish. :)</p>
<p>While I am an Aggie, Rice spirit is quite admirable in comparison to other small schools, and the only reasons to transfer to A&M would be to </p>
<p>1) To save money, which is huge. You’d probably never regret going to TAMU for this reason alone, though you likely haven’t thought over student loans that much.
2) To be part of the Aggie network, also significant at multiple times in your career. Once you have an Aggie ring, you are networked. The advantage of this cannot be overstated in many fields. I have specifically had a Rice friend tell me this. He is bright and capable, but doesn’t have the network.
3) Social life. At TAMU, you are entering a city of 49K people that are roughly your age. The opportunities for leadership, friendship, and dating are endless. Walk across A&M’s campus and tell me how many dating prospects you see on a fall or spring day, and then walk across the Rice campus and do the same. There really isn’t any comparison.
4) Location. College Station is a college town with all the benefits thereof. Houston is Houston. I lived there for years, near Rice, and would much rather be in College Station for my younger years. Houston does have better live music, but for a busy college student, that probably shouldn’t matter much.</p>
<p>I have no answer for your petroleum engineering question, except to say that TAMU is cheap enough that you can extend your stay in college, which at A&M is what you will want to do because you’ll be having so much fun.</p>
<p>TAMU people are great. This is coming from someone who wanted to go to UT and was rejected. My decision to go to A&M was probably the best decision I ever made. The Petroleum Engineering program is EXCELLENT at TAMU and I think you’d find your place. Everyone is so friendly and I think it’d be worth it to get your desired degree over here.</p>