<p>I plan on applying to University of Texas (Austin), Texas A&M University(College Station), and Rice University(Houston) and plan to peruse electrical engineering. I have read numerous each claiming one university is better than the other. Could someone fill me in on which has a stronger ee program and which would be more a economical and "educational" choice?</p>
<p>They are all very different schools, size-wise, location-wise, and the type of student they 'tend' to draw. Other than a good electrical engineering program, what do you want out of a college? Sports scene? big city? size of classes? probability of getting TAs? etc. I think graduating from any of these schools in EE will open many, many doors for you.</p>
<p>Hmm...UTD, anyone? I heard that they have a brilliant EE program. Furthermore the new EE building has temperature-sensitive color changing tiles...</p>
<p>is this even a serious question? just simply compare sat scores and you will see that Rice prob has over a 300+ point edge on both.....</p>
<p>yea UTD would be a great choice for EE.
I would choose rice out of the 3</p>
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is this even a serious question? just simply compare sat scores and you will see that Rice prob has over a 300+ point edge on both.....
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<p>But what if the op is more interested in actual faculty/departmental quality, in which case UT has a big edge on both. UT has more NAE members on faculty than A&M and Rice combined, as well as also having a higher % of faculty with this honor than both (not to mention it also has the highest PA score). Comparing departmental rankings, UT is strongest overall. Remember also, according to the NRC rankings as well as USNWR departmental rankings, UT-Austin is #1 in Texas in basically every academic field - in many diverse fields besides just engineering. Rice and A&M are both very good too, but UT is definitely the strongest. Now if you're talking about what type of undergrad experience you're looking for, then it's more complicated, as they're all so different.</p>
<p>UT has an edge, though I would not characterize it as "big." Given Rice's superior overall reputation, I think it's a close call and agree it depends on other factors such as cost, size of school, type of environment, etc. In USNWR rankings, UT is tied for 9th and Rice and A & M are tied for 17th based on reputation scores for undergraduate engineering. In graduate school rankings for electrical engineering (which is the subject area the OP wants to pursue) Texas is 10th, Rice is 18th and A & M is 21st (each tied with other schools.)</p>
<p>Where does the OP say they are looking for graduate schools for EE? I assumed the issue was about undergrad.</p>
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Given Rice's superior overall reputation
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<p>Actually, Rice's PA score of 4.0 is less than UT's 4.1...and as mentioned earlier, it's not just engineering where UT is ranked higher than Rice. Nearly every academic program at UT is #1 in Texas per NRC, USNWR, etc. UT should also get credit for the strength of its engineering faculty, since it has the highest concentration (and number) of members in the NAE in Texas.</p>
<p>yep undergrad… the thing is I was leaning toward Rice, however, I read its tuition is around $25k/year while A&M and UT are much lower (?7k/year)… and now im having second doubts. I don’t really mind a small school and I am planning to rent an apartment my 1st year in college. Also I was thinking of getting a major in business after finishing ee. I heard UT has an honors engineering program (just found out today) could anyone give me more details about it… how is it different? how does it compare with the programs from other schools?</p>
<p>havent read about UTD does it compete with UT, A&M, or Rice?</p>
<p>Point is that ratings were in the subject area--electrical engineering.</p>
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I am planning to rent an apartment my 1st year in college.
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<p>Then I would defintely check to see what each school's housing policy is. Many schools require freshman (and sometimes sophomores) to live on campus unless their permanent address is within a certain mileage and the student plans to live at home.</p>
<p>"Many schools require freshman (and sometimes sophomores) to live on campus unless their permanent address is within a certain mileage"</p>
<p>ok def didnt know that</p>
<p>UT Austin and A&M do not have that requirement. And as far as I know, UTD does not have that requirement either.</p>
<p>Rice does have that requirement for the freshman year. It is possible to get around this, but incredibly difficult and frowned upon. You will also miss out on a lot of social rice at life by living away from your particular college. However, they will most likely kick you off campus your sophomore year and you're free to live wherever you want. There are some very nice and reasonably priced--well compared to prices around campus in Austin--apartments near Rice.</p>
<p>Don't make your decision based upon this though. Rice is an excellent school, especially if you are the Rice type. Aid is fairly decent if it is need based. Otherwise, you can expect to be paying full tuition. </p>
<p>What kind of atmosphere do you want from college? Is College Station okay with you? Or would you prefer an urban environment? </p>
<p>UT, A&M, and Rice are all excellent. As someone mentioned above, it really comes down to a choice of location/atmosphere.</p>
<p>Cross UTD off your list.</p>
<p>ya i liked College Station small town, not so hectic, but i think im going to stick to an urban environments:)</p>
<p>about UT's honors engineering program could anyone give me more details about it… how is it different? how does it compare with the programs from other schools?</p>
<p>I am a student at Rice, and you can live off-campus your first year if you desire to do so (although I think the on-campus scene is about a thousand times more enjoyable, at least for a freshman). As far as I know, they only "require" that you live on campus during O-week (orientation week) so that they can brainwash you, but after that, you are free to leave.</p>
<p>I won't spend any time explaining why I think your time spent at Rice is better or more valuable or anything like that over UT; you can make that decision for yourself. I will say, though, if you consider yourself a "normal" human being, do not choose A&M over UT. That is crazy. If Rice and UT are options, please avoid A&M!!!</p>
<p>P.S. one more thing, it's not true that you will get "kicked off" sophomore year. Depending on your residential college, you may get bumped off campus either sophomore year or junior year, but there are more colleges of the latter variety than of the former. Also, the bump year is not terribly difficult to avoid if you know how to get the right roommate (or sometimes even if you don't, depending on how many people volunteer to leave campus). And the bump only applies to that one year, so you come back for your remaining years.</p>
<p>For EE or nanotechnology, hands down, either UTD or Rice.....
Don't consider A&M considering they lost a contract from NASA to none other than UTD which is why UTD has so much funding right now and the facilities are excellent. UT is indeed a very excellent school and if you were wanting to major in something other than EE, nanotechnology, or CS i would say UT would be the way to go.</p>
<p>So in my opinion, it should come down to UTD or Rice.</p>
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For EE or nanotechnology, hands down, either UTD or Rice.....
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<p>Again, UT is the highest ranked school of the 4 for EE by NRC, USNWR, etc. And UT also has - BY FAR - the strongest engineering faculty. By absolute number as well as percentage, UT's NAE roster represents a much more accomplished faculty than any of the others. There really isn't any debate with this, so I can't understand how it keeps coming up. Austin is also located in the most high-tech focused region of all of them (well, maybe UTD as well), which is also a big plus when it comes to recruiting, etc. Many people seem to forget or not realize that Austin's high tech economy is what it is today hugely because of UT's influence in having the star researchers that influenced the research consortiums like Sematech and high tech companies to relocate or open locations in Austin.</p>
<p>While it may be argued Rice is stronger than UT in nanotech, UT is still stronger in everything else EE, Computer engineering, and computer science related. In fact, the dean of UT's engineering school, as well as also being an NAE member, is recognized as a world leader/pioneer in microelectronics research. It is due to the strength of UT's computer sciences research that the NSF granted UT the grant to have the world's fastest academic supercomputer on campus.</p>
<p>UT also continues to place many more NASA co-ops at JSC than Rice (out of proportion to their relative sizes), which is located in Houston.</p>
<p>UT, Rice, Texas A&M, and UTD are all excellent in engineering, but UT is still the strongest overall.</p>