<p>Some necessary background information.</p>
<p>I'm from Texas. Planning on majoring in computer engineering.</p>
<p>A&M: Recipient of a Brown Foundation Scholarship & National Merit Scholarship; overall scholarship money is enough to cover most of my costs (only paying ~3k/year). Admitted to the Honors Program, so I'm guaranteed Honors Housing. In addition, I was recently accepted to the MSC Champe Fitzhugh Seminar, which is a two and a half week leadership program in Italy.</p>
<p>Rice: Covering all of my demonstrated need, but no outside scholarships (paying ~10k/year - still affordable, but there's a subsidized loan in there. Debating whether to take it or pay more out of pocket). </p>
<p>UT: Plan II Honors + Engineering Honors. Scholarships+financial aid cut the cost of attending in half (paying ~13k/year)</p>
<p>I just visited Rice today and I was really attracted to the academic flexibility that Rice offers (i.e. the distribution requirements). Furthermore, I really like the Residential College system; I got the opportunity to go inside some of the dorms (Baker and Duncan Colleges, I think), and the accommodations are really nice.</p>
<p>Which school would be best for my overall intellectual development, given the programs I would be going into in these schools? I'm leaning away from UT right now since from what I've heard it's unfeasible to complete the requirements for both Plan II and Engineering in 4 years; that and housing costs are a concern. As for my future plans, I'm planning on going into grad school for engineering, and possibly business school.</p>
<p>PS: For the sake of avoiding bias, I'd rather you not comment on this if you know me personally (I've been asked about CC IRL, so I'd rather keep those separate). </p>