<p>Right now, I'm a freshman studying at UT (Plan II/Economics) with the goal of attending graduate school following my B.A. completion, and I was wondering...would transferring to Rice's Econ program be beneficial? I've heard from numerous sources that the esteem in which your letter of rec.-writing professors are held is extremely important for grad school, so I'm not sure how well-regarded Rice's department is, as UT tends to hold a higher reputation in the graduate school realm (as Rice is mainly a school for undergraduate education). Would you guys suggest transferring to Rice?</p>
<p>It depends. How is this going to work out financially? If you get in state tuition at Texas and will have to pay full sticker price for Rice, then stay at Texas.</p>
<p>Basically, a Rice degree in economics is not worth 30000 extra USD per year over a Texas honors degree.</p>
<p>I’m only going to go if financial aid makes it feasible.</p>
<p>Financial aid is harder to get for transfers. In addition, you may not get housing on campus which will make it hard to integrate in the college system.</p>
<p>The main question is this, are you considering a transfer because you dislike Texas? or are you considering Rice because it is a better ranked school? I think it is the latter, in which case I would recommend staying. Plan II Honors from Texas is well reputed as well. In addition, it will be financially a good choice and you seem to be doing well (I believe you posted a 4.0 on another thread)</p>
<p>The minor gain you may see from transferring to Rice is not worth it in my opinion. Unless you are unhappy there, don’t transfer.</p>
<p>Why don’t you first see if you can get in? I mean, it just doesn’t make sense to go straight to worrying about transferring if you’re not even given that choice.</p>
<p>…because I don’t want to spend $~100 if it’s not even worth it…?</p>
<p>The Rice forum isn’t really the right place for your question. You need someone who knows something about Econ grad school admissions. I’m not sure what to suggest, but if you search with grad school admissions in mind, you might be able to find some advice on this.</p>
<p>Not a good reason to transfer! You can do very well with grad school applications from either school - given a certain level of effort and accomplishments. Good reasons to transfer; you are unhappy with the academic/social situation at your current school and you feel that Rice would be a better undergraduate experience for you.</p>
<p>And you should receive similar financial aid as a transfer as you would have received as a incoming freshman, with the exception that you will not be eligible for merit aid as a transfer…</p>
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<p>Absolutely. </p>
<p>Again, the prestige of the school, while a contributing factor, is not paramount to your success. Doing very well in Texas with Plan II is very good and will be looked upon favorably by grad schools. It is what you do there, not necessarily where you go.</p>
<p>You’re in Plan II, an extremely well-respected honors program. As long as you’re happy with UT, I don’t think it’s worth spending the extra money.</p>