UT Plan II v Rice v Tulane

Colleges and Universities A-Z Rice University
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<p>Hello, everyone! I've been accepted to UT Plan II/Biology (no scholarship $), Rice (with 15,800/year), and Tulane (full tuition, 39,000/year). Just for some background info, I was also accepted to WUSTL, Dartmouth, Columbia, Northwestern, Texas A&M, & Vanderbilt also, but have already turned those down due to no financial or merit aid. Money is for sure an issue for my family and we won't be getting any $ according to the FAFSA (our EFC was like 100k/year, which is ridiculous). I'm really leaning towards Rice as I am pre-med and feel like it offers a lot of opportunities given its location around multiple medical facilities. If I attend Rice, however, I will probably be forced to take out about 5k/year in loans and work maybe 10-15 hrs a week during the school year. Is it worth it, or should I stick with Texas or Tulane? Any help would be appreciated!!!</p>

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<p>any suggestions?</p>

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<p>If money is as big of an issue as you suggest, Tulane is probably your best bet (as much as it pains me to say it), because a free education is an awesome thing.</p>

<p>However, from what you put, $5k a year is not too bad, nor is working 10-15 hours a week. You will have plenty of time for academics and a social life even with a job. With that in mind, I’d say definitely go for Rice.</p>

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<p>Rice is great for med, especially because it’s in Houston and has a lot of opportunities for research, etc. I would say a short term investment in your education via loans outweighs going to Tulane.</p>

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<p>Thanks, yea, I think I’m going to go with Rice. My parents agree, and they don’t think that 20k total over 4 years is the end of the world. Both my parents had well over that amount for undergrad alone, plus over 100k from UT law in loans. They were able to pay it off, and don’t regret any of their decisions.</p>

<p>Can anyone comment on whether it would be difficult to have a job and still manage doing well at Rice? Schee410 makes it seem like it would be manageable. I’ll be either a bio, econ, or most likely cognitive science major. </p>

<p>Also, no one has weighed in on Rice v. UT Plan II. Is Rice that much better than UT to justify the loans? Thanks everyone!</p>

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<p>I have some friends who are at Rice and say that they currently have 3.9+ GPAs and all are still able to work 20+ hours a week in a lab.</p>

<p>I guess it varies from person to person though.</p>

<p>Also, I would pick Rice over UT Plan II any day.</p>

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<p>I posted a response to you inthe Tulane thread. What do you plan to major in?</p>

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<p>@ rice, probably cognitive science, psych, or biology. can anyone comment on the work involved with each of these majors?</p>

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<p>Those majors definitely have a lot of work involved, but like I said, working part-time and juggling schoolwork is definitely manageable. I’m studying civil engineering and math, and I get ~10 hrs/week in the office where I work. My suitemate is studying biochem (pre-med) and he’s also taking the EMT class and volunteering in hospitals (totals 20+ hrs/week) and he has a higher GPA than I do.</p>

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<p>If you are remotely interested in anything medical, go to Rice. Rice has the best preparation for medical school of any school. My pre-med friends tell me that medical school is relatively easy compared to Rice. There are SO many opportunities for research and volunteering since there are five hospitals across the street! They have a very strong reputation among admission committees for medical schools.</p>

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<p>There’s actually 13 hospitals across the street!</p>

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<p>I was just about to say that, blackeyedsusan!! <a href=“http://www.texasmedicalcenter.org/root/en[/url]”>http://www.texasmedicalcenter.org/root/en&lt;/a&gt;

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