<p>How do the workloads compare at these schools. I know Ga Tech is tough how about Rice and UTA. </p>
<p>How about the academic quality. I am going into Biomedical engineering and do the academic quality of these three schools compare preety evenly?</p>
<p>Anyway I can find out the workloads of vaious universities without asking you guys.</p>
<p>I want to go to a really fun school but I want to make sure it is a difficult and very challenging school. Scared a little that UTA might be too easy.</p>
<p>Well Rice is right next door to the Medical Center in Houston which is huge and legendary. I don't know much about the UT program. And GT's program is associated with Emory's program so I would imagine it is reasonably respected. Here are the BME rankings according to US News.</p>
<ol>
<li>Johns Hopkins University (MD)</li>
<li>Duke University (NC)</li>
<li>Univ. of California–San Diego </li>
<li>Case Western Reserve Univ. (OH)</li>
<li>Massachusetts Inst. of Technology</li>
<li>Georgia Institute of Technology *</li>
<li>University of Pennsylvania</li>
<li>University of Michigan–Ann Arbor *</li>
<li>Northwestern University (IL)</li>
<li>Boston University</li>
<li>University of Washington *</li>
<li>Rice University (TX)</li>
<li>University of Virginia *</li>
<li>Stanford University (CA)
Vanderbilt University (TN)</li>
<li>University of California–Berkeley *
University of Texas–Austin *</li>
<li>Purdue Univ.–West Lafayette (IN)
University of Utah *
Univ. of Wisconsin–Madison *</li>
<li>Columbia University (NY)
Pennsylvania State U.–University Park *
Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst. (NY)
Tulane University (LA)</li>
<li>U. of Illinois–Urbana-Champaign *</li>
</ol>
<p>Rice is very work-hard, play-hard. It's highly selective, the professors are great, the classes are small, and prospects for its grads, biomed in particular (among other very strong programs), are excellent. I really honestly believe that you can't get a better undergraduate experience anywhere else.</p>
<p>Not that I'm an alumna of Rice or anything. No bias from me, whatsoever...</p>
<p>Well, it depends upon what sort of an environment you want. The difference between 12 and 17 is so small in these undergraduate academic rankings that you'd get a high-quality education at either place, but the two environments are really, really different. It'd be best to visit the two campuses and get a feel for campus life in both places, because that's the main difference between the two.</p>
<p>really oh i want the one at austin. Is there any abbreviation for that one. Also is Texas-austin as difficult in workload as Rice.</p>
<p>Anyone got an idea. I visited and loved the Rice campus and facilities. At Texas-austin I liked the fact there were so many people and facilities were still preety nice. Rice better facilities but i think it may be too small for me.</p>
<p>Yea, the Austin campus is just UT (because it's the main campus). But yea, Rice's workload is generally more strenuous than UT's. Rice is a better school academically, and is a smaller private school...where as UT is a HUGE public school.</p>
<p>Out of the three, UT would be the easiest workload...but also the funnest social scene. This doesn't mean that the workload will be easy though, b/c it won't. Rice and Ga Tech are pretty even, but Rice does cost more and it enrolls fewer people than either school (making it harder to get into). All 3 have good engineering schools though.</p>
<p>I am not sure about BME exactly but I know that most of the other engineering majors here at UT (all are top 10 or 5 in the nation) have very hard course loads and shouldn't be considered "too easy".</p>
<p>As for BME, UT-A will be receiving its Accreditation this year and that should signifigantly change the rankings. Also the BME majors here take most of the ChemE and upper division Chemistry classes which aren't a walk in the park.</p>
<p>No need to defend UT-Austin. UT has the strongest engineering faculty of the three. In terms of faculty with National Academy of Engineering (NAE) membership, the highest academic honor an engineer can achieve:</p>
<p>UT-Austin 48
Georgia Tech 25
Rice 13</p>
<p>UT's number actually puts it 4th after only MIT, Stanford, and Berkeley.</p>
<p>Before the size issue is brought up, realize that UT-Austin still has a higher PERCENTAGE of total engineering faculty with this honor than Rice and GaTech as well (see USNWR grad rankings for current percentages)</p>
<p>Also, according to the National Research Council, UT-Austin has the highest ranked engineering programs - and unlike Georgia Tech, UT's pure sciences (physics, chemistry, etc) are also stellar. Then, of course, compared to GaTech, UT also excels in basically everything else from the humanities to professional programs in business and law. Of the three, UT also has the strongest libraries, museums, performing arts venues, and even athletics! Can't go wrong...</p>
<p>"GT's program is associated with Emory's program so I would imagine it is reasonably respected." Yes it is good program.
"I want to go to a really fun school" GT and Emory is in Atlanta.
Atlanta is one of the most vibran, progressive, and dynamic cities.</p>
<p>JWT86, you must work for UT or something, every single post made by you have been praising UT :p</p>
<p>To OP, being a Texan and a grad student of GT, I feel that I should give my input. All three schools have excellent programs. All three are in big cities with a lot of stuff to do. Realize that there is no "easy" program, and all of them are rigorous and challenging. So in that end, I think you will enjoy your time at either of the 3 institution.</p>
<p>Hey wow you guys dug up a really old thread.</p>
<p>I am going ahead and applying to all three. I got to finish my GT app by Tuesday for the Presidential Scholarship. </p>
<p>If any of yall care i am also taking a shot at MIT and RPI ( only because of Rensselaer Medal I was awarded which gives me the $60,000 scholarship) </p>
<p>I figure ima need some help later deciding on GT, Rice, or UT. b/c most likely im not going to get into MIT. UT is in the lead b/c of the National merit deal they give.</p>
<p>morfinx - lol, no I don't work for UT, but my bias is obvious. I feel like sources like USNWR do a tremendous disservice by telling one side of a story in the way they choose to present rankings. Unfortunately, the general public takes it at face value and perception tends to overshadow reality. UT is not the only school to get shafted in the non-academic USNWR rankings, but it happens to be the one that I support. So if I see what appears to be misinformation, I see nothing wrong with continuing to present facts to the contrary. UT is a school that frankly gets screwed in public perception for being a large public literally forced to take more students from in-state than most (if not every) other top public. And as the flagship state university of a highly populous state, that is perhaps a great thing. However, it results in the many outstanding facets being overshadowed by its undergraduate selectivity and forced regional focus.</p>
<p>marchballer - My personal (biased) choice would be UT-Austin. I really feel it is the most well-rounded of the three. If you want the intimate undergraduate experience of a highly selective strong undergrad university like Rice, then go for it. Similarly, if you would prefer a highly-tech focused environment like Georgia Tech, go for that. I just believe UT offers the greatest academic breadth and depth of the three, with the added benefit of being located in one of the best cities for a college student. Don't automatically assume what someone (myself included) tells you about each is true - continue to do your own research on each. I do believe you will find that UT is highly regarded in many diverse academic fields - from classics, to law, to computer science, to business, to film, to physics, to public affairs, to engineering, among many others - a tremendous achievement that its overall ranking at the bottom of the ""top 50"" in USNWRs undergrad rankings completely obscures.</p>
<p>I agree with you that USNWR rankings should be used only as a reference. However I don't agree that it's "misinformation" as you say. True, the composite score is based on a metric that is chosen by USNWR. But each statistical category is factual. Thus it's better to look at each individual statistics and weigh those ones that are important to you (ie faculty/student ratio, research funding). What you and I find important may not hold true for another person, and it's for that person to decide what's more important. As for breadth, the OP is there to learn engineering, not another field. It makes no sense choosing a school based on a subject you won't be studying. Don't get me wrong, UT would have been my top choice of grad school had I wished to remain in state. So I hold it in high regards. But since you mentioned some additional facts, I will throw a few things out there about GT (I'll spare everyone the compare and contrast):</p>
<ul>
<li>2nd largest annual engineering research expenditure (>$200 million), only behind MIT</li>
<li>The National Science Foundation (NSF) ranks Georgia Tech 2nd in engineering R&D</li>
<li>Top 5 university in direct industry support</li>
<li>Largest optional co-op program in the nation, 4th largest among all co-op programs, with the top 3 being mandatory programs</li>
<li>The estimated gross income for all Georgia Tech Co-ops in 1997 was approximately $22 million</li>
<li>The Engineering Workforce Commission ranks Georgia Tech 1st in the number of degrees awarded in engineering and 1st in the number of degrees awarded to women in engineering.</li>
<li>Hispanic Business magazine ranked Georgia Tech 2nd in its list of top engineering schools</li>
</ul>
<p>I usually hesitate to post these type of stats, but fair is fair ;)</p>
<p>But for class size - go to Rice! UT is fine and all - but at one of the meetings we attended, the upperclass student mentioned that all her upperclass engineering classes were "small" - about 75 students. Yes, there are lots of opportunities at UT, but there are thousands of students all trying to take advantage of them.<br>
[quote]
No need to defend UT-Austin. UT has the strongest engineering faculty of the three. In terms of faculty with National Academy of Engineering (NAE) membership, the highest academic honor an engineer can achieve:
UT-Austin 48
Georgia Tech 25
Rice 13
UT's number actually puts it 4th after only MIT, Stanford, and Berkeley.
Before the size issue is brought up, realize that UT-Austin still has a higher PERCENTAGE of total engineering faculty with this honor than Rice and GaTech as well (see USNWR grad rankings for current percentages)
[/quote]
I guess statistics can say what you want. Yes, UT may have a higher percentage of the faculty NAE members, but they don't have ENOUGH faculty. And besides, I look at it this way - Rice has 2800 undergrads, and 13 NAE members; UT has 48,000 undergrads and 48 NAE members. Rice has almost 5 per thousand students, UT has 1 per thousand students. :)
That being said - my son will be deciding between UT and Rice for engineering. Anyone else want to weigh-in. (We, of course, will be waiting for financial aid to help us decide if Rice is possible.)</p>