WashU vs Rice

Colleges and Universities A-Z Washington University in St. Louis
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<p>Hi, I am trying to make a tough decision between WashU and Rice</p>

<p>I am an international student from China. I was accepted to WashU, Rice, UCB and UVA. I love the opportunities that UCB and UVA have to offer but am more looking forward to smaller class size, individual attention and a sense of community. So I kinda crossed out UCB and UVA.
I am also waitlisted by Harvard, UPenn, Columbia, Brown and Amherst and took spots at all institutions but do not know whether I should pursue them. (Would love to receive some advice regarding wait list!)</p>

<p>I have yet to decide what to major in. I am very strong in all science subjects but also extremely interested in business, econ and political-science. I hope to know which school is better at the fields mentioned above. I am thinking about doing a double major or even a triple major, so the flexibility of the universities is definitely a huge part of my decision making.</p>

<p>Here are my thoughts so far. I collect these information on the internet so please correct me if I am wrong.</p>

<p>WashU
Haven't visited yet, going next Thursday for Multicultural
I heard it has very beautiful campus with cold but not extreme weather (which I really like). Great Bio-med, Bio and Chem engineering programs and the curriculum seems to be very flexible. I am also impressed by the abundance of opportunities that Olin has to offer to its undergraduate. The students are very intelligent but the competition, according to one of my friends there, is benevolent and not cutthroat.
Downside: Less name recognition in areas outside of mid-west. Its B-school, although very strong, is not regarded as a target school by major investment banks and consulting firms. The opportunities in St. Louis is not abundant if not extremely limited.</p>

<p>Rice ( I am still researching Rice,only limited information so far)
Haven't visited yet, going April 17th for admits day
Fairly hot but acceptable weather. Pretty but relatively smaller campus. Easy access to Houston which offers many entertainments and opportunities. Great name recognition in the South and even California--all my family relatives in LA know Rice. No idea about its name recognition in the Northeast. Smaller class size and more attention placed on undergraduates. Excellent engineering programs in most fields.
Downside: Tooooo far away from east coast cities where I really want to go. Poor diversity because around 50% of the incoming class come from Texas.</p>

<p>Sorry, this is a really really long post. I have so many things to compare. Any input would be highly appreciated. Thanks!!</p>

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<p>I’ve visited both and in my opinion the area directly around WashU is more exciting than that around Rice. Rice was my first choice until I visited wash u. Also wash u’s food is really good (if that matters to you, I found it to be a major plus) and the advising is ridiculous- the Rolls Royce of college advising. </p>

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<p>It’s great that you are visiting both campuses. You will hopefully get a feel for each school and its culture, a well as the types of students that you might be spending four years with. As far as diversity, check the stats in the common data set for each school - this will tell you precise data on diversity. Please report back after you have visited both schools, very interested in your impressions. But bottom line, you will probably get a strong feel for where you belong after the visits. </p>

<p>It might be interesting to swing through career services and check on the finance and consulting firms that recruit at Wash U and Rice (since you mentioned that as a concern about Wash U).</p>