Hello all!
I was admitted to Rice University as a Trustee Scholar and Century Scholar. I am currently weighing my options between some of the ivies, more specifically UPenn and Columbia. For context - at UPenn I would get a dual degree in Computer Science and Economics from Wharton, at Columbia I’d do Operations Research, and at Rice I would do Computer Science and Computational Mathematics.
I know that I am interested in attending grad school after my undergraduate studies (MBA/Masters), and I know that Rice has an excellent undergraduate focus which is why I love it so much. A lot of my peers and parents are telling me that the ivies I have been admitted to are quite focused on graduate students, and I would have a much better time at Rice for my undergrad and Ivies as a grad student.
Are there any opportunities that are unique to Rice that will make my life in graduate school admissions much easier? Also, a little off topic - but has anyone ever worked on their MBA as an undergraduate student and finished quickly?
This forum has been so helpful for my choices, all. Thank you so much!
I have not graduated from rice and then applied to grad school but I did graduate from Penn and daughter attends Rice. I understand the conventional wisdom is that it broadly doesn’t matter where you went undergrad but more on what you accomplished when there. That goes doubly so between a school ranked 14 in the country as opposed to a school ranked say 8th. I can’t envision a scenario where you would be accepted to a grad program with a Penn degree and not with a Rice degree all else being equal.
In fact, for computer science I would think a Rice degree would be, if anything, stronger then a degree from an Ivy. So really you should choose the school that gives you the best chance to excel academically, best chance to do research as an undergrad, and the best chance to build strong personal relationships with your professors .
Now personally I think you have a much better chance at finding those qualities at Rice then at an Ivy. Penn is large and probably impersonal. At rice my daughter did research her freshman year, has been invited to her professor’s home for dinner, and in gereral has had much more personal support and interaction then I experienced at Penn.
Now this is all depending on the individual. Any particular person might thrive better at one school then at the other. For instance maybe you would thrive in a fraternity which doesn’t exist at Rice.
But the weather in February is so much better in Houston then Philadelphia