Please try to take worthiness out of the decision. I felt the same way about myself many years ago (first generation college, immigrant parent) and chose the school with less prestige. Got a great education, made great friends, but will never know if the same would have happened at the more highly ranked, internationally reknowned school.
DS2 is facing a similar path. He decided to attend the higher ranked reach school that accepted him over the school that all along had been his first choice. He is nervous about it but finding ways to get comfortable, like joining the Admitted Students page on Facebook, and atrending a summer head start program.
I know a few students who have chosen Rice over Stanford for one of two reasons - Rice gave them a full merit ride while Stanford was full pay or Rice was more attractive due to Rice/Baylor admission.
Rice also has a great music school and architecture school.
Rice would be great for someone interested in the petrochemical industry. They are all mostly local companies.
Having said all that, I would recommend you go to Stanford if you are from Texas. You will get a much more different perspective on life when you spend 4 years in a different State.
I’m reading all these responses and smiling at how some of them sound like your crowd of family, cheering on the Stanford name and ignoring everything else. Stanford isn’t going to open more doors than Rice if it isn’t the right place for you. This is not a one-size-fits-all decision. I know recent grads from both schools and there is no clear pattern of success. So much depends on your personality and how the school fits you. If you find your people and take advantage of opportunities around you, you will be successful at either place. ** Trust yourself to make the right decision based on what matters to you. **
That said everyone who is urging you to visit Stanford during the Admitted Students Weekend is giving you sound advice. You may find that Stanford offers you everything Rice does and more. (Make sure you go beyond the dog and pony show of the Admit Weekend. Visit classes, talk with current students walking around the campus, ask questions.)
Everyone who attends an elite school feels like an imposter. Expect to find yourself blown away by the talent you encounter at both Rice and at Stanford. I remember taking one of my children to visit a “safety school” and overhearing a conversation between a professor and a student that blew me away. And then hearing kids in the admissions office talking together while waiting for tours to begin. They were incredible. There are inspiring kids who make us all feel small everywhere. :"> Don’t let it shake your decision. I think it’s a growing experience for all young adults to move into the new pond and find confidence in that new environment over time. You really have to adjust your perspective so that you appreciate the talent you meet and learn from your peers rather than strive to be the best. I’ll grant you there are many people who never learn that lesson. The ones who do seem to me to be happier. Don’t let the fear of change and the fear of not measuring up hold you back.
And finally, the money. That’s a big difference if that’s truly the way the awards stack up. I’d have a hard time turning down Stanford–assuming you don’t affirmatively dislike the school–if it’s nearly free to you.
There’s lots to think about and you don’t have all the data yet. If you wouldn’t mind, would you come back to this thread and post your impressions of your Stanford visit? I’d love to hear what you ultimately decide. Good luck with a decision many would love to be making!
I think they are about equal in opening doors. But the additional debt of attending Rice could affect a lot of your future decisions. Picking Stanford, if you like it, would be the most prudent choice. If the finances were reversed I would say pick Rice.
I think it would be completely fine to choose Rice out of personal preference. I agree that if you feel the same way after visiting Stanford, you should try to get more money from Rice.
@vozvratsaa Same! I agree with everyone saying that 1) Stanford and Rice can open just about the same doors, and 2) you really should go to the admitted visit weekend and see what happens and what you like first! I hope you enjoy it
I do agree, though, that there’s a big difference between $4K and $36K. BIG difference.
I saw in another thread that you finally committed to Stanford. Did you really like it when you went to the admitted students’ weekend or were you going solely off of prestige?
@TheDidactic In all honesty, admit weekend was pretty weird! I didn’t love it the first day that I was there, and overall the experience at the beginning was very, very awkward. The campus was beautiful, but in a way I do prefer Rice’s campus, even if it isn’t as strikingly beautiful as Stanford’s.
What really won me over, though, were the students that I met. I spent a lot of time with the SLE kids, and they embodied everything that I loved about the kids I met at Rice: They didn’t take themselves too seriously, they were fun, quirky, and just plain easy to talk to. Almost everyone that I talked to said that their admit weekend experiences sucked, which I think is inevitable when you throw together a bunch of insecure teenagers. And yeah, admit weekend felt extremely superficial—there was way too much in-your-face, fake enthusiasm; every other admit that I talked to didn’t really respond beyond typical icebreaker questions (have you committed? where else did you get in? where are you from?); and being outside of South Texas for the first time resulted in HUGE culture shock. I was also a little bit bothered by the preprofessional vibe that I got from some of the other admits. Coincidentally, most of these types were deciding between Harvard/Stanford… hmm
I had absolutely no idea about SLE before admit weekend, and the community is really a gem. Once I found that group, I felt like I’d found a place that I could be just as happy as I was at Rice or even happier. I loved how all of the doors in the dorm were plastered with rainbow flags, art, weird pictures I couldn’t understand… the community seemed totally normal and was really refreshing after the snobbery that I encountered on the very first day of admit weekend.
Overall, was it perfect? No—far from it. But now I’ve seen that there’s a place for me at Stanford where I can finally be the person who I want to be without being judged for it. Yeah, prestige+money did play a role, but that was what ultimately sealed the deal for me.
