<p>Since I have a little free time on my hands, here is a more extended and honest response:</p>
<p>1. Academics
General: Both are excellent top-notch schools. I know a lot of people who got into Rice and WashU but chose Rice, or chose WashU, etc. but this is the case with a large number of overlapping schools (Northwestern, Duke, Emory, etc). The quality of academics is negligible in a holistic sense; quality of students is pretty similar.</p>
<p>For me, I was an incoming premed, and I didn’t like how WashU seemed so incredibly premed-centric - what if I changed my mind and wanted to do something else? I’m sure WashU’s other departments are pretty good as well, but as far as I’m concerned, its main reputation is rooted in premed/sciences/medical school. (Kind of like Johns Hopkins, though it’s also known for BME and international relations)</p>
<p>At Rice, I appreciated how there was a more “diverse” group of students, relatively speaking - yes, lots of premeds too and engineers, but music and architecture majors, and social sciences/humanities as well. I went to WashU’s multicultural weekend, which hosted lots of (mostly) Asian prospies, and literally every kid I met there was an aspiring premed - testified to WashU’s strengths, but also turned me off a little by probable competition and lack of other attractive major options at WashU. I felt that if I happened to NOT want to go to medical school, Rice would have better options for me to fall back on, so to speak (this was just one factor in my decision). </p>
<p>This is in spite of the fact that WashU has more grad schools and actual undergrad business program. Despite its great quality and academic reputation, it is still a very regional school with limited career opportunities (this also leads to the location/regional prestige aspect), which I’d say Emory probably suffers in a similar fashion, being in the Southeast in Atlanta, and Rice in Houston, TX. I would not say Rice has considerably better options, but again, you need to really be proactive and maximize your college experience, from networking to building relationships with professors.</p>
<p>Your case: I would go to Rice over WashU for electrical engineering. Business-wise, we have a Business Minor as well as a specialized Mathematical Economic Analysis major (Economics major + some more math/stat courses). We also have a Financial Computation and Modeling minor, if finance is up your alley. The Rice Business Plan Competition is coming up in a couple weeks (<a href=“http://www.alliance.rice.edu/alliance/RBPC.asp);%5B/url%5D”>http://www.alliance.rice.edu/alliance/RBPC.asp);</a> it’s the world’s biggest business competition with over $1 million in prizes. Rice does have a business graduate school, and with a large alumni presence in business in Houston, there’s ample opportunities to get informational interviews and network with alumni as well.</p>
<p>Like my earlier post said, you don’t need to have a business major to go into finance, or work in Fortune 500 companies, or what have you. Or even to business school. All you need to do is get a high GPA + get some relevant work experience + network with alumni. This applies to ANY school, not just Rice.</p>
<p>2. Location
Houston > St. Louis in job market and internship opportunities, hands down. This was another critical factor in my decision as well – I just dislike St. Louis and overall it’s a lower quality town than Houston. I don’t know for sure, but STL just doesn’t have great opportunities and I’d think most would move back east to DC (I’m from the Northeast myself and know tons of Northeast kids go to WashU) or up north to Chicago for internships.</p>
<p>Either way, opportunities wise, you will need to hustle, no matter which college you go to - networking is key. Going to Rice over WashU, or WashU over Rice, won’t make employers fall over themselves to offer you jobs, but again, the combination of the college name and high GPA and being proactive, will.</p>
<p>Moreover, Houston has far better weather year round (barring summer), far better restaurants, far more things to do and people to see. You might laugh, but weather actually makes a big difference (to me, anyways) - STL is pretty similar to Mid-Atlantic weather, but coming from the Northeast, I enjoy the near-constant 60s and 70s weather in Houston much more than 40s and 50s in STL.</p>
<p>Houston is the 4th biggest city in the country - and don’t be turned off by the Texas location/stereotype, it’s quite liberal. I actually didn’t like Houston the first year I was at Rice, but over time it grew on me and I find something new about it everyday; it’s so big and huge that most people who’ve lived here all their lives haven’t been to all parts of Houston (I recently discovered The Heights neighborhood the other day, it’s a pretty cool kind of indie neighborhood). There are lots of things to do too, more so than STL, I’d argue.</p>
<p>Also, a lot of things are much cheaper in Houston! Not to compromise quality, but coming from the Northeast, a house in the Northeast in DC would cost 3-5x more than a comparable house in Houston. Living standards in Houston are pretty good, I’d say. I’m quite happy with it, anyways.</p>
<p>I would say location is everything. Rice and WashU are actually in pretty good, upscale neighborhoods. </p>
<p>I would highly recommend you to visit, if possible.</p>
<p>3. People around
Kids at both schools are generally very friendly, though I would say Rice kids have been more so down-to-earth and less snobby than Northeast counterparts. There are some brilliant and intelligent kids here, but they aren’t obnoxious and stuck up. Rice kids are also typically a bit nerdy, but it’s a work hard play hard kind of environment here.</p>
<p>WashU is more similar to Northwestern in that both have somewhat weak Greek life, but Rice doesn’t have a Greek system - it has a residential college system instead. </p>
<p>Rice has a lot of international kids and a community for them, but I don’t know much more since I’m not an international. I do have international friends, so if you have specific questions, just PM me.</p>
<p>4. Campus life
WashU has better dorms, but then again, you’re paying $5-7k more per year for tuition (not including financial aid and scholarships), so I’m not surprised. The dorms at Rice actually quite vary, some are quite nice, especially in the new colleges, while others at older colleges aren’t so great. It’s kind of luck of the draw…</p>
<p>I’d say overall, WashU probably has better on campus food than Rice does, but Houston has MUCH better food off campus. Tons of excellent, amazing restaurants here.</p>
<p>In Houston, it’s somewhat convenient - there are shuttle buses to take you to Target or go to Rice Village on the weekends. There’s a metro rail that can take you to places as well, but it’s limited if it’s not where you want to go. Since it’s Houston, do know that if you want to get anywhere farther than 2 miles within campus, you need a car. But just find some kids who brought cars with them and hitch a ride or something.</p>
<p>Not sure about WashU, but I imagine they have similar shuttle bus runs.</p>
<p>Campus life wise, I’d say both probably are pretty even in terms of students being happy with campus life.</p>
<p>-</p>
<p>This is just my two cents. Feel free to shoot me a PM if you have any more questions.</p>