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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]These are such different schools. Even before the current disturbances, Columbia has always been a cold, stressful college. Undergraduates are an afterthought. It can be a very lonely school. There's a big international cohort, which largely keeps to themselves. The Core Curriculum is not for everyone. Neither is Morningside Heights. NYC can be a tough place for four years as an undergrad, particularly for those who are not wealthy. When we visited, we did not get a good vibe. Students seemed unhappy. DC quickly dropped it off their list.

Rice and Amherst seem like much better places for undergrad. The thing about Amherst though is that it seems to be having an identity crisis presently. Not just the school, but the entire community - see The New Yorker article about Amherst. Like it's a very privileged community that's been tying themselves into knots for years now. And everyone is walking on eggshells. I think it would be tedious to spend four years in such an environment. Amherst is not big enough to ignore the cloud that seems to be hanging over it.

Of the three, Rice seems to be the most comfortable in its bones. It's a beautiful campus in a nice area. It's always been primarily focused on undergrads. It has the residential college system, which is great. Yale, Notre Dame, and Rice seem to understand how to build communities. The overall vibe seems friendly and nerdy. It's not a Wall Street pipeline kind of school. Students seem to have different interests. The downside would be Houston - not the most interesting city in America. But the weather is nice for most of the school year - except September, when it's a furnace - and Rice Village seems very self contained. What's weird about Rice is that it's like the superstar school in Texas, but nobody seems to know much about it in the northeast. Not a school for the Ivy or bust crowd. [/quote]

I agree with all of this. Everyone I've ever known who attended Rice was smart, quirky and nice. I do think the school is comfortable where it is, and hasn't gone out of its way to try to market itself as an "elite" school across the country.  Which is a good thing, imo.

I used to interview law students for a biglaw firm, and I traveled to law schools across the country. It's kind of interesting how much you can tell about a school from a day of walking around campus and sitting in a university-provided room interviewing students.  Columbia had the most negative "vibe" of any school I visited.  It was partially the surroundings. I have vivid memories of being in a dingy classroom (as I recall it was in one of the main buildings) that had a window unit air conditioner that was rattling and intermittently spitting out lukewarm air (I get window units in an old building, but they can't get one that works? Or clean the room?). Another year we were in a dorm room that literally felt like a prison -  gray concrete with one small high window with bars looking out onto a utility area.  The students had no energy and seemed depressed. It was quite a contrast with other schools, which often had dedicated interview space set aside in the job center, or others where we were in a bright classroom looking out onto a quad full of students reading in the sun in bathing suits. Columbia always struck me as a school that was coasting on its laurels and location. [/quote]

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