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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]We have visited all three over the past couple of years.  Here is my take

UMichigan=big school. Great medical school and Michigan Medicine is a top medical center. School has a work hard/play hard vibe. Big sports crowd. Big sprawling campus and Michigan weather.  About 30 minutes from Detroit airport, and lots of little places near campus to eat. A little worn down though.

CMU= smaller school. Located in the city next to Pitt. A more serious intellectual vibe at the school, but location wise, its the more urban of the three. The urban vibe is good and pretty safe.  Very new and nice architecture in spots and lots more building going on. Not far from Target, Whole Foods, hospitals, the conservatory and museums. Lots to do here. Pitt downtown offers a lot to do as well.

Rice=probably the smallest of the three.  Very cute campus. Reminds me of Stanford's campus architecture.  But [b]located outside/outskirts of Houston[/b] in a smallish, spanish styled neighborhood. Large trees that overhand, a jogging path around campus. The medical center across the street is enormous and hence lots of opportunities there.  Definitely an intellectual vibe but fun vibe also. You would need to drive more into the city of Houston to have access to more stuff like restaurants, etc.  MLB Baseball stadium is about 10 minutes away (via car).  A bit isolated but very cute campus for those who like smaller campuses. I think I read that about 30-40% of students there are from in-state.[/quote]

Rice is in the heart of Houston..[/quote]

Which can be a plus or a minus. I toured there with my mother (long, long ago) after I got in, and when my mother asked about safety, the tour guide hemmed and hawed. We learned from another student that the previous semester, 3 students had been marched off campus at gunpoint and raped. That shut down my prospects of going there very quickly. But it is possible that Houston has gotten safer. [/quote]

Rice is located near West U which was voted the BEST neighborhood in the U.S. in 2019. It is safe---there are kids biking around in the loop at 10pm. Of course it is an urban school---you have to have your safety radar up after 11pm. But it feels safe. [/quote]

How is Rice urban. Yea it’s in Houston, but a small little suburb-like area. Penn and Temple are urban. Boston University and Columbia are urban. Not seeing this with Rice. It is very separate from urban life except for the medical center across the street. It’s sort of like saying SMU is urban, when it’s in a beautiful, wealthy enclave.[/quote]

Depends on your definition of urban. There are sidewalks, you can walk to restaurants and shopping, there are grocery stores (HEB, Randalls, Whole Foods) within 5-10 minute drives.  You can walk to over 5 museums from one side of Rice or drive in 5-8 minutes. Houston does not have great public transportation (there are buses running along Rice) so it will never be urban by that definition. But it is definitely urban by most standards. Emory is located in a suburban area, so is Tufts (to some extent). Rice is urban. [/quote]

Agree it depends on your definition of “urban.” Rice is 4 miles from downtown Houston and about 5.5 miles from the Galleria area.  In comparison to DC, it’s more like going to a college on the Cathedral close (vs. a college like Pitt, which is more like GW). I would consider that “urban” but some would not. If your definition of “suburban” is “an area with single family homes,” then I guess it is suburban. In the end, it’s just a question of atmosphere — it is surrounded by the fourth most populous city in the US. [/quote]

I meant to add — Personally, I think schools like Rice, SMU, and CMU (which are the three I can think of that are like this) are the best of both worlds — close to/surrounded by a big city, but have traditional campuses in an attractive, safe neighborhood. [/quote]

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