Anonymous wrote:My kid is trying to decide between Rice and Wash U at the moment. Had already been admitted/committed to one via RD and got off WL at the other. Has days to make a choice. Any advice appreciated.

My GD was faced with the same decision 2 years ago. She liked both because she felt the sense of community, which she values, is even stronger at Rice. Two years later she hasn’t found any reason to be disappointed with her decision.

I'd go for Rice over WashU. Rice at least sometimes gets grouped in with other elite schools. WashU rarely ever comes up in conversation as an elite school, and alums are constantly having to explain that it's neither in Seattle nor in DC.

I think Rice and Wash U seem to have more cross applicants than BC.

I would go by location--in which of these cities/states does your kid want to spend the next 4 years?

Employment outcome statistics and percentage of admissions to top grad programs and professional schools doesn’t say unfocused.

Anonymous wrote:My kid is trying to decide between Rice and Wash U at the moment. Had already been admitted/committed to one via RD and got off WL at the other. Has days to make a choice. Any advice appreciated.

Rice alumni love their school and students rate it high for happiness so they must be doing something right. It seems inclusive, collaborative and encouraging atmosphere by the way these people talk about it. It seems it’s a diverse and liberal community of easy going people focused more on journey and less on a fixed destination.

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Anonymous wrote:Looking over the financial information for BC. Their tuition went up quite a bit. It is a BIG price tag. Not sure it is worth that kind of $ for my kid.

If you can full pay 70; full pay at 80 is not a stretch.

Not true if you are really stretching, an extra $40k over 4 years can cover housing for grad school, first car or something else which won’t be possible otherwise.

Anonymous wrote:Looking over the financial information for BC. Their tuition went up quite a bit. It is a BIG price tag. Not sure it is worth that kind of $ for my kid.

If you can full pay 70; full pay at 80 is not a stretch.

Anonymous wrote:Rice and Wash U are much better than BC.

That is not what this thread is about. In any case all three are different so better is not the correct word.

My kid is trying to decide between Rice and Wash U at the moment. Had already been admitted/committed to one via RD and got off WL at the other. Has days to make a choice. Any advice appreciated.

Anonymous wrote:I've heard the kids at Rice are happier than the kids at WashU? Is there any truth to this?

To me, any ranking of students' happiness sounds pretty unreliable, and Wash U and Rice are both very good schools. At the same time, though, my anecdotal impression is that kids who go to Wash U see it as settling because they didn't get into a higher-ranked school. Kids who go to Rice seem to want to go to Rice. They don't seem to care as much about the rankings, and, maybe those who are coming from the DMV want to get off the beaten path a bit. Are those kids naturally happier and less status-conscious or is there something about Rice that makes them happier? Hmmmm . . . .

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Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:I feel like the vent diagram is a huge overlap of applicants at wash and rice overlapping, then very few with BC. Isnt BC a step down from the other two? I say this as a BU alum, so I am not having an ego… BC is great, but in the 40s, aren’t the other two top 20 or higher pretty consistently?

BU would be a step down, but not BC. BU is the one ranked in the 40s. BC was ranked #36.

But seriously, these rankings are meaningless drivel which tell you nothing about the quality of the education that a student receives at any of these schools. The rankings only exist as a means to sell magazines and get hits on line. Don’t fall for illusion that there is really something there worth paying attention to. There isn’t.

36 v 42… it’s not night and day like when I went there when BC was in the 40s and BU in the 80s/90s. BU and BC are ranked 42 and 36, functionally the same population and worlds behind top 20. Rice is 17 and wash u 14. They’re way above BC. BC is not way above BU.

My comment was tongue in cheek. I was joking.

But guess what. There’s no difference between 14 and 42. You can get a great education in either place. And innumerable people have. The emphasis on these rankings is completely bonkers.

+1

Anonymous wrote:I've heard the kids at Rice are happier than the kids at WashU? Is there any truth to this?

Yes. Without question.

I've heard the kids at Rice are happier than the kids at WashU? Is there any truth to this?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel like the vent diagram is a huge overlap of applicants at wash and rice overlapping, then very few with BC. Isnt BC a step down from the other two? I say this as a BU alum, so I am not having an ego… BC is great, but in the 40s, aren’t the other two top 20 or higher pretty consistently?

BU would be a step down, but not BC. BU is the one ranked in the 40s. BC was ranked #36.

But seriously, these rankings are meaningless drivel which tell you nothing about the quality of the education that a student receives at any of these schools. The rankings only exist as a means to sell magazines and get hits on line. Don’t fall for illusion that there is really something there worth paying attention to. There isn’t.

36 v 42… it’s not night and day like when I went there when BC was in the 40s and BU in the 80s/90s. BU and BC are ranked 42 and 36, functionally the same population and worlds behind top 20. Rice is 17 and wash u 14. They’re way above BC. BC is not way above BU.

My comment was tongue in cheek. I was joking.

But guess what. There’s no difference between 14 and 42. You can get a great education in either place. And innumerable people have. The emphasis on these rankings is completely bonkers.