Texas Colleges (Austin, Rice: movies, private school, place to live)

[UnfairPark]

Originally Posted by stanwood

Double majors are common at Rice and triple majors actually aren't all that rare. I don't think you'll find that at the large state schools. How Rice has their curriculum set up allows a kid to explore all sorts of subjects as in depth as they want. I would suggest he compare the curriculum at Rice vs StateSchool for a couple of the majors he's interested in.

No Greek system at Rice. You are assigned to a college and the kids in that college go with you all the way through. I was with my son when we ran into a Rice alumni at the grocery store and the first question they ask each other is which college were they in.

edit: Looks like I'm late to the party and he chose Baylor. Good luck to him!

Your post may help next wave of applicants. Most local kids don't even know about rankings of Texas colleges and assume all elite institutions are on east coast. However, its a very selective and expensive college so not a real option for everyone. Do they have a decent financial aid system?

[stanwood]

Originally Posted by UnfairPark

Your post may help next wave of applicants. Most local kids don't even know about rankings of Texas colleges and assume all elite institutions are on east coast. However, its a very selective and expensive college so not a real option for everyone. Do they have a decent financial aid system?

From a College Factual website, which in my experience is pretty reliable:
"54.0% of new students (507 total) were offered scholarships at Rice University, averaging $31,692 a piece. This ranks in the top 20th percentile of all colleges in the nation." I think all in it's about $50-$55k minus your financial aid package.

So yes, scholarships are plenty but also keep in mind they only accept about 14% of applicants. The school is small too, about 3500 undergrads and probably about the same in graduate school too.

[miche111e]

Of course, I went to UT, so I’m a little biased in that department.

That said, if he wants smaller class sizes, Rice is the way to go.

However, 50% tuition is still a huge amount, so it depends on what they can afford (or how much debt they want to accrue). My husband was paying back college loans well into our 30s.

As for being decided about your entire life plan at age 18, that’s just rubbish. That’s the beauty of America. You can always change careers at any age (not that it’s always easy, but possible). I have lots of friends who have gone back to college in their 30s and 40s and changed careers. That’s what I tell my kids: if you try it and find out you hate it, don’t torture yourself. Find something you enjoy.

[UnfairPark]

Originally Posted by stanwood

From a College Factual website, which in my experience is pretty reliable:
"54.0% of new students (507 total) were offered scholarships at Rice University, averaging $31,692 a piece. This ranks in the top 20th percentile of all colleges in the nation." I think all in it's about $50-$55k minus your financial aid package.

So yes, scholarships are plenty but also keep in mind they only accept about 14% of applicants. The school is small too, about 3500 undergrads and probably about the same in graduate school too.

I looked at their CDS and most of their "scholarships" are need based aid. They have a huge endowment and are as generous with need based aid as Ivies. It may average as less but good number of students get full or almost full ride so in reality people with documented and demonstrated need, do get free or almost free education. Rice has almost >50%of full payment affluent students so average aid doesnt give you correct understanding of how many are on full aid.

Rice doesn't give merit scholarships unless to few top athletes and to snatch very few exceptionally bright geniuses who have ivy acceptances and free rides from some private or state schools in their pockets. Ivies never give merit scholarships and free schools aren't as good so affordability can tilt scale in favor of Rice. Rice and similar colleges like other ivies doesn't even give academic scholarship to National Merit Scholars.

[UnfairPark]

Originally Posted by miche111e

Of course, I went to UT, so I’m a little biased in that department.

That said, if he wants smaller class sizes, Rice is the way to go.

However, 50% tuition is still a huge amount, so it depends on what they can afford (or how much debt they want to accrue). My husband was paying back college loans well into our 30s.

As for being decided about your entire life plan at age 18, that’s just rubbish. That’s the beauty of America. You can always change careers at any age (not that it’s always easy, but possible). I have lots of friends who have gone back to college in their 30s and 40s and changed careers. That’s what I tell my kids: if you try it and find out you hate it, don’t torture yourself. Find something you enjoy.

UT is a good school as well, relatively easy to get in and certainly way more affordable. It ranks fairly decent among public schools and some programs are really fantastic. Its just too big to offer similar academic experience or campus life as Rice or Yale type schools can offer.

I must say you are giving your kids right advice, 17-18 is too young to commit your whole life, you can always start with a solid broad education and then make informed decisions about your future instead of sticking to elemantry school fantasies about your future.

[RJ312]

Originally Posted by UnfairPark

A hard working and deserving kid from our church is facing these amazing educational choices (after aid & merit). I'm sure he'll make his choice according to his aspirations and circumstances but wondering which one majority of Texans would recommend. (Honors programs at all schools)

Rice-Half Tuition
UT Austin- McCombs Business Honors Progrsm- Full Pay
UTD- Free Ride
SMU- Free Ride
Baylor- Free Ride
TCU-Free Ride
A&M-Free Ride
UNT-Free Ride
UT H- Free Ride
UT A- Free Ride

Here's how I would make the decision.



I would eliminate the non-free ride schools. Both Rice and UT-Austin are good options, but since there are free options, go free.



Then eliminate the lower tier publics. So that eliminates UT-H, UT-A, UNT, and UTD.



Texas A&M would be next to go. Private schools are usually better than public schools.



So we're left with SMU, Baylor, and TCU. Then it's just a matter of personal preferences and programs. I would eliminate Baylor next as I wouldn't have seen it as a great fit for me.



The final two are SMU and TCU. I would pick SMU over TCU. I'd rather go to college in Dallas than Fort Worth as it would be easier to network in Dallas for post college jobs. Dallas has more opportunities than Fort Worth.

[UnfairPark]

Originally Posted by RJ312

Here's how I would make the decision.



I would eliminate the non-free ride schools. Both Rice and UT-Austin are good options, but since there are free options, go free.



Then eliminate the lower tier publics. So that eliminates UT-H, UT-A, UNT, and UTD.



Texas A&M would be next to go. Private schools are usually better than public schools.



So we're left with SMU, Baylor, and TCU. Then it's just a matter of personal preferences and programs. I would eliminate Baylor next as I wouldn't have seen it as a great fit for me.



The final two are SMU and TCU. I would pick SMU over TCU. I'd rather go to college in Dallas than Fort Worth as it would be easier to network in Dallas for post college jobs. Dallas has more opportunities than Fort Worth.

Good analysis. They also eliminated state schools in first round. TCU and SMU lost due to heavy greek and relatively weaker academic life. Obviously, kid wanted to go to Rice but in the end Baylor's full ride and their religious affiliation won.

[RJ312]

Originally Posted by UnfairPark

Good analysis. They also eliminated state schools in first round. TCU and SMU lost due to heavy greek and relatively weaker academic life. Obviously, kid wanted to go to Rice but in the end Baylor's full ride and their religious affiliation won.

That was a fun exercise! When I went to college, my options were more limited than that menu list of options.



So there's one thing I don't understand about religious schools. Some religious schools are barely religious. Southern Methodist University has the name of a religion in it but it is a pretty secular experience. Texas Christian University also has the name of a religion in it and while less secular than SMU, it is still not known as a hardcore religious schools. Baylor is a more religious school but it's not quite hardcore religious like Brigham Young or Franciscan University of Steubenville. There really is a continuum of religiousness for religious schools.

[tcualum]

When I attended TCU I had lots of friends who weren’t religious at all. The only times they encountered religion were football game prayers and a single religion class. They usually took World Religion, Religion and Anthropology or some other similar class. Most of them were surprised by how much they enjoyed the class and a few ended up minoring in Religion because they liked the ex hippie who taught their World Religion class. That was called minoring inDr. Fort because they mainly took his classes.

Conversely, the Christian students who came from very conservative churches often complained about the religion classes. They expected the classes to be just like Sunday school and got upset when what was taught in class ran counter to that. I was a religion major and could tell that their close minded attitude annoyed many of the religion professors.

You can have a very religious college experience at TCU if you want but you can also have a secular college experience if you want too.

[UnfairPark]

Originally Posted by tcualum

You can have a very religious college experience at TCU if you want but you can also have a secular college experience if you want too.

That's very true and same goes for Baylor and SMU as well, your experience can be as religious or as secular as you want it to be. All three schools are more diverse now with students of all religions, races and income level though still predominantly affluent and white being private schools.

Rice is as white and wealthy but as a secular and academically selective research school, Rice is politically more independent or even somewhat left leaning than other three. I think it has more Asian students than other three.