College Discussion - View Single Post

anxiousmom · 04-20-2008, 04:56 PM

Rice is rigorous (but NOT deadly), and both my kids have had lots of fun there, especially with club sports and residential college system. This is what I posted on another thread;

Quote:

Rice is "cozier". At Rice, you will have a big wide academic and social world available to you, and opportunities galore, but if you get sick or need help picking up medicine or need counseling or just a place to go because you feel like you are not sure what's going on, you will have support services. There will be people who know you and there will be personal attention and flexibility if you need it. You won't fall through the cracks. Your college masters will be there - not that you need parents on site - but they are there if you need them, and they will know you... and if your mom decides she wants to get you a cake for your birthday long-distance, your college coordinator knows where to order one (and in our case, even stopped by the store to pick it up and deliver it to DD on her birthday several years ago!), and if you need something from the store and don't have a car, probably your o-week advisor (a kid a year or two older than you, who has bonded with you through a week of intensive and fun activities) will take you along when he/she makes a trip and might even drop you off at the airport if you need a ride, and your profs will be accessible and they might even (like several of my DD's) invite you into their homes, make you dinner, introduce you to their kids, hire you as a tutor or editor or research assistant, and your res college will be a home away from home, and you'll probably be able to leave some of your junk there in summer storage instead of shlepping it all home... and I could probably go on for hours in a similar vein. UT Austin Plan II is a very fine program, and I am very familiar with UT. But for an out-of-state student particularly, Rice is a better place to be and you will be surrounded by students from all over the country and the world, instead of just from Texas.

Just change out the words "UT Austin" for "Berkeley" and it still applies. HTH's