<p>do you want to dissuade someone from applying? </p>
<p>Absolutely not, but I absolutely think you want to dissuade my “freedom of speech”. You sound a little pompous and arrogant and I also suspect somewhat bitter. Perhaps you applied to an Ivy school and were rejected, before accepting/attending Rice? It probably ended up working out well for you-- at least I truly hope so. I also hope my son gets accepted there and that he attends. I know that it is an extremely top-notch school and that it won’t be easy for him to get accepted. And yes, I think it probably is easier to get into Rice than Stanford or HYP and perhaps slightly easier than BDP (depending on major)…</p>