My daughter is nearing the end of her college admission odyssey. One of her safety schools waitlisted her, many of her match schools denied her, and only one of her reach schools admitted her, but that reach school was Rice University, maybe her perfect match for size and prestige. So now she is deciding, here is the question: she was admitted to Rice! Even though her stats still fall in the 50% of rice students according to some sites, why she was admitted to rice when all her other reach schools flat our denied her???. They gave her decent financial aid but in the mean time she was admitted to Colgate and Colgate gave her crazy money, so she could graduate virtually debt free. So the question is go to Colgate debt free or graduate from Rice maybe 20,000 in dept. We are going to visit both, so much for expressed interest being a factor in admissions! We never visited either where as overnights she did at Haverford and Wellesley ended her up on the wait list. Colgate obviously really wants her but does she turn down an admission to Rice? Currently her interest are anthropology and geology and also include astronomy and game design/electronic media. PS she doesn’t like to drink and she doesn’t like drunk people and also she was accepted to Smith, Emory, and Grinnell where Smith and Grinnell are probably her best fit culturally.
That is kind of our thinking now. We are from southern NJ so Colgate would be easier to get to. But she could be sun bathing at Rice instead of trudging through the snow at Colgate
Congratulations to your daughter. She has some very good choices. I would visit both schools and see which one is a better fit for your daughter academically and socially. Not to minimize $20,000 in debt but that is a manageable amount of debt in the scheme of things. The weather would be a factor for me as would the fact that Rice is a major research institution.
rice is a leading edge university in a super hot part of the country (weather but more importantly economically)
and always ranks as having the happiest students ( not sure how you actually gauge that)
Congrats on some great options. Definitely y her visit Colgate, and spend a night if possible. Its a great school academically and beautiful but based on your description of your daughter, it is important that she ascertains wether it is a right fit for her. It has a drinking culture, more so than your average LAC. You state your daughter is more of a Smith/Grinnell type. Colgate is more conservative, preppy, and jocky.
Everyone went away because it is ivy day. Daughter wait listed at Dartmouth BTW. Yes that’s what she is worried about at Colgate; the drinking culture which she is less then tolerant of. But Colgate does have some things that attract her. She is a bit of the out doorsy type and Colgate has a very robust out door excursion culture too, but the drinking and the preppy. We are wondering if she could find a place to fit in.
@robotrainbow - Are Smith, Grinnell and Emory out of the running based on finances?
I would think she could find her crowd at Colgate. Is she planning to do an overnight/visit?
Yes, it is quiet tonight. Either celebrating or eating ice cream as a salve to rejections, I guess.
Smith is still in the running same financial aid as Rice but I am not sure I want her to completely turn into a fem-Nazi. Smith was originally her first choice but the idea of no debt and more money left to study abroad is appealing to her. She probably wants to go to grad school and it would be good not to be loaded with debt before she starts. Grinnell is supposed to give us an updated financial aid offer haven’t got it yet but she is a Jersey girl and she was not impressed by Iowa. Emory is more money then Rice but could always appeal. And there is even Brandeis out there if she wants to be in Boston but I don’t think she is considering it. Her ivy run is U of P (my alma mater ) rejected, Brown rejected, Dartmouth wait listed. But she wasn’t that hyped on the Ivy’s anyway. To large.
We are doing an overnight at Colgate next week.
Wish she had gotten in at Haverford. I think it would have been a good fit.
Shouldn’t her ability to study abroad be the same at all schools? I thought most place let your FA carry to study abroad?
Colgate’s lack of cost is an attraction if she wants to go to graduate school. The overnight should be useful in getting a true feel for the place.
Emory is worth an appeal. I have an extended family member there and I’m pretty sure they appealed and got a little more $.
well I think she is not looking at Emory. they don’t have geology? Technically she is in Emory Oxford but that is what she would want to do anyway. I personally think I would prefer Atlanta to Houston but she seems to not be that interested. Study abroad as in more money for air far and the other expenses study abroad would incur. We are lucky to have these choices. She is third in her class and number 1, 2, and 4, and 8 all were admitted to Ivies so she was discouraged for a while. She overnighted at Haverford. I loved Haverford but she seems to think it is to small, but she also doesn’t like schools that are to big. They have to be just right.
How is the Colgate visit? My son is staying over night at Colgate right now. He is also accepted to Grinnell. We visited Grinnell last week and everything looks good except the campus is kind of small and the town is very small too.
This is the parent. My daughter hated Colgate. The campus was beautiful and the facilities were nice but she felt she didn’t fit and she actually cried at the thought we would make her go there for the financial aid. She said all her overnight host talked about was getting drunk and doing drugs. She then went to the student life presentation and apparently all they spoke of was getting drunk. She felt that if she went there she wouldn’t have any friends and that she would be miserable. She liked the people at Grinnell bit she didn’t like Iowa so much so that she has ruled out Grinnell. She then went to Rice university and loved everything about it and is wearing their tee-shirt today. At the moment she is deciding between Rice and Smith. So any help deciding between Rice and Smith would be appreciated. Which do people feel is more prestigious and would give the best opportunities? Her intended major at the moment is anthropology. She was waitlisted at some interesting schools like Dartmouth and Haverford and Wellesley but she doesn’t seem interested in that.
Rice is an outstanding top-tier research university while Smith has become an agenda laden college. Unless she is strongly pre-disposed to Smith, Rice is a no-brainer choice (and, based on what you have said, she seems to love it).
I agree with the previous poster- Smith is extreme. I’m probably the most vocal liberal/feminist I know, but it took twenty minutes on Smith’s campus for me and my dad to run screaming in the opposite direction. As long as she’s comfortable with a coed school and being far from home, Rice is a bit of an easy choice.
Actually my daughter visited Smith in her junior year and immediately feel in love with it. She had thought all along it was her number one school and at points only seemed half heartedly interested in applying anywhere else. She continued to feel this way, not even wanting to apply to an Ivy, not interested in visiting Emory, until she went to Rice. She says that she feels they are exactly her people. The only thing holding her back right now is that with the distance, Rice will be a little more expensive then Smith. Airfare to Houston is actually cheap for what ever reason, and, even though it is 1000 miles from us, well that’s closer then 3500 miles to San Fran and within my driving limits for the move in. But one other thing, is Rice actually a good place to go if you are not studying engineering and are not pre-med? I just realized neither their geology department or their art department shows up on the Ruggs guide. One thing with Smith is that it is part of the five college consortium and the 24 college consortium where as Rice is all by itself. Smith has the resources of Mt Holyoke, Amherst, U of M Amherst and Hampshire that expands horizons. She could even study a year with her brother at Vassar. She is a avid feminist but I worry Smith will make her too extreme though.
Unless your family can really only afford Colgate, I wouldn’t force your daughter to go there if she didn’t like it. Is Rice affordable?
We will not force her to go to Colgate. She had a break down thinking we would in make her go there. In order of affordability it is Colgate which is sooo great, Smith and Rice. Rice could be done and is possible. Beyond the cost of rice it gets hard to do.
Can’t speak about Rice’s art department but their geology programs are excellent. Ruggs is incompetent, outdated, and should not be used for anything beyond getting an idea of which schools are strong in which programs.
Sorry, autocorrect. I meant to write that Ruggs is incomplete. Rice’s geology program is outstanding and offers far more electives and tracks than Smith’s. Remember that it is in Houston, the energy capital of North America. However, at the undergraduate level both are excellent, particularly for an undecided student.
@robotrainbow I can promise you that Rice will have more resources for geology than Smith even with the consortium in consideration. Rice doesn’t need a consortium- it has it everything you need. Its a research university with a liberal arts feel.