Duke vs Rice vs Carnegie Mellon

Riversider
Sun, 31 Mar 2019 16:24:16 +0000

Congratulations!!! These are three great schools.

I would eliminate Duke as you can’t double with engineering, even if you aren’t sure you want it, it’s good to keep the option. Greek life and sports are big draw but you are neither an athlete nor interested in pledging.

That leaves Rice and CMU. You can give their great engineering programs a shot. Even if you end up doing public policy, they are solid undergrad schools and can get you in good masters programs. Rice has a smaller, happier and collaborative environment and there is a prestigious think tank on campus. CMU ranks lower but better known in NE than Rice.

Between these two, you can visit and decide which one suits you better. Your preference for cold and heat is important, Rice is hot and you get 3 bad months of summers off. CMU is really cold and you can’t take 3 months off to escape bad winter.