Totally agree!
@Wammy I’m glad you’re visiting both this month. Yes, Cornell is beautiful, but the winters are tough and it’s a pain to get to. The down food at Cornell is also very good. Rice campus is also very nice.
Please come back and let us know when you decide. Two great choices!
This!
If you like Houston more…that’s fine. Rice is a terrific university.
Disagree as this student wants to study architecture AND both Rice & Cornell offer excellent alternatives should this student switch majors. But, for now, the OP’s focus should be on all aspects of the architecture major at each school.
Given the high dropout rate for architecture that’s something to consider though. It may also depend what the student’s alternative to arch might be, and if one school is better than another for that. Example some students switch from architecture to something like product design or other more design-focused fields, while others swing more towards engineering. I don’t think it hurts to consider what the alternatives might look like and the ease of transferring into them.
That said my impression from OP’s discussion is they prefer Rice but are getting hung up on the “ivy/#1” aspect and possibly some pressure from family or friends. But 5-6 years is a long time to spend somewhere, so I would 100% agree with the opinion that there’s no real bad choice here and go where you’ll feel happier.
Agree to disagree then. My assumption is that they landed with these 2 schools because they applied understanding the programs of both.
The student clearly applied to Cornell for Ivy prestige as they said so over and over and even talked about how they don’t even like rural areas.
They clearly applied to Cornell because it was #1. And that’s the only reason they’re having a hard time leaving it - that and because it’s an Ivy.
Me as well.
Of course in this case, Cornell and Rice are both going to have a wide variety of great academic options besides Architecture, so that is not likely to be a big distinguishing factor.
But there is a lot more to a four-year residential college experience than just the academics, and it is in those areas where the OP is already seeing notable differences.
Again, any given individual could have different preferences. But if for the OP, the non-academic stuff clearly favors Rice, that would be a perfectly good basis for decision in my view.
I don’t know anything about the “vibe” at Cornell, but I think my S25 (a freshman at Rice) has been surprised in some ways about the vibe at Rice. He thought he would LOVE the residential college system and all the fun activities, but given that there is no greek system and so much revolves around the colleges, there is a lot of partying on campus too. He really is not into it. He finds it hard that the closer friends he has made are not from his residential college, but there’s no way to switch colleges to live on campus with those friends. He opted to move off campus next year to live with one of his friends from another college (and to have a more peaceful environment).
Perhaps Cornell has some of the same vibe (like I said, I have no idea!), but I would follow some of the residential college’s social media pages to see a bit more of the vibe at Rice. The partying doesn’t show up of course on those pages, but a lot of the activities they do show remind me of things that the fraternities/sororities do on other campuses. My D22 goes to a large public university and she has personally experienced so much less drinking/partying at her school, because it all happens at the greek houses or off campus. She doesn’t like the partying vibe either, but was still happy to stay on campus all 4 years because the dorms don’t actually have that much partying taking place on site.
This is really a non-factor as Cornell is a little bit of an outlier in the Ivy League, with 16,000 undergrads and private-public hybrid formation. Rice is just as prestigious and has 4,800 undergrads.
Yes, in some ways Rice more closely resembles most of the other colleges in that particular sports conference. But it was too far away to play football with Yale and Harvard, at least during the team bus era, unlike Cornell.
If architecture is like any other industry, they’re going to find Rice and Cornell grads work for and are colleges with name your “run of the mill” school -
UIUC, Texas Tech, U Arkansas, Florida A&M, UMN and many more.
I still laugh that my boss went to W Georgia (had to look it up) and my previous to Auburn but in Montgomery.
The world isn’t linear like #1 beats #2, etc. And in most ranks Cornell is not #1 but I’m sure there’s the rank most use, etc.
Good luck to OP.
Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich was a history professor at West Georgia.
I know several very intellectual, successful attorneys who attended West Georgia for undergraduate school.
OP, curious if you have made a decision yet.
Yes that is one of my considerations. If I end up not liking architecture, I’ll likely transfer into engineering. Cornell is better for engineering than Rice. However, both are highly regarded from what I know. Thank you for your advice!
I’ll let you guys know! I visited Rice this past weekend and it was great. It was a bit humid but the whole Texas rained so I don’t think that’s a Houston problem.
Thank you!
I am thinking of engineering for my alternate path. Honestly, at both schools, I am thinking of doing a minor in engineering, which Cornell is better.
In terms of pressure, I don’t think there is a big pressure on me for which college I should choose. However, I do feel like a lot of people are paying attention to my decision and want to know where I commit to.
Yeah, I already had pretty good understanding of both programs (especially Rice). My problem is. I didn’t expect to get into both schools or even one of these. So, I am kind of rushing to do some more research, tours, and asking around people to make this decision.
Yes this is true. I actually do like the cold and skiing but I am mostly scared of the stress. I am worried that when I’m stressed (from the weather or competitiveness of the school), I won’t be able to properly relieve the stress because of the lack of things to do at Cornell. I am def not a party person so Cornell’s party culture doesn’t rly help…
Rice however, has a great music program and I love music (my big stress reliever). Also, I could visit my parents if I really want to because they are relatively close by.
But like you said, it is hard for me to get my hands off of Cornell because it’s #1 in US and one of the best in the world.
Thank you for your input and advice!
I honestly thought Rice was a pretty quiet school and there weren’t lots of parties on campus but this gives me a different perspective. Thank you for your perspective!