Is Rice worth $48k/yr?

Dowell
Thu, 31 Mar 2011 07:39:31 +0000

Congratulations - each of the offers you have got are absolutely great choices.

There is no thumb-rule for these decisions but you might want to ask yourself the following before you take a decision. Finding answers will not be easy and no one answer applies to all, but going through the thought-process might help you.

1]. Doing Grad school ( Professional or otherwise ) might be a necessity and financial aid might not be a possibility. What kind of monetary implications does that have for you & your family and should one be saving for that now while still having an arguably similar education whichever option you choose ?

2]. Once the class size crosses a threshold, it does matter but does not matter a whole lot whether it is 300 students or 175 students or 450 students. You are not going to get individual attention unless you make an effort to engage Profs/ TA’s in office hours. So why pay extra ?

3]. Weed out classes are a natural selection process. It is not a comfortable feeling but it is arguably the best of the worst choices available. Most importantly, it is inevitable in a professional career too …whether in industry or in academics. One could take this an an opportunity to test oneself for the inevitable a few years down the line.

My son gave up Yale, Rice, WashU, UC Berkeley for BioMedical Engineering ( he has top decile scores and EC’s …we earn a little more the threshold for financial aid and his scores while being top-class were not perfect for full merit aid ). After sleepless nights and many points & counter-points and mis-understandings and warm hugs…we as a family decided not to spend 60K per year for under-grad and instead save that money for his Med School so that he can come out debt-free. He is a Freshman at Boston University ( ranked 8th - for whatever it matters…similar to Rice… in BioMedical Engg ) with full tuition merit scholarship, is engaged in 2 paid research projects, has offers for 3 more for Summer, is a sub-editor for the college mag, volunteers at a local hospital, will be the Dean’s host this Summer, does not particularly enjoy the crowded weeder classes, loves the student community and some of the Profs he works with, absolutely ravishes the 4 distinct seasons and city-life of Boston and is generally and supposedly having a great time while maintaining admirable GPA…
Was it the the right decision ? For whom ? thats the key question. For us, given the situation we are in, it is and he is seemingly working hard to make it ‘the’ right decision.

Have a frank discussion with your family members, if possible visit the colleges and finally it might help to remember that college is largely what we make it out to be.

Congratulations again & Good Luck !