<p>Rice and WUSTL are only similar on the surface. Judging by statistics from USnews or what have you they are “similar”, but i found the schools to be quite different. You find that overlap because when prospective students are looking at colleges, they are largely going by ranking and the stats of incoming freshman. I would say the vibe at WashU is noticeably different. Confusedboy i don’t think anyone is trying to put you down, we are just trying to help OP sort the two schools.</p>