<p>Look, guys. This whole discussion of “which school has students studying more” is really stupid and lame. Rice and WashU are TOP schools, two of the best schools in the country, how can you not expect students to be studying very hard at both schools? Not to mention they are both expensive private schools! (though Rice, financial aid and scholarships aside, costs 7-10k less than WashU)</p>
<p>You will find lots of students studying hard at every top school. That is a given. Just because you see people studying very hard in the library doesn’t dictate your own experience in college – maybe they are premeds, maybe they’re engineers (circumstances of major) - so if you want to be a Political Science major or something, your workload definitely will not be as much as a premed’s or an engineer’s. Plus, you don’t know the situation - maybe you caught students at a finals period, in which the library indeed is VERY packed and every study room is already filled. These students could also be cramming for midterms that they didn’t adequately prepare for or all be in the same class writing the same paper assignment before the day it’s due - please do not make such big assumptions about a school that would “correlate” to your own experience.</p>
<p>College is what you make of it. You will need to study hard at either Rice or WashU, make no mistake about it - you will be among the country’s top students at either school paying lots of money for your education, I don’t see why everyone thinks the whole “study hard” environment is so unappealing. That is simply the reality. It might very well be you who is diligently studying at a library cubicle while a tour of prospective students come in and make some assumptions just based on the library population at any given time.</p>
<p>Lots of students study hard at both schools (I was accepted to both and visited WashU during Multicultural Weekend and Rice during Owl Days), and I did not base my decision to go to either school because the library was more packed in one school than the other. Please. </p>
<p>I don’t want to sound imposing or patronizing, and I understand the influence of first impressions, but please keep an open mind and give each school a fair chance. And I’m speaking from my own perspective that I think Rice is better than WashU both academically and socially (admittedly, my bias) - however, I caution you guys who are still deciding not to base your decisions on seemingly arbitrary factors (what one person sees may be different than what another person sees and perceives, and so forth). You might’ve caught Rice on a good (or bad) day, and WashU the same.</p>
<p>Some people like Rice’s culture more than WashU’s and vice versa. There is no “right” or “wrong” answer to this - so please do not make blanket statements and “facts” that WashU is blah blah more than Rice or vice versa. Opinions are welcome and accepted, but keep an open mind and awareness of the context and background of each poster and how much knowledge and expertise s/he has on the subject.</p>