<p>Higher overall ranking and student selectivity? Please. You’ve been conditioned to think that these things have anything to do with the quality of a school. Rankings can be useful, but only in determining the difference between, say, number five and number 60, not between 11 and 17. (I actually haven’t looked at the rankings in a few years, so I don’t know where WashU is.) And last time I checked, Rice is pretty darn selective.</p>
<p>What are “some other aspects?” If you can’t name them, then why are you even considering WashU? (or maybe you just would prefer not to share, which is fine.)</p>
<p>I feel like there are a lot of people in your situation every year. This gets a bit complicated, so I’m going to label the people. One of my best friends (A) transferred from WashU to Rice after his freshman year. He (A) really liked WashU, but the financial package they were offering him was no longer adequate. Anyways, last year, a good friend’s girlfriend (B) was transferring from Lawrence, and she was choosing between Rice and WashU. We told A to send B a quick message giving her advice. We were expecting A to write a paragraph or two; he ended up sitting down and writing a six-page single-spaced essay about why Rice is better than WashU. Mind you, this came from someone who really liked WashU.</p>
<p>I have not gone to WashU, so I cannot tell you exactly what he wrote in that essay. But the fact that he was able to come up with 3000 words on why Rice is better than WashU speaks for itself.</p>