Can only speak to Rice (daughter is current student there and chose Rice over Tufts). Your pros are spot on. The size of the school is very nice and the location (suburban feel in a big city) and opportunities that provides are a huge benefit. Proximity to TMC is great for many reasons. As for your cons, Rice seems to have a good reputation outside of Texas as most of my daughter’s internships (both ones she’s take and not taken) have been outside of Texas (Cal, Wash, Boston, Wisconsin, etc). Our daughter is a 4-hour flight from home, but the flight is direct and airports are close to Rice - so depending on where you are flying from, you may find that travel time is not that much different from driving several hundred miles (although cost, of course, is different!). As for humidity, yes, it is real! But for the school term (mid-August through early May), you really only experience the heat/humidity through early to mid-October and then the weather is quite nice (although rainy at times). My daughter primarily considered colleges in the NE, Rice, and Duke (and has friends at all) and says that in retrospect, she is much happier with the weather at Rice and would have been fine with weather at Duke too. Of course, she and all of her friends are from California so that take may be different for those who grew up in less ideal climates!
All of your options sound great and you will likely be very happy wherever you choose. There probably isn’t a right answer and you will just have to go with your gut feeling and then fully embrace your choice. Good luck!