<p>I have gotten the Trustee and Century scholarships at Rice (merit aid).
I am an early admit at Stanford (fin aid)
Admitted at Duke (fin aid) and at UVa (instate)</p>
<p>Cost of attending any of the above colleges is almost the same.</p>
<p>I would like to major in Biology (hoping to do a PhD)…not premed.</p>
<p>Which school would you recommend?</p>
<p>Some criteria:</p>
<p>Is it harder to get a high GPA at Stanford compared to at other colleges?</p>
<p>Research opportunities at Stanford vs at others?</p>
<p>Access to professors at Stanford vs at others?</p>
<p>Class sizes at Stanford vs at others?</p>
<p>PLEASE advise. </p>
<p>Thanks in advance.</p>
<p>PS: starting this new thread after posting inappropriate thread…sorry.</p>
It depends. What aspect of biology are you considering? Duke would be by far the best if you wanted to study ecology, primatology, or marine biology, whereas Stanford would be the best for molecular biology, genetics, or neuroscience.</p>
<p>I would go with Stanford or Duke, personally, since I think they’re two of the best colleges for a great mix of strong academics and fun social scene. You really can’t go wrong with any of your choices, however.</p>
<p>i would say that from what i’ve heard, the research opportunities and teacher accessibility at rice are great, especially if you’re a century scholar</p>
<p>Bumping for more comments. My son’s situation is similar, except Duke and Stanford are sticker price, vs. Trustee’s and Century at Rice.<br>
Did you make a decision hs4joy? And if so, what factors were important to you?
tia</p>
<p>And, might I add, do your homework. A visit tells you something, but a lot of what you will come across in your years at a school need be researched online. How’re the academics structured, what are the departments like, what opportunities outside of school, etc…</p>
<p>I think the primary benefit of Rice over Stanford (assuming similar costs) is the research you can/will do as a Century Scholar. Other benefits probably include slightly better weather, very small class sizes (some classes have 1 student, but Stanford also has many small classes), residential colleges, and (depending on how you view it) the semester system. If you are not that into research, you don’t mind being on different scehdules than your HS friends, and you really don’t like residential colleges, then Stanford should be the easy choice unless you really don’t like it there. If I were deciding (which, by chance, I am) it would be between Stanford and Rice (Stanford has the edge, but if I were a century scholar it would be a different story). I haven’t heard many bad things about either school, all the students and alumni I’ve talked to loved their experience. On the contrary, I have heard some negative comments about Duke.</p>
On the contrary, I think this is highly overrated. My own university makes it extremely easy for everyone to do research and gives them money to boot. Professors are nearly always willing to take a dedicated student on for an independent study or lab work. Although being a Century scholar would probably make it easier to start doing research right away, both Stanford and Duke provide strong research opportunities even to freshmen.</p>
<p>Stanford spends the most money on undergraduate research out of any school in the country. Research opportunities are also very open and prevalent to freshmen.</p>