Hardest Texas colleges to get into (West, Rice: wealthy, retiring, celebrity)

[DanielWayne]

Interesting article

So should we build a brand new UT university in Houston or further elevate the 46,000 student university that is already there? UH already has a law school, pharmacy school, optometry, medical school, ranked engineering school, etc. UH is already academically on par with neighboring (outside of Tx) regional state institutions that are flagships in their respective state. The shortest path to a cornerstone university in Houston is not building a brand new campus.

And don't get me started on the UT data center thing. Imagine UH trying to build a campus in Round Rock or Georgetown.

Also despite the glaring Houston shortcomings, League City did make it to the 2nd round with Amazon simply based on the fact that really cool people live there.

[Jack Lance]

Originally Posted by DanielWayne

So should we build a brand new UT university in Houston or further elevate the 46,000 student university that is already there? UH already has a law school, pharmacy school, optometry, medical school, ranked engineering school, etc. UH is already academically on par with neighboring (outside of Tx) regional state institutions that are flagships in their respective state. The shortest path to a cornerstone university in Houston is not building a brand new campus.

And don't get me started on the UT data center thing. Imagine UH trying to build a campus in Round Rock or Georgetown.

Also despite the glaring Houston shortcomings, League City did make it to the 2nd round with Amazon simply based on the fact that really cool people live there.

If a prestigious University wants to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to develop a research institution in Houston, say YES ! No matter how many other schools there already are. It just doesn't make sense to allow any Institution to hold the whole city hostage in defense of itself.

If the University of Houston wanted a wider geographic appeal it should have named itself something else. I believe at the time the name Texas State University was still available. Calling yourself the University of Houston pretty much limits the institution to whatever area Greater Houston's sphere of influence is , and that ain't Round Rock.

[TexasVines]

Originally Posted by UnfairPark

Times World Rankings

UT #38
Rice #105
A&M #178

Rice is small, regional and undergrad focused so it makes some sense for not scoring as high on criteria more suitable for large or graduate focused schools but why A&M was given a much lower rank than UT?

https://www.timeshighereducation.com...asc/cols/stats

Rice is not remotely a university that is classified as "undergrad focused"


almost 50% of their enrollment is graduate students and they do not even offer an undergrad business degree which would be very popular if they did

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by TexasVines

Rice is not remotely a university that is classified as "undergrad focused"


almost 50% of their enrollment is graduate students and they do not even offer an undergrad business degree which would be very popular if they did

You are right but you'll make no headway with UFP.

[UnfairPark]

Originally Posted by TexasVines

Rice is not remotely a university that is classified as "undergrad focused"


almost 50% of their enrollment is graduate students and they do not even offer an undergrad business degree which would be very popular if they did

Last I looked, they had about 6,000 students and 4,000 were undergrad so they are certainly not graduate focused. Many top schools don’t have business schools. Ones who do, most of them doesn’t offer any undergraduate business degree. Look up Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, Brown, Amherst, Williams etc and you’ll find out that undergraduate business degree isn’t an option at most selective elite schools.

If you look up top 100 world universities and their enrollment numbers, you won’t see many small schools like Rice there, Vanderbilt didn’t make it, Dartmouth is 94th, most top LACs weren’t even considered. Look up the criteria they used.

I must plug in another small school, California Institute of Technology for taking 2nd spot . They often don’t get as much recognition as they deserve compared to schools like Harvard, MIT, Johns Hopkins etc.


Also have a look at A&M #178, UTD #350 and Texas Tech #800 on world ranking while you are bashing a tiny school for coming in #105.

Texans need to support Rice as it’s a little engine who could and does put Texas among academically selective and strong colleges. They are the only ones representing Texas on Forbes, Niche, Wall Street Journal,Princeton Review, USNR’s top 20 lists. It’s no secret how our educational standards are a laughing matter on east and west coasts.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by UnfairPark

Last I looked, they had about 6,000 students and 4,000 were undergrad so they are certainly not graduate focused. Many top schools don’t have business schools. Ones who do, most of them doesn’t offer any undergraduate business degree. Look up Harvard, Princeton, Stanford, Brown, Amherst, Williams etc and you’ll find out that undergraduate business degree isn’t an option at most selective elite schools.

If you look up top 100 world universities and their enrollment numbers, you won’t see many small schools like Rice there, Vanderbilt didn’t make it, Dartmouth is 94th, most top LACs weren’t even considered. Look up the criteria they used.

I must plug in another small school, California Institute of Technology for taking 2nd spot . They often don’t get as much recognition as they deserve compared to schools like Harvard, MIT, Johns Hopkins etc.


Also have a look at A&M #178, UTD #350 and Texas Tech #800 on world ranking while you are bashing a tiny school for coming in #105.

Texans need to support Rice as it’s a little engine who could and does put Texas among academically selective and strong colleges. They are the only ones representing Texas on Forbes, Niche, Wall Street Journal,Princeton Review, USNR’s top 20 lists. It’s no secret how our educational standards are a laughing matter on east and west coasts.

I support Rice, even after they dinged my son for no logical reason. It's a great school with lots of advantages - small classes for the most part taught by professors. Lots of opps. for UGs to participate in high value research. It's in a cool part of Houston and so on.

All that said Rice has a tremendous research ethos.
*It's an AAU member only intensive research doctorate granting institutions are invited. Those that lose research fous are kicked out.
*Rice ranked #22 in the world on the last Nature Normalized Lens Research impact rankings. Higher than Harvard.

_____________

What Rice really is-is a great school for everyone who can get in. The commitment to have profs. teach most UG classes is a big deal IMO. That said many of those same profs. wouldn't be there at all if Rice wasn't a research power.

[UnfairPark]

Originally Posted by EDS_

I support Rice, even after they dinged my son for no logical reason. It's a great school with lots of advantages - small classes for the most part taught by professors. Lots of opps. for UGs to participate in high value research. It's in a cool part of Houston and so on.

All that said Rice has a tremendous research ethos.
*It's an AAU member only intensive research doctorate granting institutions are invited. Those that lose research fous are kicked out.
*Rice ranked #22 in the world on the last Nature Normalized Lens Research impact rankings. Higher than Harvard.

_____________

What Rice really is-is a great school for everyone who can get in. The commitment to have profs. teach most UG classes is a big deal IMO. That said many of those same profs. wouldn't be there at all if Rice wasn't a research power.

Admissions process at all highly selective schools is unpredictable, you can be accepted at A and rejected by B or vice versa. It’s not something to be taken seriously as more than 90% applicants get rejected at each of these schools. It sucks when kid is a perfect match for the school but kids at that level find success no matter where they go, like yours did. One of mine was really bummed when he got accepted at two of HYPSM but got rejected from both of his dream schools, Amherst and Brown. It all worked out in long term.

[ParaguaneroSwag]

Originally Posted by Jack Lance

If a prestigious University wants to spend hundreds of millions of dollars to develop a research institution in Houston, say YES ! No matter how many other schools there already are. It just doesn't make sense to allow any Institution to hold the whole city hostage in defense of itself.

If the University of Houston wanted a wider geographic appeal it should have named itself something else. I believe at the time the name Texas State University was still available. Calling yourself the University of Houston pretty much limits the institution to whatever area Greater Houston's sphere of influence is , and that ain't Round Rock.

The name isn’t a problem. University of Houston is a great name. If UH would want to build a campus, say in El Paso, it doesn’t necessarily have to be named “University of Houston-El Paso”. It could name it “Lyndon B Johnson University” and still be part of the system. This is common among many public University systems throughout the United States.

[EDS_]

Originally Posted by UnfairPark

Admissions process at all highly selective schools is unpredictable, you can be accepted at A and rejected by B or vice versa. It’s not something to be taken seriously as more than 90% applicants get rejected at each of these schools. It sucks when kid is a perfect match for the school but kids at that level find success no matter where they go, like yours did. One of mine was really bummed when he got accepted at two of HYPSM but got rejected from both of his dream schools, Amherst and Brown. It all worked out in long term.

I tend to agree with you.

But it still seems odd that I was able to get in with roughly a 3.5 gpa and very good test scores. While my son with a essentially perfect bonafides didn't get so much as an on campus interview. It really doesn't matter as he would have passed anyway but I find it curious.

________________________

I know nothing much about Amherst but so far as your boy and Brown.......Brown has a rep. for confounding admissions decisions.

[UnfairPark]

Originally Posted by EDS_

I tend to agree with you.

But it still seems odd that I was able to get in with roughly a 3.5 gpa and very good test scores. While my son with a essentially perfect bonafides didn't get so much as an on campus interview. It really doesn't matter as he would have passed anyway but I find it curious.

________________________

I know nothing much about Amherst but so far as your boy and Brown.......Brown has a rep. for confounding admissions decisions.

Well, it’s a relief that we are done and over with. It’s still nice to see Texas climbing up the elite education ladder.