Eugenie98 said:
bearpaw, I wouldn't talk about arrogance if I were you... in fact you probably should be concerned with taking your head out of your nether region.
first of all, the kids at Rice aren't country bumpkin types. I'm from New York City, so unless you come from the planet of Coruscant, there isn't a more developed Western metropolis to baseline your judgement.
Out of the hundred or so students I met over the course of my four days at Rice, there were a total of two who had southern twangs.
I'm a numbers man: look at the interquartile SAT range for students at Rice. It's 1320-1520. That's better than: JHU, Cornell, UChicago, Northwestern, and Columbia. That's par with Duke, Dartmouth, and UPenn.
Second, kikkoman goes to MIT, if you had learned how to read, you would know that.
Third, my suitemate at Rice sure was a hick, he drove that good ol' country southern BMW X5. So before you go shooting off at the mouth, dare I say, go and check your facts..
P.S. Poor John Doerr, I guess when he earns that few billion $$$ from his investment in Google, (you know, he's that partner at Kleiner, Perkins, Caufield and Byers who bought 20% of Google for $25 million and went to Rice), he won't know where to spend it since he went to this here hick school. He might end up buying a Sizzler's.. or more likely donating dough to have a building named after him at Rice...
Or that hick CEO of AMD, Hector Ruiz, damn he must not know how to operate those millions in stock options. Them newfangled yankee inventions.
when you go to rice, find out how many of them were rejected from the ivies, Duke, stanford, and mit. I would bet very few of the students there chose rice over those schools unless offered some money incentive, similar to wash u undergrad does, or because they rather stay close to home. Hell, every state school offers a scholars program that gives "ivy caliber" students a "special" experience with a few honors classes, a full ride and then some, and usually better housing arrangements. If you don't have money, certainly i guess your only option is to go to the cheaper school, but princeton doesn't even give loans anymore, so i don't think people EVER turn down princeton for rice. Unless of coures, you add baylor, which does give one incentive to do so.
Look, you're getting a good deal, a good comprimise. You're definately going to med school. But the thing is, there is more to life than just going to med school. You'll be missing out on alot of things, you can call yourself a "numbers man" or whatever, but some things aren't so simply quantified. You can get the same MCAT score going to community college and some really worthless 10th tier state school, but why would you do that? Everyone who is motivated enough to pursue medicine cares enough to go to the best possible school, and inflated SAT averages don't equate quality (inflated because of the money they give).
Ok, i'll confess, rice offered me a full ride in HS too. I know all about rice.
From my understanding, there are quite a few accomplished princeton alums out there...so just don't go there. Really, that's not an argument worth discussing. As far as you bashing me, the strength of my argument is not in my words but in the truth behind them. These things will haunt you:
anytime you have a bad day at rice, or meet some idiot kid and wonder how they got in, or some teacher just isn't up to snuff, you'll think about Princeton. Anytime you say proudly "I go to rice" and someone looks at you quizzically, you'll think about Princeton (Might not happen in texas, but it WILL happen nearly everywhere else). You're from NYC, perhaps you forget that princeton is in prime location to go there and to philly. Well, rice is close to ...you'll have to excuse me on that.
Rice is a good school. I know that. But turning Princeton down for it is stupid, especially since you're going to pay to go to both rice and baylor. Anyone smart enough to go to princeton on academics can succeed in the med school game tremendously. My friend has his mcat course taught by a princeton kid with a full ride to michigan. I have a friend from harvard choosing his duke ride over michigan's. They are spending less than you, cowboy, and they got better schools to boot.
I am not telling you this advice to be mean or to give myself a boost. I am just being honest with you, not just how i feel, but based on what i've learned. You'll be hard pressed to find a pton alum wishing they went to rice/baylor instead. What's your motivation? The best education you can get? The most money you could possibly make? The most money you can possible save on tuition? The most security you can have? I guess you're going with the two latter points.
You're going to a pretty good undergrad. And then a pretty good med. You're life is gonna be pretty good.
But, what would it have been had you gone to princeton? People will tell you they would not have traded THEIR undergrad experiences for anything, but the opinion of someone who has not been accepted to princeton is useless in this regard (if someone tells you they prefer to have a toyota over a rolls, their opinion is worthless unless they are as wealthy as a typical rolls owner, wouldn't you agree?). Posting publically about your ivy league decision alienates people who did not have that option and they become defensive about it. IF i ever complain about school, someone is always quick to say "I love blah state university." They do this to make me feel like i missed out on something, to project the image that somehow I messed up and am missing out.
If you talk about choosing between a 10 million dollar a year job vs. a 50k one, online most people will find something endearing in the 50k job and encourage you to do it. The best answer you'll get is "do whatever makes you happy", with an emphasis that the better job will be the lower paying one ("you can bond with your fellow workers...who wants to be a big mean boss anyway?". In reality, 99% of people would take the money job, no matter what it was (within reason of course).
These sites are notorious for acting like no one cares about money or prestige. If you say prestige or money is a factor, people who are invariably jealous comment that you're the scum of the earth and won't make a good doctor. Of course, this mindset is NOT reflected in any med school year, as of course, the most lucrative and cushy jobs are ALWAYS the most selective. Very few people actually live out the BS they spew here.
So yeah, i say go to princeton. If you wanted advice, you should have talked to princeton alums, rice alums, top med school alums, and baylor med alums. I believe they would concur with me. Why do you think your mother wants you to go to princeton? Its not just bragging rights, she cares about YOU more than you probably do yourself. But ask someone from a regular school, they will tell you to go elsewhere because that way you're no better than them ("why would you want to go to a snob school?"). Anyway, no matter what you're still ok. have fun in college, goodluck with it all, it can be unforgettable.
but I do mean it. If it sounds too philosophical, PM me and I'll tell you more about my college and med school application experiences, both of which were wonderful.
