College Search

Johnny Jones, January 2002

When Bryan was home for Christmas, he worked on my software. Solving computer  problems comes so naturally for him that I can hardly imagine his life without computers. I asked, "Bryan, if you had been born in the 15th century, what would you have done?"

It was a mystery to him, too. Computers fit him like a hand fits a glove. Rice fit him, too. But at the beginning of our college search, I had never heard of Rice University. Finding the right college was lots of work, and lots of fun.

To begin, I marked every well- rated college with degrees in engineering. Did you know there is a Kurtztown University? Or how about Pine Manor College?

Then it was time to narrow the list. We were looking for a college where the professors taught. At many prestigious colleges, the professors primarily do research, only teaching a class or two on the side. We wanted a school where full professors, not graduate assistants, taught underclassmen. So we crossed off the huge universities which were highly rated, but which had introductory courses of up to 1000 students.

Also, we valued egalitarianism. That meant we crossed off schools with a heavy emphasis on
fraternities and sororities, and particularly on getting in just the RIGHT fraternity or sorority. And places that featured cutthroat competition were out.

Two guides helped us sort out these details: Insider's Guide to the Colleges and The Fiske Guide to Colleges. The first book has insightful comments from students of each school the cover. The Fiske Guide also gives detailed information about the feel of the campuses, including comments on social life. Here are some of their comments about Carleton College in Minnesota: "In the absence of a Greek system...the social life tends to be relaxed and informal, with dating at a minimum. `Dating
 does not happen a lot here,' says one man. Next, we bought The Gourman Report: A Rating of Undergraduate Programs in American and International Universities. Since Bryan was sure that he wanted to major in Electrical Engineering, we trusted the guide to help us find schools rated highly in that area.

Then we thought about comparing Bryan's SATs with those of students attending the schools we were considering. Bryan didn't want to stand out; he wanted to fit in. We looked for a place where he could find others like himself.

We whittled the list down to eight schools, then made plans to visit. Visiting allowed us to get a feel for the schools, to see the side the guides don't reveal. For example, even though Cal Tech was small and the campus beautiful and warm, there were no frisbees flying across the quad. We were told one of the competitions on campus was to stay in the dorm as long as possible without going outside. After a visit there, Bryan did not apply.

Another of the steps we took early on was to pray. We prayed that the Lord would lead us in  the right direction, that He would show us what we needed to see on college visits, and for guidance throughout.
 
After Bryan's first semester at Rice he told me, "If I had known how hard it was, I   know if I would have come here." Wow. We wondered whether our son could keep his scholarships and continue. Yes, I remember reading the word "intense" from Insider's Guidea bout Rice's academics. But as Insider's Guide put it, "The Rice sense of humor and the relaxed southern friendliness of Texas combine to make a welcome stress relief from the academic demands of this prestigious institution....Rice offers a solid education, tight- knit social and academic communities, and contagious creative energy and spirit that make it one of a kind."

It turned out that Rice fit Bryan like a hand fits a glove. We thank the Lord.