re: Say your kid got into Rice, SMU, and Tulane.

Out of the three, Rice is by far the best academically. Not even close.

All of this hate for Tulane is interesting. I'm not sure if it's because of Nola or something else but Tulane is a very good school.

SMU is a fine school but definitely a cut below Tulane which is a cut below Rice.

In addition to general academics obviously there's a lot that goes into a decision like this. Likely major. Which one just feels better, where the kid thinks that they are going to end up geographically (Tulane has a good network in the northeast). Financial package, etc.