(04-18-2019 01:53 PM)loki_the_bubba Wrote:  

(04-18-2019 12:02 PM)Ranger Wrote:  

(04-17-2019 10:01 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote:  I don't think there is much question that lack of a med school stands between us and a top 10 ranking. Baylor Med would obviously have been an attractive acquisition. But the financial risks were considerable, and Baylor University had the ability to block the deal, which they almost certainly would have done.

It was my understanding that at the time there was considerable dissension among the Baylor Med faculty. That might have been the opportune time to have done a reprise of Lovett's raid on the Princeton faculty at the founding of the Institute. And there is a Medical Center full of several hospitals that would probably have been happy to join forces with Rice. Baylor Med's endowment was listed at around $1 billion the last time I checked, to give some idea of what it would have taken to duplicate it.

The other possibility to raise standing would be a law school. Every university ranked ahead of in most rankings has either a med school or a law school or both, except Princeton which has a special cachet all its own. There is no good candidate for a law school. South Texas would potentially be available, but it is not really the kind of law school that Rice needs. A startup might be a possibility, but like the Jones School it would take a while to build a reputation. The only route that really makes sense is a law school with specialties that would complement Rice's strengths--international law, patent law, energy law, environmental law come to mind as possibilities.

I am virtually certain neither MIT nor Caltech has a law or med school.

Correct. Last time I looked it up Princeton, Rice, MIT and CalTech were the only top 20ish schools without either.

To compensate for that deficit, I suspect that MIT, CalTech & Princeton's reputations are buoyed by the 93 (6th among world universities), 73 (8th) and 65 (10th) Nobel prizes awarded to its graduates/staff, respectively.

(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_No...ffiliation)

MIT does so much med research that for purposes of rankings and such (federal grant money brought in, blah blah) it has a med school

(04-18-2019 03:24 PM)Intellectual_Brutality Wrote:  MIT does so much med research that for purposes of rankings and such (federal grant money brought in, blah blah) it has a med school

And Rice is doing an increasing amount of med research through the BRC.

Sorry the term 'effectively has a med school' really doesnt cut the mustard when you are not Princeton, MIT, or CalTech.

I am glad that they are doing an increasing amount of med search, but that only gets Rice about a dime on the cachet of that hot dog.