UIUC vs. Rice vs. UT

[EEPHDWANNABE]

Rank in the acsending order. Fact based opinions only please. I can read US news myself. Thanks in advance guys!
Area: Communications, DSP

My ranking after Rice visit and knowing guys at UIUC and UT
1) UIUC (two guys from there were visiting Rice, said UIUC is solid in comms/dsp)
2) Rice (best comms paper at last years comms conference, dept head is a comms guy, saw their lab it's bad ***)
3) UT (nice ComNets program)

[ritwik]

I would say UIUC>RICE>UT

[awhig]

Second ritwik's ranking.

[bigredx24x]

I would say UIUC>>>UT>RICE.

UIUC - amazing place for research because there is NOTHING else to do in U-C.

The other 2 are kind of a toss up, but I tend to believe that UTA has a better reputation.

[gforce]

Hmm...I would differ slightly.
In my opinion, it should be UIUC>UT-Austin>Rice
I think bigredx24x, futuregradstudent and other EE wannabes would be in the best position to comment.

[Dhruv]

It's certainly UIUC>UT>>RICE ,

UT has better links with the industry than RICE.

[EEPHDWANNABE]

But it seems everyone agrees on UIUC being 1st. I am more inclined to Rice because they gave me money. UT on the other hand only funds top 10% of the newly admitted applicants. I may get aid from UT(they say it'll be April when they know for sure), but Rice already gave me full ride with a stipend. There were 2 UT undergrads that were visiting Rice too.

UIUC I still don't know if I even get in.

[WaitingMonster]

I would say UT Austin is the best. It has a very sold CommNets area. Also, professors in this area are all very famous. You can take a look at its website and you will know.

[bigredx24x]

1) UIUC (two guys from there were visiting Rice, said UIUC is solid in comms/dsp)

How did you hear about your admission to UIUC?

[EEPHDWANNABE]

I have not been admitted to UIUC yet. You should see Rice profs.
Total: 19
6 are triple MITs (BS,MS and PhD)
At least one (comms guy) is a triple UCB
Dept head is a comms guy from UIUC
1 grad there left Stanford for Rice.
The UIUC guys I mentioned were UIUC undergrads that were Rice prospects.
1 prospect was form CMU, 1 from UC-San Diego, 2 from UT, 1 from TAMU.

UT does not have a quarter of Rice's funding per student.
EVERY Rice PhD track gets funded fully. UT only funds top 10% of new students. Those that did not get funding, MAY get it next year. But there is no guarantee (especially if you are foreign).
Not to take anything away from UT, but with no funding from UT Rice is an obvious choice for me.
If UT offers funding, I may think about it more.