[spontaneousfire]

This was an amazing response! Thanks! My interest in healthcare is clear to me. I've read more books than any normal teenager probably should about healthcare industrial organization, policy, and new companies in biotechnology. But I'm unsure whether the way to best engage with healthcare and biotech is through being a physician. My interest is more in industry, being on the forefront of synthetic biology and digital health, as opposed to clinically practicing. I want to spend my time in the valley when possible, I just don't know whether I will be able to get positions at growing companies from Rice (Is it well-known/respected in the valley?). Related, computer science is something I've become very interested in, in the context of how software is aiding both biotechnology and healthcare organization (digital health, telemedecine, surgical robotics, etc.). Rice's CS is nowhere near as respected as Columbia's--does that matter through the lens of industry internships/work experience?