<p>There are some big classes taught at Rice-especially in the sciences, but also plenty of small courses. Both my kids have/had close relationships with profs - one of my daughter’s profs is now a family friend, and we stay with her whenever we visit Houston and she has stayed with us in our city, and there are several other profs that DD (now two years out of school) are in contact with. Re: how interested in undergrads are the science profs - well, my son went to a research presentation featuring several profs and afterwards introduced himself and said that he’d be interested in doing some research; he was hired within a few days. He counts that prof as a mentor, and we got invited to the prof and his wife’s house when we were in Houston. A really great guy. And DS has had some fantastic training (including being sent to another state for several weeks to be trained on an expensive piece of research equipment), and opportunities to be paid to do his OWN research. I know these anecdotes are just that, anecdotes - but hopefully this will help you get a better feel for Rice.</p>