<p>I’ve always been told about how nice rice is, but i also want to learn about its disadvantages.can you guys tell me a little about that? thx!!!</p>
<p>Every positive has its own negative. For example</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Small size
Pros: We get individual attention. Professor knows our name. Good opportunity to work and learn more than just the basic syllabus
Cons: Career fair is small. Tiny alumni base. Rice students are known to be good all over the country but the aura is geographically limited (as opposed to Harvard)</p></li>
<li><p>Res. College system
Pros: Easy way to meet people. You are exposed to all different majors and all different years right off the bat. Colleges have activities planned and each have a government that does a little bit.
Cons: Can be limiting in some ways, although transferring has become more common. If all your friends live on the other side of campus, you cannot live with them. If you are put in some colleges you are stuck with doubles or crappy buildings for the whole time you are there.</p></li>
<li><p>Location
Pros: Campus is great and is in the city. There is a light rail nearby. Rice village has lots of food.
Cons: Not much public transportation. Too many pickup trucks (personal peeve) etc.</p></li>
<li><p>Food
Pros: Available on campus right at your college (res. hall). Food is unlimited
Cons: Choices can be bad sometimes. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>The important thing to take from this post is that there are cons for every pro. In my mind, though I listed cons for every point, the pros outweigh the negative. While the subpar career fair isn’t the best, Rice students do not have a problem getting jobs.</p>
<p>There was this thread last year, which went nowhere, unless you consider jokes about Jones as being of substance:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/rice-university/985286-what-do-you-dislike-about-rice.html?highlight=disadvantages[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/rice-university/985286-what-do-you-dislike-about-rice.html?highlight=disadvantages</a></p>
<p>My son is a freshman. He has almost no complaints, and those that he has are pretty trivial. For instance, the wireless internet connections are not always great. He didn’t get every class he wanted first semester, but he loved all the classes he got and he got everything he wanted second semester. He’d like a larger course selection, but it’s not that big a deal. </p>
<p>For myself, as a parent, I can only think of a few minor complaints. In August it is ridiculously hot. So it would be nice if they had underground visitor parking outside every building, but I’ve never heard of a college that has that, so it’s barely worth mentioning. But it is pretty much impossible to get a taxi to pick you up on campus or near campus and that’s rough when it’s 99 degrees and 99% humidity.</p>
<p>And dealing with some administrators has been a bit disappointing. No big problems yet, but clearly they are not all as smart as the average student or faculty member. And I don’t know what to compare it to; maybe that’s how it is in every college.</p>
<p>And of course, there’s the name recognition thing. It’s amazing how many “educated” people have never heard of Rice, or heard of it but don’t even know what city it’s in. But that’s made up for when 10% of the time you get a reaction like “Wow, your son must be so smart! My law school roommate went there and really loved it.” Or when recently I was playing tennis wearing a Rice T-shirt and some other Rice parents noticed and actually tried to talk to me about Rice during my tennis game.</p>
<p>In short, there are so few things worth complaining about that it’s worth noting.</p>
<p>Check out this thread for comparison:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/rice-university/291183-101-reasons-attending-rice.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/rice-university/291183-101-reasons-attending-rice.html</a></p>
<p>Last time I checked only two other colleges made it past 101.</p>
<p>thx bird rock! i can see rice is so nice that even the “problems” are not big deals! but i’m worried about one thing: i heard from my friend that though rice enjoys a very high reputation in south, in east coast, in new york, in wall street, it is not regarded so high, maybe far worse than ivys. is this true through your view?(i’m an international student so i know very little about this)</p>
<p>thank you Antarius! i like your last sentence “Rice students do not have a problem getting jobs” :D</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>If you ask a random person on the street, they may or may not know about rice (in the north). Then again, everyone who needs to know, such as recruiters, companies, CEO’s, venture capitalists etc. knows about Rice.</p>
<p>Going to Harvard will get you more oooh’s and wows from the layperson than Rice. When it comes to jobs and graduate school though, Rice is also very highly regarded.</p>