<p>Definitely applying to MIT, Caltech, HMC, CMU, U of C… should I include Rice? What do you like about Rice/Why are you going there?</p>
<p>Your choices are all top schools, and the fact that you’re considering Rice along with them only suggests that you also think Rice is on par with those schools in your choices. </p>
<p>Now, who wouldn’t want to go to a top school such as Rice? :D</p>
<p>didn’t mean to imply anything critical of Rice, I’m interested in what current students think is special about Rice… what do you love about it that would make a student choose Rice over one of the other schools mentioned</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>The main thing one should understand about Rice is the college system. Read up on it and then you should have a better idea of why Rice is so awesome.</p>
<p>One of the things that makes Rice different from most research universities: Its focus is on undergrads, with lots of research opportunities going to them that would be reserved for graduate students at most universities. Between that and the residential college system, it’s a pretty special place.</p>
<p>I got a text from my freshman son on the first day of classes. </p>
<p>S: My public policy class is taught by a recently retired senior lobbyist from a major corporation. He’s a Rice Alum.</p>
<p>Me: You better sit up front and make sure this teacher knows your name. This is REAL LIFE networking!</p>
<p>S: haha. There’s only 10 of us in the class and we meet at a conference table. He knows my name. </p>
<p>I think that’s a perfect example of what going to Rice means.</p>
<p>A week or two after my son received his notification of acceptance, he received a call from a bioe prof to see if he had any questions about Rice. When we visited the campus a few weeks later, the same prof introduced himself and greeted my son by name. He wasn’t wearing a name tag. S is now a Rice bioe grad.</p>
<p>DD was visiting for the accepted students Owl Days when the VA Tech tragedy happened. A friend of hers was one of the victims. The Maters of the college, the students she was with, other students in the college, the studio she was considering, all wrapped their arms around her and got her through to the plane the next day. After that there was no question where she was going. She had become part of the family of Rice.</p>
<p>Not to forget that Rice has a think tank with an active student forum that
does research and brings notable speakers to campus.
[James</a> A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy Rice University](<a href=“http://www.bakerinstitute.org/]James”>http://www.bakerinstitute.org/)
[James</a> A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy Rice University | Students | The Baker Institute Student Forum](<a href=“http://www.bakerinstitute.org/students/student_forum.cfm]James”>http://www.bakerinstitute.org/students/student_forum.cfm)
New members are added in the spring. </p>
<p>Research opps in the social science are plentiful!</p>
<p>The professors here are AMAZING, even at the introductory level. Here are some examples:</p>
<p>-My Gen Chem professor makes it a point that we understand why matter is composed of atoms, how the atomic weights were experimentally determined, how atomic numbers were determined, etc. He also gives extra credit for answering questions in class and is very dynamic in his teaching style.</p>
<ul>
<li><p>My Comparative Politics teacher is a fellow at the Baker Institute and has made it a point to know the names of all 75 students in his class. Like my Chem teacher, he is very nice and very knowledgeable about the subject.</p></li>
<li><p>My Bio teacher, while a more traditional lecturer, always has a “What’s New” section in his class. For a 5 minute period, he describes how what we learned in class relates to research that has recently come out.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>In general, the professors here are pretty amazing, friendly, down-to-earth, and caring. You will be hard pressed to find that at many of the other universities you are looking at, since their focus is more on research than on undergraduate teaching. In fact, USNWR ranked Rice #11 for quality of undergraduate teaching.</p>
<p>The students here are also down-to-earth, friendly, and collaborative. They are willing to help each other out. Rice has a community spirit to it; almost everyone wears Rice t-shirts. The residential college system fosters the community at Rice, and it is no wonder Princeton Review ranked us #1 for Best Quality of Life and #8 for Happiest Students.</p>
<p>GO RICE!</p>
<p>I’m not a Rice student, but I will note one thing. Princeton Review ranks Rice highly for class/race interaction, and everything I’ve heard from current students (on CC and IRL) confirms this. This is rare, since groups tend to self-segregate. This is something that really draws me to Rice.</p>
<p>^all the above +
because students here are treated like adults and trusted to uphold their own academic integrity
(take home tests and online quizzes)
there is also a student-run honor council that processes all reported violations</p>
<p>I love Rice because I feel like I’m truly part of an academic community, not a bunch of people who happen to take classes together.</p>
<p>The learning happens inside AND out of the classroom–the residential college system gives students a great support network while at the same time fostering a ton of diversity. Genuinely nice and kind people are EVERYWHERE. it’s “cool” to be really school-spirited and involved in extracurriculars.</p>
<p>People are crazy smart but not cutthroat or overcompetitive. They want to be here for the right reasons. The school is small and everybody says hi to each other around campus. Study groups within your college are easy to form and VERY helpful.</p>
<p>Also, Rice gives merit aid–go to the Rice website and look up Century Scholars and Trustees Scholarship. There is no special application for this–everyone is considered.</p>
<p>An anecdote: a class already was overpacked- 22 out of 19 students were enrolled. I sent an eMail to the professor (Dr. Huston, for any Rice people reading this), asking if I could talk to him about letting me at least sit in on the class in the hopes that someone would drop it. He said it was fine and I should drop by his office the next day. We ended up chatting for about 30 minutes, with maybe five of those about the class and preparation and the rest was just friendliness. I could go on about how great a guy he is, and how it’s awesome that a teacher as good as he is (he’s not allowed to win any more faculty awards) is teaching an intro English 200 course, but what’s more useful is that he had significant experience at some northeastern schools (Wesleyan for undergrad, and Yale for grad and taught there too) and told me that he believes that Rice University is the best choice for most undergraduates. </p>
<p>So, that someone with significant Ivy experience is extolling Rice is significant, and also consider Rice’s endowment- the last I heard it has the third highest endowment to student ratio in the nation (behind Harvard at one and someone, maybe Stanford, at second). A senior was telling me how easy it is to get funding here; if you want to do something valuable, they have resources, almost no question about it.</p>
<p>Oh yeah! And if you care about rankings (which everyone should WAY less) note that many rankings systems favor graduate school stuff- Rice’s undergrad is stellar, with grad being just good, from what I know- AND Rice is the only USN&WR Top 20 school without a medical school or law school</p>
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<p>Ever heard of Princeton, MIT, or Caltech???</p>
<p>hello, interesting guy. hee hee</p>