<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>