Rice University Top Questions

There are a lot of opportunities to spend time with professors outside of class. Of course, they always have office hours and other opportunities related to their classes, but it's also possible just to get to know them a little better. Since we have the residential college system, many professor choose to be associates at a particular college. You tend to run into the ones involved with your college quite often. It's nice sometimes to sit down with them at lunch in you commons and have a conversation with them about things other than class.

A great part about Rice academics is that the students are not competitive. I never had a problem getting help or working in groups with anyone at Rice because of someone's competitive nature or trying to get ahead of the curve.

Rice students are smart and dedicated, but we're also the most helpful bunch you can find! There are students who spend as much time doing their own homework as they do helping others. Everyone is competitive with themselves, wanting to get good grades, but we don't have any cut-throat competition against each other; Rice is truly a collaborate learning experience! The classes can range from large to small, but you can definitely get into small classes even as a freshman. The professors make an effort to get to know your name in most cases (larger pre-med classes being a personal exception). Class participation is quite common with teachers posing questions that students argue and ponder about among themselves. Rice does have distribution requirements, but most people are truly grateful for them. They are not too hard a task, and they allow you the opportunity to explore different areas; even though engineers may not want to take a social science class, there are so many interesting classes in all fields that end up attracting the unlikely candidates.

The academics at Rice are generally very strong. The general distribution requirements are pretty flexible, so if you want to focus on the challenging courses within your major, you can usually find "easy" classes that make the requirements less burdensome, but you can also use the requirements to expand your horizons. The quality of the classes varies by professor, but there are always plenty of people around to give you sound advice - along with your assigned advisor, there are student faculty advisors at every college, and upperclassmen are always willing to help out underclassmen. Most people at Rice are incredibly smart and interesting, yet also laid-back. A lot of people study a lot and work hard, but generally there is an atmosphere of collaboration rather than competition. As a music major, I've really appreciated the lack of hostility and cut-throat competition that can be rampant at other music schools. I really appreciate the diversity of academic interests at Rice. About half the students seem to be Pre-med, but these students major in everything from Bio-engineering to English. About half the students also seem to be either double-majoring or triple-majoring. At Rice you become friends with insightful philosophers, intelligent musicians, passionate mathematicians, talented writers, and surprisingly hip computer geniuses.

The quality of academics at Rice is very high, but of course various by department. On average, the classes are small; we only have two or three big lecture halls and they're usually not filled. On top of that, the professors are extremely accessible. If you e-mail them, you will almost always get a reply within 24 hours, and they all have office hours in which you can visit. On top of that, most of them don't care if you stop by at any time you like. I even had one professor give us his home phone number, and just asked us not to wake up his wife. I can't tell you how invaluable it was having professors be that accessible and amenable to questions! The first thing you'll notice when you look at Rice's curriculum is that there is no core curriculum. There are literally no classes you are required to take other than the ones for your major(s). Note, there is a writing exam you have to take when you first get there that,if you don't pass, you're required to take at least one of the sundry English composition classes available. Instead of a core curriculum, you have to fulfill "distribution requirements". Basically, 3 to 4 classes in each of three areas: humanities/arts, social sciences, and math/engineering. For many students most of these will be covered by their major(s), and the huge benefit of not having a core curriculum is that you can have multiple majors without a problem. I graduated in 4 years with a double major and had extra time for lots of electives. I know several people who triple majored, and even one who graduated with 4 majors. One note of caution: Rice is not trying to prepare you for a job. I know people from virtually every department, and excluding music, Rice is not trying to provide you with what you need to go into the workforce. Instead, Rice tries to give you the concepts that will help you to understand and excel at whatever you end up doing. I did not get an education that made me good at any particular job, but because of my education I am one of the best at the job I ended up getting.

I love academics at Rice, but it is generally more difficult than people expect. Even though you may have been at the top of your class in high school, you are average at Rice. If you never had to study, you will at Rice. The classes are rewarding and you learn a lot, but it takes work. Students are not openly competitive, but everyone strives on their own. I came in as a chemical engineer, but ended up in sociology/ women's studies. My majors are very inclusive and supportive - everyone is friendly and I love all of the staff and profs. My classes mostly class participation and discussion, but a little bit of lecture. I really enjoyed my academic life and got sooo much out of my education. I wrote a thesis, got published, and got into a fellowship because of my studies.

What can I say? It's got good academics. But just like anywhere else, big classes can be boring and unparticipatory -- small ones are a crapshoot. Engineers have plenty of good company, and there's no bias against us in the curriculum or anything.

Well classes aren't huge, and are also not that easy. But with that being said, you can get as much help as you want, talk to your professors and TA's freely, and go to multiple review sessions if something isn't clicking. The student environment is competitive but not cut throat. Your student peers are usually willing to help you in the classroom as well, where as in most prestigious school systems, students may try to sabotage you to get the edge. In general, if you get through the admissions process and you have good study habits, you can survive Rice academics.

Professors definitely know your name. Outside of introductory classes, class sizes are small. Students study all the time. Class participation is very common. Students definitely have intellectual conversations outside of class...people at rice are very smart. Students are competitive in classes where the curve is important, but it is not oppressive or painful. The computer science department at Rice is really great. I learned a ton and got a good job. I feel well prepared for handling changing technology...Rice is not a technical school and as such they do not teach for the purpose of getting you a job. However, everyone I know in my department got great jobs after graduating, especially since Rice has good recruiting relationships with great companies (Amazon, Google, Microsoft, etc).

Academics: The Honor Code is great. We have lots of take-home and self-timed exams, which is less stressful. Also, the new Course Evaluation system is fantastic--you can see evaluations online for all your classes, including written comments and graphs! Plus they give away ipods and gift cards for doing them.