Rice University Top Questions

English professors know my name. Science profs do not. My favorite classes are British poetry classes. My least favorite was microbiology. I really feel that the science classes could use a boost. The professors make it obvious that they are at Rice for their research and view teaching as a burden to keep their salaries. Students are ridiculously competitive. It gets annoying. I am in Taiwanese right now. It is a great class and doesn't require much busywork. My majors are Biochemistry and English. I do not hang out with profs outside of class, but some other students do. The academic requirements seem pretty good to me. Rice definitely encourages learning for its own sake, which can get annoying at times.

My favorite class was Nutrition with Dr. Anding because it teaches you many life skills that you can apply for the rest of your life. My least favorite was general chemistry because it was terribly taught and way too difficult for incoming freshman. Students think they study all the time, but in actuality, people just study during mid-terms/finals week, right before a paper is due, the night before problem sets are due. Class participation is very common in small classes, but it's usually by the same annoying and pretentious kids every time. Rice students have intellectual conversations all the time, especially when under the influence of alcohol. Everyone's very competitive and fight for every percentage point or test score they can to outdo each other. The most unique class I've taken is performance psychology, which was part of the kinesiology department and taught by a cocky, motivational speaker. I'm a psychology major with a business minor.

Most of my profs do know who I am. Best classes are electives or distribution- you learn alot and you can put a pass fail on them if you bomb tests. Least fav is required courses. Students are very competitive, where do you think the Honor Code came from?

Many of my intro-level classes are large and my professors don't know my name. In the rest of my classes, the professors are friendly with me and will stop and talk with me if we meet outside of class. My favorite class right now is my introduction to astrophysics class (astrophysics is my major) for two reasons: the problem sets tend to be very intense and our class is very small (7 people). Most students take a full load of classes (I can think of only a few people who are taking less than 18 credit hours) and study often. Most students are surprisingly good at managing their time, but for many all-nighters are inevitable. A lot of students do research, and most students have a genuine interest in learning (at least in the subjects that they enjoy).

Name: Yes, most of them know my name Favorite class: I like some of the religion classes. Least favorite: Psychology. Intellectual conversations: Occasionally but we usually talk about normal stuff Competitiveness: People are not competitive with each other, we all help each other. Unique class: American Sign Language Major/department: Biochemistry-- I enjoy it. Spending time: I sometimes make appointments to ask questions outside of class. Rice's academic requirements: Too many outside major hours are required. Rice: Education mostly geared toward learning for its own sake, at least in my major.

The professors here are AMAZING. They get incredibly involved in student life, and they really do care what happens to their students. They know our names. They know what we want to do with our lives, even if we have no idea. And they want to help us get there. The aloof, unapproachable, ivory-tower academic is a rarity here, and it's one that is called out and frowned upon among the faculty body. My outside-the-classroom interactions with my professors, both in and out of my major, have undoubtedly been the most life-changing parts of my Rice experience. Everyone who walks through the Sallyport and matriculates at Rice should take a class from Mark Kulstad before they graduate. Anyone who isn't afraid to be wrong in public, or needs to get over the fear of being wrong in public, should take a class from Paula Sanders.

Chemical engineering is the best major. Period.