Rice University Tour

Located in Houston, TX Rice University has about 4,000 students and is about 3 miles from downtown Houston. The campus sits on 300 acres and is picturesque; tree-lined with Spanish Mediterranean architecture..

Rice has long been known for its programs in sciences and engineering, and the architecture program for undergrads is one of the best in the U.S. Most popular majors include: engineering, biosciences, social sciences, computer science, economics, and music. There are six schools for undergrads at Rice: Architecture, Humanities, Engineering, Music, Natural Sciences, and Social Sciences. Rice offers 50 majors and 23 minors. The school doesn’t have a core curriculum, but they do have what they call flexible distribution including 3 humanities, 3 applied sciences, 3 social sciences, a writing requirement, and 1 year of physical education.

Rice really differentiates itself as a research institute, ⅔ of students will conduct research while they are at Rice and 90% of students have internships on campus. There is a 6:1 student to faculty ratio and every student is assigned a both a faculty adviser and peer adviser. 72% of classes have fewer than 20 students and the average class size is 14.

Besides Rice’s stellar research and learning opportunities for students, Rice offers generous financial aid (including merit aid) and has a huge endowment that helps to make the school more affordable to families.

Rice has 11 residential colleges; all undergrads are divided into a residential college (based on the British residential college system). Each one is a hub/microcosm of Rice. Social life is centered around their residential college and there is no Greek life. Students become very attached to their residential college and you hear how much they love the community their residential college provides. (80% of students live on campus). Students praise how welcome the campus is and talk about how engaged students are – and how much they interact with one another. School traditions are a big part of life at Rice. There are 280 student organizations and Rice also participates in Division I sports. In addition, 75% of students participate in intramural sports (teams are tied to residential colleges). Houston isn’t far away, but social life is campus focused.

If you are looking for a school with top notch academics with long-standing traditions that won’t break the bank-Rice is worth considering. Students leave Rice well-prepared for the world.

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