Rice is a bargain considering its academic reputation and small student body. However, its graduate business program still needs a great deal of improvement. In addition, UT's engineering dept. is consistenly ranked higher than Rice's. My brother graduated with a ChemE degree from Rice back in '97. His main complaint was that not enough companies go there to recruit. Meanwhile, companies from all over the country come to Austin to recruit UT grads. Also, for what it's worth, Dell doesn't recruit Rice grads for engineering positions. Personally, I find the majority of Rice's student body to filled with, for lack of a better word, dorks. Their parties are sausagefests for the most part, and the few decent looking chicks that go there think they're much hotter than they actually are.
was your brother's last name Baqui? I think I remember him vaguely... Career Services at Rice does need work. Some ChemE grads have had trouble finding jobs. There's really not much recruiting there, except for consulting. Too many students go straight into consulting without a second thought because it's what everybody else does. Most of the chemistry majors were headed straight to grad school, for which I just wasn't ready. Those who wanted to go straight to industry had already had internships for whoever they wanted to work with. The rest of us were left with things like Peace Corps, temporary industry jobs where you get treated really badly, or whatever else we could get our hands on. I was lucky because I found out about all the research tech jobs at the med center which sometimes hire chemistry majors. I didn't find this out from the department, or from Career Services - but from the Baptist Student Ministry coordinator. hey now... why do you think some of us girls went there?
Not that this means anything, but the Princeton Review ranked Rice number one IN THE NATION as the Best Academic Bang For Your Buck. http://www.princetonreview.com/college/research/rankings/rankingTeaser.asp?CategoryID=2&TopicID=63 I wish I would have gone there. Of course, looking back....I wish I would have just attended class where I was enrolled.
I remember taking some "enrichment" courses at Rice when I was in Jr. High going into high school. Rice people frightened me to the point I never applied there. I have no idea how Rice's engineering program is regarded now, but I know about 10 years ago when you talked chemical or electrical engineering, you always heard people talk about UH, UT, and A&M. I know when it comes to hiring people in IT, we don't care where the hell you went to school - we just care about the experience. But then we're not hiring people fresh out of college either, so take that for what it's worth...
TJ, while Rice is a fine institution, I felt more comfortable at The University. The campus life at Rice sounds like alot of fun, but, like someone else stated, their student body leaves something to be desired. My brother, a Rice alum, strongly advised against spending 4 years at Rice for undergraduate Electrical Engineering. Not to mention their bizarre admissions process which they use as a means to prove how many validictorians they can turn away.
Yes, he lived at Baker for 4 years. He's in NYC working at for a capital investment company now. So I'm assuming you liked the attention.
On Coach Hatfield's comments: those of us Rice fans and alums who care about football (don't know why anyone who isn't a football fan is even making it their business) have discussed the issue at length. I disagree with this comment. Coach Hatfield's comments were made in the context of his football program, but the consequences (hostile campus environment, public perception of Rice) affect everyone associated with the university. 2. Did he violate university policy? If he'd actually kicked somebody off the team, he would have. But, no, he didn't do anything. Apparently he's not allowed to have free speech either. Questioned about how he would respond to discovering a gay athlete on the football team, Coach Hatfield's response: "What changed [since we recruited you (gay athlete)]?" This implies that Coach Hatfield would not recruit gay athletes -- violating the university's non-discrimination policy. I do not believe this is an issue of free speech. As a high-profile member of the university, Coach Hatfield has a responsibility to represent Rice, consistent with all of the university's policies. His character is well known to Rice players and fans, and none of us actually believe he would kick someone off the team if they weren't causing a disruption. This is an issue of intent vs. effect. I am not questioning Coach Hatfield's character, but I believe his comments have caused a potentially hostile environment for gay athletes on the football team/Rice Athletics and students at the university. Just curious, how do you reconcile your position on the Augusta controversy with your position on Coach Hatfield's comments? University (A Finer Grain) Blue
Isabel, I really liked your post on Hatfield, and it's unfortunate that your opinion is in the minority around campus. I know many guys on the football team and even lived with a couple of them my sophmore year. To a man, the players are behind Hatfield and think that most of the student body is a joke. This is just making the already crappy relationship between athletes and non-athletes even worse. I do not play any varsity sports, and many of my friends do, but you won't find a lot of friendships at Rice that bridge this distinciton and it's a shame. Rice is turning more and more into a highly PC, incredibly liberal environment. Also, the focus is clearly being shifted away from undergraduate teaching where it has been for so long and shifting to research and graduate level programs, which I guess is inevitable. I have really enjoyed my time at Rice, but I'm glad it is coming to an end. I feel that by going to Rice I have missed out on many college experiences I could have had somewhere else (such as people actually caring about football games), but had a lot of experiences that I couldn't have elsewhere (the college system really is a big plus in my opinion though it too has drawbacks). Anyway, like I said, I've liked Rice a lot, but I'm not sure if I'd recommend it to someone else or not at this point. I guess it comes down to what you're looking for out of college. Academically, it can't be topped.
(warning... long rambling post ahead...) Exactly. Thanks for providing the perspective of a current student and of the football team (they're the ones who deal directly with the coach, after all, and they know what kind of person he is). It's too bad Rice is turning into that. Ten years ago when I started, I picked Rice in part because it was a well-respected academic institution that was <b>not</b> going crazy with political correctness. Instead, students focused on things like schoolwork (and going to athletic events). There were all types of viewpoints represented there, and everyone was tolerated and respected. However, I think the current regime has changed things; they wanted to be more like an Ivy League school, and started admitting a slightly different type of student. More political, more of a social climber, more likely to major in academ subjects, "liberal" in the right way. Less of the "old Rice" type students: offbeat, creative, not snobby about their position in the world. (also, most often math- and science-focused) I wasn't an athlete, but my friends and I considered athletes to be cool people... the ones we knew were smart, nice, took on tons of school and practice responsibilities, and it was cool to personally know them and then get to cheer for them at games. I spent most of my time with the band... they can be geeks sometimes, but at least they know how to have fun, and they are huge supporters of athletics. Sad to say, student attendance at football and especially basketball games has dropped off a lot in the past several years. They used to be big deals around campus, now it seems like no one even knows when they are being played. Also, I'm afraid the college system may be losing its focus, but hopefully I'm wrong... For those who want the teaching-oriented academic atmosphere that Rice used to have... I recommend Trinity U. in San Antonio. Of course, the downside is that you don't get Division I-A athletics to enjoy. For those who don't care about the Rice atmosphere and want a good education (where the professors will ask reasonable questions on exams), UT is cheaper if you can handle it. However, Rice has some fine athletic programs that graduate their athletes and aren't always getting put on probation; those of us who support athletics are like a large extended family, and we hate that the university seems to be drifting away from us.
My understanding is that Rice is somewhat overhyped as an academic institution simply because so many prospective students want to take advantage of its relatively cheap tuition and living costs and this ends up exaggerating Rice's student selectivity. The graduate departments and research programs also seem to be not as developed as most other top universities. This is all just what I've heard from others - I could be completely wrong. However, I will say that with regard to engineering/chemistry, I've never really heard of Rice as having one of the top programs nationally. Caltech, MIT, Stanford, Berkeley, Cooper Union, Illinois - Urbana would come to mind first.
I don't think Rice is overhyped at all as an academic institution for undergraduates. I know several people around the country at comparable schools (I have one great friend at UC-Berkeley and another at Harvard) and from comparing notes so to speak, Rice is at least as tough or tougher and stronger academically than the other two. You are absolutely right about research and graduate programs lagging behind other universities, but as I said in my post above, this is in the process of being amended (not necessarily a good thing in my opinion). I came to Rice partly because it is so unique in its focus and community and I see it becoming more and more homogenized to be like "other major universities" (ie- Ivy League South).
#1. You are much more likely to be accepted to Rice if you are from out of state (as you are). You should therefore keep in perspective the fact that some of the comments made here may not be quite accurate in relation to you. When I was in HS, people wouldn't get into Rice that would get into the second tier of Ivy League schools (like Dartmouth). Most places this is not the case. #2. That being said, I didn't posess the combination of inteligence and hard work that was necessary to get into Rice. If you do, I'd envy you if you went there (I went to Wasington University in St. Louis, essentially a school for people who were inteligent enough to get into schools like Rice, or Stanford, or Cornell, but didn't quite have that special "something" that put them over the top.) #3 Any major in any science @ Rice is a good major. My uncle was a physics major, @ Rice, and he went on to get his PhD at 1st rate institution. My aunt was a chemestry major, and she went on to get a MD/PhD at one of the 1st MD/PhD programs in the nation at the University of Miami. My mother, on the other hand, was a history major @ Rice, and well... I love my mother more than my uncle and my aunt.... 4# Many people evaluate the undergraduate experience on the basis of "general reputation", when this doesn't necessarily apply... My college, Wash U., was especially good for pre-meds, because the Premed program had close working ties with a quality med school, and undergraduates could get experience working with a top-flight medical researcher. On the other hand, despite a wonderful graduate school for social work, departments like Psychology (which feed into social work graduate work) didn't have especially strong undergrad programs, despite the good reputation derived from the post-grad school. The bottom line is that if you get into Rice and you know that you're going into some science-related field then you can't really expect to get a better value. The fact that it's so inexpensive means that more quality students are willing to go there. This, in turn, means you have better comptetition, which means you have a better school.
As an addendum to what Ottomaton wrote, I would recommend not going to Rice if you barely got in, i.e. if you are decidedly on the wrong side of entrance bell curve. College is more than studying, which may be all you have time to do if you squeak in. Despite what some people may say, your GPA is very important if you decide to get an advanced degree. Graduate schools do not factor your school's difficulty when comparing your GPA against other students. Knowing as a high senior or a college freshman whether you are graduate school bound is very likely an unknown for most people. If you think graduate school is a strong possibility for yourself, you may want to go to a school where you are decidedly on the right side on the bell curve. Not only will your GPA be higher and your stress level lower, but the door to graduate school will still be open to you. As an aside, I find it humorous that Rice students are outraged with Hatfield's comments and the football program, when they do not support Rice football by attending the games. Their action say that they could care less about Rice football, that is unless the coach makes a nonPC statement.
<i>Exactly.</i> By the way, grades are important for grad school - <i>if</i> you're going straight out of college. Which I don't recommend anyway, unless you have a lot more stamina than most of us. I had a 2.95 at Rice, which was a lot lower in my major (I made A's in all my academ courses, or it wouldn't have even been that high). However, if you get out and work in the field, especially (in the sciences) if you produce research, they won't care as much about your grades. Also, some (like UT) will recalculate them using their GPA scale - without all those pluses and minuses that Rice uses. (in other words, all your B-'s from Rice will count as B's and won't hurt your 3.0) Just letting you know that, while you may not be able to go the traditional route, you're not screwed for life if your grades aren't great.
Hey Isabel, UT recalculates your GPA? Sweet, baby. My transcript's just full of 'minuses.' I hope the other grad schools I'm applying to do the same. With regard to Hatfield, I DON'T think it's okay what he said and I hope some of you aren't dismissing all of those taking issue with what he said as just "being PC." For some, having gay students treated with respect is not merely an issue of political correctness. I'm not disagreeing with how some of you sum up the situation (with regard to student apathy over athletics, a strong element of PCness driving the whole issue or the general trend toward PCness at Rice for that matter), but give credit where credit's due. Some students really care about this issue, even if you may not agree or feel as strongly. If Hatfield had said something racist, I think the reaction would have been much different. But I'm satisfied that the situation's been handled appropriately. Hatfield hasn't done anything wrong. The players support him. I'm sorry he feels that way, but I'll take him at his word that he won't discriminate. It would be out of line for me to want him to be fired just for not sharing my values. But Hatfield's comments unfortunately do reflect on the athletic program.
My thoughts on Rice. Isabel, I don't think that you really addressed the question of how the lower grades might effect somebody. Many schools practically beg people to go to grad school school in enginering and the hard sciences. From personal friends' experience, if you want to go to med school for instance, you might be wise to avoid Rice. Once you are a doctor or lawyer no one cares much about what undergraduate school you went to as a kid. A question. Can the extreme tight knitness at Rice be stifling? Years ago as a member of a political activist group at U of Houston we seldom saw Rice students involved in off campus political issues like students at other universities. The few students we met that did so seemed practically terrified to try to start a liberal activist club at Rice due to the enormous peer pressure to not go against the prevailing orthodoxy at Rice which was then moderately conservative Republican or largely what I will call an ironic detached liberalism that saw itself as above political concerns. To be fair to Rice, engineering types are often not interested in such issues and the work load might leave most students feeling too burned out to do anything more with their free time then socialize and relax.
If you want to get into a good med school you might be wise to go to Rice b/c it looks better on the application. I'm guessing you're making this statement b/c you think that the extra work and difficulty involved with Rice is not worth it later in life? I would say the amount learned would be beneficial later...
