Rice University’s formula for success is simple: small-town comfort + big-city opportunity. With just under 3,000 undergrads, Rice is able to offer all the advantages available to students at smaller schools. The student-to-faculty ratio at Rice, for example, is only 15 to 1, and the median class size is around 15. This means that students are able to get individualized, personal attention from professors that actually know them by their names.
Rice is also able to offer, however, all the amenities available to students at larger schools. Many of these advantages are the result of its Houston, Texas location. Rice’s wooded 285-acre park-like campus, which is one of the most beautiful in the nation, is adjacent to the world’s largest medical complex and is in the heart of Houston’s famed Museum district. In order to ensure that students are able to enjoy what Houston has to offer, Rice issues a public transportation pass to all of its undergraduates. In addition to the cultural advantages that accompany this Houston location, Rice students are also able to enjoy internship opportunities with a wide variety of Houston-based companies like ExxonMobil.
Another big-school advantage offered by Rice is its high endowment-to-student ratio, which is the fifth highest in the nation. This allows Rice to lower tuition and boarding fees, as well as offer more scholarships than most private universities of its caliber. The result is that Rice offers possibly the best value of all American private universities (according to research conducted by Kiplinger’s and The Princeton Review). This large endowment also means top-notch research and facilities, which are both part of the reason why Rice enrolls one of the highest percentages of National Merit Scholars in the country. In recent years, Rice has also had a higher percentage of National Science Fellowship winners than any other school in the nation.
Among Rice’s long list of top-notch colleges and programs, the School of Architecture stands out for its superiority. In a recent survey of design professionals conducted by Design Intelligence magazine, Rice ranked in the top-10 for its undergraduate program, its graduate program, and its overall innovativeness. Students from all over the world are attracted by the Rice College of Architecture’s wonderful reputation.
Socially, Rice is divided up into residential colleges that take the place of the fraternities and sororities of other schools. Each of these colleges has its own list of traditions and annual events that are attended by students from all over the campus. Rice athletics also form a big part of school social life. While the school has not had a long track record of success (due in part to the fact that it has the second smallest enrollment of any NCAA 1A football school), its athletic competitions still provide for memorable entertainment, as the Owl Marching Band is one of the top comically-oriented scramble bands in the country. Most importantly, however, is the fact that Rice student-athletes have the highest graduation rate of any division one school.
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