Enrollment: 3154
Most Popular Majors: Biology/Biological Sciences, General,Economics, General,Psychology, General,
Regular Application Deadline: 01/02
Student Faculty Ratio: 5.2:1

Undergraduate Receiving Need-Based Financial Aid: 53
Average Freshman Total Need-Based Gift Aid: $28,392.00

Top 10 Best Value Private Colleges
Happiest Students
Lots of Race/Class Interaction
Great Financial Aid

Students Say - Academics
Students tell us Rice University provides "an Ivy League education without the Eastern establishment elitism and cut-throat competition." As at the Ivies, there's a lot of high-profile research going on here. Unlike at least some of the Ivies, though, "Many of the top researchers at the school teach intro level classes in their fields." Undergrads here benefit from Rice's relatively small size. As one student explains, the school "is small enough that you're always running into someone you know, but big enough that you can easily do awesome research, be a part of a radio station reaching all of Houston, or get involved in the performing arts." Academically, the school "is heavily focused on the sciences and engineering," and although the school has made efforts to bolster its other disciplines, for at least the time being "the humanities and social sciences are perceived as 'easy' majors. While there are a lot of great resources for these disciplines here, sometimes we who study them feel forgotten in a sea of bioengineers and pre-meds." Perceptions notwithstanding, academics across the board here are "challenging, but there is an extensive support network and it is not a competitive environment." Indeed, undergrads agree "Rice University is dedicated to its students, whether in the classroom through providing top-notch professors who are approachable…or just around campus by catering to students' professed, real needs and desires." Students say the school is run by an administration that is "extremely sensitive to students' needs and concerns."

Students Say - Campus Life
You can't understand life at Rice without understanding the residential college system, which many, many students say is "hands down the best thing about Rice." Under the system, "you are placed in a dorm and you live there all four years. It's great because it gives you another family and allows you to get to know everyone in your college. Rather than having frats or sororities you have to be approved of to join, your college immediately accepts you without question." Each college "has developed its own personality, traditions, and completely student-led government…When asked 'Where are you from?' students almost always reply not with their hometown but with their college affiliation." Students are equally enthusiastic about Rice's "wet campus" policy, under which "you can have alcohol in your room, you can drink it at Pub, and you can drink it at on-campus public parties. " While this results in "a fairly large drinking culture" on campus, "there are also tons of people who don't ever drink…There's something for everyone at Rice, and there's very little pressure to enter a sphere of activity that makes you uncomfortable." Hometown Houston "is not the prettiest or most pedestrian-friendly city in America, but it is one of the most vibrant, futuristic places you can live right now, and the opportunities for research within the Houston community are unparalleled." Rice wants students to explore the city. Explains one student, "The serveries are closed on Saturday nights, so people have to get off campus…There are shuttles that take you to the Village, a fun place with shops, restaurants, and bars not to far from campus…It's a really great excuse to find out what Houston has to offer."

Students Say - Student Body
Everyone at Rice is weird with some talent, oddity, or quirk that would otherwise attract attention in the normal world, but is accepted as totally normal here, students inform us. "Through the madness is how people bond." The residential college system also helps, as it "ensures a lot of mixing among different majors, races, interests, and geographic origins. People are similar enough and smart enough and have enough converging interests to make good friends with each other." Elite schools are best positioned to build a diverse student body, and Rice is no exception to the rule. Here you'll find "people with extremely diverse beliefs and backgrounds. We are not overly Democrat or Republican, we are not overly religious (though we do have a good number of active organizations, particularly Campus Crusade for Christ and Hillel), and we come from anything ranging from public high schools to boarding schools." However, the school "is not very diverse geographically, as 50 percent come from Texas."

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