Rice University

Rice University is quite beautiful! Definitely worth a walk around campus on a pretty day (aka between November and February).

RICE
FIGHT
NEVER
DIE
Okay, so maybe I’m biased. But I think Rice is absolutely BEAUTIFUL. Even if I didn’t come here, I would recommend a campus tour! There is tons of stuff to see: the art gallery, Skyspace, Brochstein Pavilion and all the beautiful architecture!

I have been a Rice graduate student since 2014 and overall the experience has been pretty good but the CWOVC people are so rude and snobby. Elizabeth and Jae-​Hwok were extremely unprofessional and so shocking to me. As someone with a PhD (I am on their level already and they treated me very badly) and working on my second Master’s degree (yes I am a nerd, welcome to Rice), these 2 folks were very rude and unprofessional to me. They kept asking me why I had decided to come back and do a second master’s degree; no one else in over a year at Rice ever asked me that.
I come from 3 generations of teachers and professors; duh why would I not get another degree? And btw– isn’t my tuition money paying your salaries snobby people of CWOVC?

I love my college. :) Always an owl!

Wow so we can review our university now…
One star off for not enough food choices on campus lol.

I go walking around here sometime when the weather is nice and it is very enjoyable. I would suggest packing a water and going to the bathroom before you go though because most of the buildings are locked and it is really hard to find a water fountain

I really loved Rice– no frats, the college system, bright and diverse students. And Houston is amazing — better than ATL (was actually surprised I loved it so much).

Rice University, aka the happiest place on earth, is a beautiful campus situated amidst the bustling medical center of downtown Houston, TX. Lined with gorgeous oak trees, the campus is well-​kept and full of overly ambitious students, thrilled to have the opportunity to be a part of such a great community. Rice is well worth the visit for anyone!

Inside the hedges, this is an amazing community to be a part of. If you have the chance to be involved with this institution, do it. As an alum, it is always a pleasure to see what bright minds are doing what cutting-​edge things. Go Rice!

It’s a private college full of elitist snobs who think they’re better than you. Most the students aren’t from Texas. They use to have a cool Marching Band called the MOB. Not sure if they still have that going. Anyway, some call it the Harvard of the south. They use to have a cool radio station (91.7 KTRU) that was broadcasted on FM, but they ended up selling their broadcasting tower and FCC license to UH. Now KTRU is on HD radio… lame.

One of my favorite places to go in Houston I love this campus!
As a kid I remember my dad taking me here and walking around the campus with me. Since then I have taken my kids here and one of our favorite things to do is visit the Shepherd School of Music and attend their free concerts during the year.
Rice is located close to the museum district and the Village so along with enjoying this beautiful campus you can also spend time enjoying the shops and restaurants in the area!
My 9 year old son wants to go here one day! I told him to study hard! ;)

I love the Rice University but we came here specifically for the Art Gallery. They do installation art only and they rotate it quite a bit throughout the year. I think it’s really amazing what they have brought into the space. It’s definitely a place to stop in and see if you haven’t. You can park in the Founder’s Court parking lot in front of the gallery space. They have a map on the rice gallery’s website. It can be really hard to find on your first visit.

Pretty campus. I was visiting, and drove around the campus.
It has all the classic red brink buildings and many trees. It’s a nice campus to live on and all the houses in the surrounding neighbor hood are also pretty nice. Love it!

Campus is gorgeous and beautiful for photographs. It’s also so close to great eating places, grocery shopping, and entertainment.
They have a lovely art gallery with great installments and Stude Concert Hall, which I like to attend concerts at.

I never attended Rice as an undergrad or graduate student; other institutions have had the pleasure and privilege or my money and attendance. So, what’s my connection with Rice? Well, it’s extensive. I have attended many summers of the AP summer institute at Rice as well as some other specialized summer trainings for teachers. I have been a leader in programs aimed at students at Rice, the most memorable being a summer program for Nanoscience education. I’ve also helped facilitate evening programs for teachers in partnership with Rice faculty. I’ve even attended classes for school leadership at the Jones School of Business. So, that’s just a few of the things I’ve been involved in with Rice. With my varied experience with Rice, I have always been impressed with my experience from start to finish. The facilities are wonderful, the faculty and staff are top notch, and the ease of the physical plant makes everything smooth.
I have found the faculty to be amazing. I know Rice has a reputation, but I can say that my first hand experience has proven that reputation to be true and earned. The buildings look beautiful and some have been around for quite a while, but the technology has been updated in the older buildings. I love the Rice buses that travel the loops all day and into the evening to pick up people who just need a ride. There is a Rice iPhone app that allows you to track where the buses are, which makes things just that much easier. There are several places to eat on campus as well as Valhalla, where you can get a sandwich and a beer.
The environment of Rice is just beautiful. The large trees are lovely and provide some shade on those hot summer days. The different buildings are amazingly different. I love some of the more modern building like Brockman and Brochstein. Some of the older buildings are lovely and classic in their architecture. The university is scattered with installation pieces of art (
), both created for the university as well as historic pieces. There is the large Skyspace installation piece near the Shepherd school of music. There are smaller pieces like the piece of the Berlin wall or Plensa’s mirror sculpture that you can literally walk inside.
If you are lucky enough to be able to attend Rice, work at Rice, or participate in anything at Rice, don’t hesitate. Everything I have experienced at Rice has been fantastic.

Pretty cool campus. I was here this week for the UCLA football game. The atmosphere and people reminded me of Stanford in California. More nerds than jocks, you know? The Rice Band was eerily similar to the Stanford Band, too. Come on, guys, who copied who?
The Stadium is vey old and dated. Like Fenway Park, Churchill Downs and my home town Rose Bowl, first time visitors will say, «What a dump». Those who know history say, «What a gem». …perspective…
Free parking, free beer and sausage in the Bud Lite tent. What a treat! Terrible concessions inside, outdated bathrooms. The fans were nice. Only 20,000 for a major conference? What is this? Just like the Rose Bowl, too.

I never had the pleasure of attending this university but I have been able to visit and explore the campus a many times. And I must say based on pure looks this place is worth 5 stars. I have always driven by it but not until I had actually driven through, parked, and walked around that I was able to truly grasp it’s beauty.
What makes this university so attractive? The HUGE TRESS, these trees have history and there are not just a couple here and there, the whole campus is filled with a forest of greenery.
Their main courtyard is spectacular. It looks like something out of a Harry Potter Novel.
But the reason for this review is their newest piece of art the Twilight Epiphany Skyspace, by James Turrell. This giant piece of art looks like something out of a sci-​fi movie. There are LED lights that change colors at night. Cool little area to bring the kids during the summer.

Warning: I realize this is really long — you’ll have to forgive me. It’s what I learned from personal experience and observing friends and students around me, but it’s putting a lot of amorphous matter into words. It’s not a lot of black and white, but a lot of gray-​toned things that made my experience so negative.
—–
I came here and graduated in 2009, right when all the changes were underway and being completed. The new colleges, the bigger classes, etc. I’m not complaining about the construction though, and things may have changed a little since I left, but here’s my opinion:
I just had such a lackluster experience here — as a humanities major, I felt that Rice didn’t offer much at all, in terms of choices, stimulation or support. Going in as undecided, I initially chose Rice because I thought its resources and curricula would be solidly well rounded. Not so!!! Rice is REALLY weak in the humanities — its strong spots are here and there, but nothing you can build your college career on:
I did fine in my classes, some better than others, but overall I didn’t feel challenged by the material, my professors or even other students, and therefore feel like I didn’t grow in any aspect during my near four years at Rice. It’s also obvious that most of the funding goes to the sciences, or certain «star programs» of the university, such as Shepherd School of Music or the architecture program, but I think they get a lot of alumni support and do their own fundraisers. Not being in any of those fields, I felt like I was handed a bum deal. I remember that the art department got cut either 50% or 75% during my last few years.
Honestly, I should have transferred, but I made the wrong decision to stick it out, only finishing a little early so I wouldn’t have to pay the last semester. I didn’t realize how disappointing I found the Rice experience until my senior year. Yes, I admit there are things I could have done better, and wish I did, such as getting more involved in various activities, getting closer to professors, getting to know other students better — but I wasn’t a recluse, and in terms of participation, I was probably an average student.
For my interests, there was just so little there. Student life, class material/​depth, the environment. It kind of felt like nothing much ever went on aside from Beer Bike, and I’m not a big sports person, I’ll admit that.
Also, the city makes a big difference. Houston is so widespread, it’s not really integrated with the school, and it’s expensive to keep a car on campus. I didn’t have one, which I’m sure didn’t help, but the public transportation’s not that great, and I was for the most part pretty much stuck on a campus that I didn’t enjoy and didn’t have a lot of interesting things going on.
Of course, the people are nice in general, students and faculty alike. I’ve made a few very close friends that are very dear to me, and we visit each other. But after graduating, I realized attending Rice was one of my biggest regrets, because for all the time and money spent, I came out of it feeling like I had learned very little academically or experientially, and thus little about myself; I actually felt like I had regressed. Not to name call, but I REALLY wish I had gone to the other school I was pondering when deciding where to attend undergrad.
Now I basically have a piece of paper signifying my degree, and that’s it. Outside of TX and with my humanities degree, it doesn’t do much. Alumni services and other things after graduation are pretty slummy, so network and look as hard as you can for your jobs and connections while you’re still on campus. I’m not in Texas, and repeatedly when I’ve tried to contact a Rice office, I get no response.
Yes, I potentially could have done more to get more out of Rice. But honestly, when you’re a freshman plunged into the strange world of college and that college you’re attending is a small, expensive private school, you shouldn’t have to pull teeth, swim rivers and climb Everest to get something out of it. You should at least be met halfway. In the end, I didn’t feel Rice did that, but I didn’t realize it until it was all over and done with. It’s a personal regret that has weighed on me a lot, but I’ve shed my tears and have done my best to move on: P
Basically, be warned if you are not a science, music or architect major, or with related aspirations. I would say while a good number of people are happy at Rice, just as many are dissatisfied or not that happy. I knew a few who ended up getting severely depressed and had to leave. Pretty much all of my friends, though they don’t regret it near as much as I do, agree that Rice really didn’t offer much and things kind of just went along and we were able to slide by. Great friendships with each other, but regarding Rice, nothing remarkable.
For the increasing prices you’re paying and getting stung all the time by those killer mosquitoes, I don’t think «nothing remarkable» cuts it.

I’ve heard and read great things about this campus and I don’t doubt at all that this school is one of the top in Houston and United States in general. Afterall, it is a private research university that was ranked #17 in US News and World Report among national universities…
From what I know, the university is organized into eleven residential colleges that are named for university historical figures and benefactors. Once students are matriculated, they get randomly assigned to one of eleven colleges. They also don’t endorse a Greek system so you won’t find any sorority or frat houses here.
Rice is also chartered as a Non-​profit organization and is owned and governed by a privately appointed board of trustees. It is regionally accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools so you can easily transfer your credits earned here to another college if you choose to transfer.
As for tuition, I do know that for undergrads for the 2011 – 2012 school year is $ 34,900. $ 651 is charged for fees and projects an $ 800 budget for books and $ 1550 for personal expenses. Rice students are also charged $ 12,270 for room and board. Per year, the total cost of a Rice University education is $ 50,171. Wowza! That’s a lot of money!
If you’re looking to attend this school, I suggest doing some homework beforehand to see if this is the kind of academic and social environment that would fit your needs to continue your education.

I too am a grad student here, and am laughing that there’s space on here for me to review Rice! What could I possibly write? The academics here are phenomenal, both for undergraduates and grad students. This seems to be an amazing place to go to college as an undergrad– as the school is one of a select few in the country that uses a residential college system (Yale also does this), to break what is already an intimate college down into smaller enclaves. The undergrads here are smart, clearly motivated, and very diverse.
I didn’t expect to love Rice as much as I do– I’m a total East Coast academic elitist. I followed a faculty member from Cornell to Rice, and honestly, Rice deserves every accolade it gets. The collection of creative, inspiring, and PLEASANT people assembled here makes it a huge asset to Houston. I am humbled in my snobbery and now seek to convert others.
If you aren’t thinking of school here, then let me invite you to roam the campus. The library is open to everyone in the community, and the coffee pavilion has an amazing view of the gorgeous campus, some seriously hot students, and actually makes great coffee. Rice also offers open wireless, so there’s no reason for Houstonians not to visit. This is the fourth institution (!) I have attended for a degree, and the seventh I have been affiliated with (!) and it’s by far the friendliest. The Rice shuttle, which goes from the free parking lot way back by the stadium, to the loop, does NOT require the showing of Rice ID, so hop on board!
Check out the photo I’ll upload of the coffee pavilion so you know what to look for.
p. s. Beware the squirrels. They fear you not, and they may just be more aggressive than your pasty white butt.