<p>I'm considering a major in chemical or biomedical engineering and I was wondering what the course rigor was like at Rice. </p>
<p>About how many hours do you spend studying per night/week? Is your social life limited to one or two nights a week? Are there "weeding out" courses? Is it significantly harder than AP maths and sciences in high school, if so, in what way? Are the GPAs of engineers generally low, and is this okay in the eyes of businesses/grad schools? Despite the courseload, do you still love what you are studying? How are the professors (any extraordinarily good or bad ones)? How do you think the courseload compares to say MIT, RPI, Georgia Tech, Purdue, etc?</p>
<p>Thanks for anything you can tell me.</p>
<p>Responses:</p>
<p>I am a sophomore CHBE and Theatre major.</p>
<p>About how many hours do you spend studying per night/week?
About 4 every thursday night maximum</p>
<p>Is your social life limited to one or two nights a week?
No. But people dont generally go party on tuesday night... As for hanging out, I do that every night</p>
<p>Are there "weeding out" courses?
You need to define that. </p>
<p>Is it significantly harder than AP maths and sciences in high school, if so, in what way?
AP is a kids joke. These classes take the concepts in AP and stuff and make them real. You apply all your science into processes etc. Its a lot more thinking than science especially HS science. </p>
<p>Are the GPAs of engineers generally low, and is this okay in the eyes of businesses/grad schools?
Depends on what you mean by low. And its certainly possible to do well. And grad schools do factor in the fact that Rice is a top 20 engineering school</p>
<p>Despite the courseload, do you still love what you are studying?
Yes, otherwise I wouldnt be doing it. If you dislike what yopu are doing - you will fail. Everyone who takes it loves it. If it isnt for someone, they change majors - changing majors is common</p>
<p>How are the professors (any extraordinarily good or bad ones)?
Awesome. This is Rice</p>
<p>How do you think the courseload compares to say MIT, RPI, Georgia Tech, Purdue, etc?
How on earth can I, or anyone here answer that?</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>I'm a freshman that's probably going to be majoring in Bioengineering. Lots of the things you ask about really depend on your background. I would say there are definitely some courses that seem like weeder courses, but none are so difficult to the point of requiring genius to pass/ace. Course difficulty is very relative. I don't think engineers have unusually low GPAs. I know a few engineers who are going to get over 4.0 this semester (with some pretty tough courses).</p>
<p>I just finished my first semester. Im planning on being a mechanical engineer.</p>
<p>About how many hours do you spend studying per night/week?
Not enough. It really depends on the person. Ill spend a few days in a row studying 5 hours each day and then spend then next week and a half doing nothing but going to pub and the gym. It's all about time management, and its not that difficult to reasonably spread out the hours to a an hour or two a day or a couple relatively heavy days a week.</p>
<p>Is your social life limited to one or two nights a week?
Uh. Not so much due to courseload but alot of people run on very different schedules so its not uncommon for you to find everyone else busy on your "free" weeknight. I can definetly make it out atleast three or four times a week.</p>
<p>Are there "weeding out" courses?
Yea but they arent as harsh as they seem. All the intro courses have review sessions with ta's and alot of them have extra credit. To survive(which isnt too hard) you just have to be persistent and dedicated(which you probably are if you get accepted into rice.) Alot of people quit because they find out they are actually uninterested in engineering, not because they can't handle it.</p>
<p>Is it significantly harder than AP maths and sciences in high school, if so, in what way? Yea. AP classes are a joke. I have 29 credits from AP and i felt completely unprepared when I started classes.</p>
<p>Are the GPAs of engineers generally low, and is this okay in the eyes of businesses/grad schools? Not really. 3.5 seems to be the the bottom limit of most engineers.</p>
<p>Despite the courseload, do you still love what you are studying? I'm not sure.</p>
<p>How are the professors (any extraordinarily good or bad ones)? None of the prof's are completely terrible. Alot are downright amazing and inspiring.</p>
<p>How do you think the courseload compares to say MIT, RPI, Georgia Tech, Purdue, etc? Its different. Freshmen at MIT dont have real grades...Georgia Tech has larger classes which tends to mean a little less homework, RPI is comparable to rice and so is purdue.</p>