Ask Me Anything (A Sophomore at Rice)

Colleges and Universities A-Z Rice University
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@k13427
Pros: community of driven scholars, great resources, residential college system, accessible professors
Cons: hard workload, athletics aren’t too great, people often stereotyped as awkward
There are others but they are very subjective. These are ones I hear a lot. And, yes, I am very very happy I decided to go here.

@pittsburghscribe
The poli department isn’t one I know much about. I know the Baker Institute does have talks often that students are invited to attend, but I can’t think of any that have been a big deal to the student body. But they do sound interesting for people in related majors.

@Zeppelin7
My chemical engineering friend does complain that most promoted jobs are for oil/industry. But that is due to location, not anything Rice does.
And, for the most part, I can’t think of any activities exclusive to one major. You could do research at the Baker Institute I’m sure if there’s an opening.

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@pittsburghscribe

Hi. I am not a polisci major but I am in the social sciences and interested in policy work… so obviously the Baker Institute is of interest to me.

I would say yes, but you have to go pursue it (like anything at any college). There is a Baker Institute Student Forum that I’m a part of and initially I was like “wow… I wanna be an officer of this” and now tbh looking at everything else I’m doing I am fine with just being a member. They put on pretty cool forums and debates about policy, and a lot of them have speakers that are Baker fellows. Additionally, they offer some positions to have lunch when a really cool guest visits the Baker Institute (but these fill up hella fast and a perk of being an officer is that you get in). There’s a class (POST201) that is entirely lectures by rotating Baker fellows. The Baker Institute also offers a competitive summer program in DC.

For me, I would say I have received a lot of benefit from the Baker Institute because I was able to secure an research internship at one of their centers as a freshman. In a world where summer programs don’t give a crap about freshmen, I think this will really help me stand out. Additionally, if I keep doing research there for the next few years I’ll be able to have a very strong letter of recommendation for jobs/grad school and better grasp on what I might want to do professionally.

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Peppermintgum, that’s amazing that you landed an internship your freshman year. Congrats! I was looking at the Baker Institute Web site and one of its portals states, “To educate and engage the next generation of leaders, many Baker Institute fellows and scholars teach public policy classes. The institute also offers Rice undergraduates a public policy course, as well as the opportunity to apply for competitive internships in Houston, Washington, D.C., and overseas.”
Here’s the link:
http://bakerinstitute.org/about-rice-universitys-baker-institute/

I was curious about those words, “offers Rice undergraduates a public policy course,” not public policy courses. However, the Baker Institute’s “Students” portal of their Web site under “Course Listings” provides an extensive list of all these great course offerings, at both the undergraduate and graduate level. So I’m a bit confused. Are these undergraduate course listings always available to Rice undergrads? In any given semester, would you know about how many such courses are usually offered? I ask in light of that clause: “offers Rice undergraduates a public policy course.” Does that mean they just offer one course to undergraduates a year or per semester? If you could clarify that would be great.

Here’s the link to the course listings site I refer to:
http://bakerinstitute.org/course-listing/

Also, pittsburghscribe, I came across this on the Rice Web site. You’ve probably already seen it, but if not:

http://news.rice.edu/2005/05/26/international-politics-program-ranks-in-top-20/

And then I came across this, which might be of interest:

http://staff.rice.edu/uploadedFiles/Staff/Public_Affairs/RiceBragSheet.pdf

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Hey @Maximilias I think I can answer your question. Everything in the second link you listed is open to undergraduates and you can take as many as you want (so long as you’re qualified). I think the reason they only said “a course” as opposed to several is because the class I was talking about (POST201) is officially called Baker Institute’s Introduction to Public Policy while other courses just have normal titles but are still taught by the fellows. So they only mentioned one course because only one course has its name in the title, although they have many others that are open to undergraduates and taught by members of the Institute. It’s confusing, I know; not sure why they do that.

Not that anyone’s engrossed in rankings… but a new report came out and Baker Institute is #4 for university-affiliated think tanks and top 20 in the world I believe :wink:

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@tropicalslushies Any Baker 13 Run stories to tell?

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Peppermintgum, thanks for getting back to me. That’s really exciting. Some amazing courses on that list. And, yes, I read the news of the latest Think Tank Index. Is that awesome! Thanks again.

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@adamfromiowa

I have yet to run it. But it is a fun experience just watching! It’s an exciting atmosphere

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Have few questions. Thanks in advance for all your input and guidance.

  1. Do Rice gives decent amount of merit scholarship? Though like to attend Rice, may opt to one of Univ. of California (in-state) if there is no aid. Not applying FAFSA and hoping to get some merit like $20-30k, is it realistic?
  2. Is Rice a good choice for pre-med, in terms of getting opportunities for good solid research, activities related to medicine profession (shadowing, EMT, lab etc).
  3. How hard to get good GPA as long as student put the efforts? Heard some schools are hard to get GPA like Wash U, John Hopkings, UC Berkely etc.
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@GoldenRock

  1. No idea on the stats. But I currently have a merit scholarship and one of my friends in HS got it but turned it down. And I know another freshmen with one. Numbers are hard to place because no one really talks about it. But one time they sent us an email to remind us to thank our donors and forgot to BCC the list. I heard somewhere that Rice awards 10% of its students, and from the list I would've judged about 7% so around there is probably right. Take those stats as you will. I'm pretty confident that if you are to get merit it will definitely be between 20-30k.
  2. Yes. It's right across from the biggest medical center in the world. Lots of ECs, lots of talk of people in research, Rice EMS is very popular with students, just yes to everything. If you come here, you'll learn that everyone and their mother is a pre-med here and for pretty good reason.
  3. If you put in effort you'll be fine. It's tough though. I'm guessing you're premed and from what I hear we make our chemistry courses tough as hell but you'll survive. People definitely drop from the premed path because of rigor but then if that happens to you you really shouldn't be a doctor, right? If you got the passion and work ethic you'll make it. Average pre-med GPA is 3.7 so obviously it's doable.
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@peppermintgum Thanks a lot for answering all the 3 questions. It is very encouraging. My D is keen on doing Pre-Med. We are making a very short trip and hoping to visit Rice for 2 hours tomorrow. She is focused and works hard and in general does well in standardized tests. She got admission and regents scholarship in UC Santa Barbara (and hence the in-state tuition is now only $8k). Knowing Rice tuition is $42k, if she gets any amount towards the higher side, will compel her decision towards Rice.

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OP, did you attend SOAR? Do you know if students who already have visited the school are less likely to be extended an invitation to that program?

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I did not attend SOAR. I am unsure about it. Sorry. :frowning:

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How difficult would it be to double major across completely opposite schools, for example Biochemistry and Political Science, is that too unreasonable to attempt?

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@tropicalslushies Is it true that if we get x amount from a scholarship, then Rice will take x amount away from their financial aid package?

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@mallorypike In speaking with the financial aid office that is correct to an extent. They will first take it off of the work study and expected contribution. So if that combined for you is $10,000 than you can get up to that amount in scholarships. If you go over than they take it off of the grant and lower their amount.

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So my D was admitted ED. Should we attend Owl days? What is the benefit? Asking because today is the first day I had heard of it (from this thread) and need to make travel arrangements fairly quick.

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My D was also admitted ED, but I have suggested we pass since she has already visited campus twice, once for Rice Discovery. I think the focus of Owl Days is to maximize the yield on admitted students. But if I am wrong and there is some other benefit to ED applicants who are already committed, I hope someone will let us know.

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My D has only visited once. I am all for her going to owl days but her prom is that Saturday. It would make for a tight schedule as we would be coming from oos. I would really love to hear more about it.

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Man the rice financial aid policy kind of sucks then :frowning:

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@mallorypike I found this on another thread. This is from the Rice website and outside scholarships will decrease your aid in this order.

Federal Stafford Loan (Subsidized)*
Federal Perkins Loan*
Federal Work-study*
Rice Tuition Grant
Other institutional need-based grants/scholarships
State and Federal grants*

I don’t think it’s that bad of a policy however I would love it if we could apply scholarship money to living expenses as well as room and board.