<p>I've heard a lot about Rice, so I just have a few questions:</p>
<p>1) What's the learning environment there? Location, professors, other students, etc. Are they friendly?</p>
<p>2) How is science at Rice, but additionally, are the liberals arts strong as well so one would receive a well-rounded education?</p>
<p>3) How is music at Rice?</p>
<p>Thanks in advance. :)</p>
<p>This is a big, broad question - I will attempt to be concise.</p>
<p>Location: Houston is the 4th largest city in the country, so it has basically everything you need. Unfortunately public transportantion is only so-so, so if you can bring a car you might want to consider that. I don't have a car there, and it's not bad. Rice is bordered by the museum district, an upscale residential neighborhood, Rice village, which is excellent for shopping/walking around, and the texas medical center - seriously a city onto itself with 13 hospital and 2 med schools - there is a lot going on there in terms of opportunities for you. Basically, when you are on campus, you would never know that you were in a city - lots of grass, trees etc.</p>
<p>Professors, students, etc. - Super friendly, very cooperative. Your profs will hold review sessions and will be readily available by e-mail or at their office hours. One of my profs was so into our class that she got teary on the last day. No kidding. Another one brought doughnuts on the last day. They really care about their students, both academically and outside of class. Your classmates will for the most part be very down-to-earth, somewhat well rounded, and willing to take part in study groups either formally or more impromptu.</p>
<p>Academic strengths - Rice built its reputation on science and engineering programs, so these departments are pretty strong. The humanities departments, although less well known, are also fairly good. You will be well-rounded, but not overwhelmed by Rice's distribution courses. It usually works out to 4 classes in each of 2 areas, plus a major in a third area. You can use your AP credit to fulfill these requirements as well. DFon't worry, rice is no tech school. You can learn things other than science here. I sure have.</p>
<p>Music - Rice has one of the best music schools in the country. I'm not kidding. If you are a truly fabulous musician, this may be a good place for you. If you are just playing around with music, it's so-so - there are clases, orchestras, etc. for non-majors, but the focus is on music majors.</p>
<p>If you have more questions, feel free to e-mail me.</p>
<p>compared to schools like baylor, rice is pretty small. are there still a lot of extracurricular activities going on at the school, despite its size? also, how is the workload there? thanks...</p>
<p>I remember asking my interviewer about the extracurricular activities going on there.. and he, being a very academic-driven type of guy, said that Rice really focuses a lot on sports and athletes, more than he would prefer it to. I'm sure there's a lot of extracurricular stuff going on. :)</p>
<p>and jasmineflower, one of the main reasons i'm applying is because of the wonderful learning environment. A lot of schools have these nobel laureate professors... which means they're obviously very distinguished in their fields, but that doesn't mean they're good at teaching. However, at rice... they truly do teach and care about you.</p>
<p>"and jasmineflower, one of the main reasons i'm applying is because of the wonderful learning environment. A lot of schools have these nobel laureate professors... which means they're obviously very distinguished in their fields, but that doesn't mean they're good at teaching. However, at rice... they truly do teach and care about you."</p>
<p>Bingo.</p>