<p>Okay which one would best characterize Rice? </p>
<p>In general, is the workload challenging (like University of Chicago or Swarthmore)? Is it hard to get A's (or even B's) or is it the opposite where students are bored because A's are so easily given out?</p>
<p>ive been wondering about this....</p>
<p>i hear its really hard to get A's</p>
<p>Can anyone answer this?</p>
<p>You must <em>earn</em> an A at Rice in most courses.
Whether you find it difficult to do so depends on you and the particular course.</p>
<p>wrprice, I'm sure Harvard students would say that they have to earn an A, too. But, we all know Harvard is notorious for grade inflation. </p>
<p>May you be more detailed in the description of workload? How much time do students spend in the library or devote to assignments? How many kids have 4.0 or close to it? </p>
<p>I understand that a student's high school preperation contributes to the level of difficulty, but a student who took a considerable number of honors and AP courses in high school should not breeze through Rice without a challenge (I hope not anyways). Refering to my original post, how does Rice's workload compare to the rigors that of Swarthmore's or U of Chicago's both which require students of all majors to devote much of their time to academics?</p>
<p>Joker, you make very valid points. However, I only went to Rice so I can't make a comparison to Swarthmore or U.Chicago or any other school.</p>
<p>There are people who make 4.0 or higher (Rice lets professors assign A+'s), and there are people who don't. I can say that I don't know a single person at Rice who managed anywhere near that level of academic performance without putting in a significant amount of time and effort toward their studies.</p>
<p>How easy that is, exactly, depends on your academic preparation out of high school -- as you said -- and your intended area of study at Rice. I'll go out on a limb and say that S&E (science and engineering) students at Rice tend to require more effort and time in their coursework than, say, a history major. At the same time, music majors probably devote the most time to their studies out of all Rice students, perhaps excepting the Archis. That's not to say that the history major doesn't have a difficult time themselves, but the perspective will vary from individual to individual. The type of person seeking each degree varies, too. I really don't mean to stereotype and I recognize there are notable (and perhaps many) exceptions.... but I believe this as a general trend.</p>
<p>In summary, I'd estimate that about 90% of Rice students feel challeneged by their coursework, and that's really what you're talking about.</p>
<p>Thanks for the response, wrprice.</p>
<p>aaaaahhhh i will be an archi and working my ass off this year.</p>
<p>Hope you enjoy architecture ;)</p>
<p>wrprice, totally agree w/ that point. being a BIOE, i spend lotsa time getting challenged by my work while a friend who's an academ basically does a quarter of the work and manages to get better grades than i do.</p>
<p>while lots of us get challenged by our work, i think we would all agree that we love what we are doing, and that's sort of another thing that motivates us. plus, Rice is not the kind of school where kids sabotage each others' projects in order to get better grades than the next person. we, in fact, are out here for each other, and this cooperative learning system basically makes it much easier on each of us.</p>
<p>basically, i find that if you are sincerely challenged by what you do here and really take the time to study for those classes, you won't get any worse than a B.</p>