Humanities at Rice

D22 likes Rice and it seems like a great fit but there are some very negative student reviews on Niche re humanities being the “ugly stepchild” and not well regarded within Rice, compared to STEM in particular, at least for undergrad. Any experiences with the School of the Humanities, interdisciplinary minor on law, politics and social thought and/or the non-quantitative social sciences at Rice? Also, some frequent negative criticism is that housing is not guaranteed for all 4 years (despite having a residential college system), claiming there is only room on campus for about 75 pct of undergrads; and that the place is hyper competitive and full of gunners who are trying to outdo themselves on the number of classes they take. All info in this areas would be most welcome to her research.

Thankfully, much of what your daughter has heard is wrong. Humanities is a well-regarded part of the Rice community and the general competitive atmosphere is broadly comparable to other top-25 universities. Where she is correct is that Rice lacks the housing capacity to guarantee four years on campus. Students generally have to live off-campus junior year, though they can usually return to on-campus life senior year if they so choose.

While it is true that more students at Rice major in the STEM disciplines than the humanities, the humanities offerings are also excellent. My daughter is a senior completing a double major in Psychology and English. She has loved her experience at Rice, and it was a great fit for her. She has gained admission to 4 of the top journalism programs in the country, including an Ivy League school, for her masters. Rice students majoring in the humanities and social sciences have great success getting into prestigious law schools etc.

As @ricegrad said, Rice only has enough housing for all students to live on campus 3 years. All incoming students (freshmen and transfers) are guaranteed housing. My daughter lived in an off campus apartment with some friends her junior year but is back on campus for senior year.

Rice has just announced opening extra space in the old Sid Richardson dorm for upperclass students that were not offered a space in their residential college but still want to be on campus next year. The new Sid Richardson residential college building opened this year so there is some extra space. Rice is currently building a new wing for the Hanszen residential college and some new residential colleges are on the drawing board.