<p>I have read that rice under it's current leadership is turning the school into a high priced state like school. that they have some classes without enough seats for all the students in the class.has started to very actively recruit more foreign students that pay full ride, rather then trying to pick an amazing class (cash over rice like uniqueness)also that there is not a guarantee of on campus housing for all 4 years. and the school has lost much of it's intimacy with it's large growth that it has done in the last few years.
I hope it is not true is it?</p>
<p>I’ll let the students speak for themselves, but I can tell you that from what my son says, you have nothing to worry about if you go to Rice. Especially when you compare it to other top colleges.</p>
<p>Nah. The overenrolled classes were a result of an unexpectedly high yield rate last year–about 15% higher than planned for. The classes that were overenrolled were intro classes such as physics and chem, which will naturally be taken by a large amount of new students.</p>
<p>Getting more foreign students has pros and cons. Yes, it requires the school to focus on actually getting foreign students and not the best students for Rice. However, Rice holds diversity and uniqueness very highly in its priorities list, and increasing the international presence on campus will ideally help both.</p>
<p>There hasn’t been a guarantee of on-campus housing for all four years for a long time. It’s sad, but it’s a simple fact.</p>
<p>The school is definitely still incredibly intimate. I think we could get away with adding one more residential college at most (I’d prefer 11 though, especially if the 12th is going on South Campus where there’s already six) and still be able to maintain the intimacy that Rice has traditionally enjoyed.</p>
<p>There are some issues that may be slightly concerning, for they are indicating the beginning of a shift towards the type of top university many students choose Rice to avoid. However, don’t be worried about that yet, especially not for the above reasons.</p>
<p>Rice’s undergrad population is still quite small. It won’t lose its intimate feel.</p>
<p>Here is some info that may help understand the decision to grow a bit <a href=“Rice University”>Rice University;
<p>[A</a> Vision for the Second Century : Rice University](<a href=“http://www.professor.rice.edu/professor/Vision.asp]A”>http://www.professor.rice.edu/professor/Vision.asp)</p>
<p>I posted a question earlier (open letter from rice graduate to rice administration) after I read a graduate’s letter which I think is still on the cover page of the student newspaper (THE THRESHER). I was basically asking the same questions that zobroward is asking based on the letter in the THRESHER which was pretty negative and written by someone who clearly cares about Rice. Since then I’ve wondered how much of the tension about changes at Rice is due to the personalities of the leadership - that the leaders have not done a good job reassuring people about Rice’s core values while also presenting a shared vision for the future. My main impression today is more about the poor leadership than it is about negative changes at Rice.</p>
<p>Don’t airbrush over the facts. On campus housing for 4 years hasn’t been guaranteed for a long time, but the way it is now, nothing will be changing/improving. It’s far from just the intro classes that are overenrolled. A lot of people haven’t been able to get into classes required for their major. I tossed a major last year because I couldn’t get into 2 of the required classes - I would’ve been behind by a year. Most of the common elective courses always become full. All of the good electives fill up immediately (forget these if you’re a freshman, unless you have a ton of AP credit). It was already really cramped before they accepted too many students, and now it’s really bad. Last year in two of my classes people had to sit on the ground because the lecture halls couldn’t actually accommodate the entire class heh. </p>
<p>about growth and intimacy, idk about that. some people complain about how international students only talk to themselves but i don’t really care about that and it tends to happen at any other university. what I do care about is not being able to get into classes in the first two years…</p>
<p>bubbablackjack, I am sorry to hear that! it does sound like rice university which was truly a gem has been ruined by the current power structure! if you take away the supportive atmosphere, small classes with student/teacher interaction and the ability to take the classes you need or want to (not having a seat that is beyond acceptable) and not being able to live on campus as part of a " family" for four years, you might as well go to a state school for a lot less money!</p>
<p>Seems like you made up your mind before asking the question if you exclusively agree with the one person of five who responds.</p>
<p>As a newly-minted graduate, I can say the following:
- No way in hell are you going to live on campus all four years at a state school. Rice guarantees housing for 3 of 4 years. Most colleges have an entire class go off at a time (ex. Martel gives juniors the last spot in the housing draw), so you’re essentially guaranteed to have roommates. The surrounding neighborhood has a good number of garage apartments and complexes if you don’t have a car, often for less than what it costs to live on campus. Colleges often mandate that college government members live on campus, so there are ways around the year off.
- All first year science lecture classes are huge no matter where you go. They’re big at Princeton and Yale and the University of Texas, and they’re big at Rice. Rice breaks these classes into study sessions in groups of 15-20 for personalized attention. I NEVER had a class where someone had to sit on the floor - in fact, my intro physics class of ~150 people occasionally had as few as 40 show up because it was at 9 am.
- Top colleges are pressured to keep class sizes small because that helps them rise in the rankings.
- I’ve gotten into every single overenrolled class I wanted by explaining to the professor why I was interested and asking for a signature.</p>
<p>Just to chime in here- even as someone who hasn’t officially matriculated yet, I can already attest to how incredibly intimate Rice is. Even when I haven’t been there for “planned” events like Owl Days or Explore Rice and have just been visiting a friend on campus or something, the level of community and the great social atmosphere there is pretty apparent- at least, it is to me. </p>
<p>
Rice is actually a fair bit cheaper for me to attend than my area’s “flagship state”. And I know that’s the case for many others as well. I’m absolutely not saying that to harp on state schools or something, but I thought it was worth mentioning.</p>
<p>
Ok I wouldn’t really go that far with your claims lol. I’d still rate the undergrad experience positively and I was just voicing my disappointment with certain important things. I don’t really think there’s any problem with getting into math and science intro courses and if there were any, I’m sure they would definitely be resolved. It’s the interesting smaller classes that fill up too quickly, and that are so small you can’t special register into them. As a freshman, my group of friends and I probably got into 50% of our first choice classes.</p>
<p>I, like silentsailor, am a recent grad, so I guess we kind of have the perspective of Rice before it increased it’s class size as well as after. I just wanted to say that there is virtually no school where you are going to get into the small interesting electives as a freshman, including Rice before the increase in class size (unless of course what you think is an interesting elective differs from the mainstream popular classes). The great thing about these classes is their small size, a lot of people want to be in them, and freshman register last, so you just have to wait your turn and take it later on. Also, like silentsailor never had a problem getting into a class if I explained to the prof why I was interested in being in it (although I will admit I didn’t try for those really small elective classes early on because I knew I could probably just take the class in a later year). And while a few of my classes did start with people without seats, that was always resolved by the end of the shopping period, either with people dropping or a room change. The only thing in Bubba’s post that concerns me is the fact that you had to drop a 2nd major due to scheduling, I feel like this wouldn’t happen if you explained to the prof the issue (not implying you didn’t try, just saying this is surprising based on my personal experiences).</p>
<p>Finally, with regards to housing, I really enjoyed my year off campus (although I was happy to move back on the next year) and I feel more confident with my living situation now since I’ve been through the whole apartment, paying rent/bills thing once before. So, I don’t really think it’s a major problem that Rice can only guarantee three years of housing (and as people have mentioned, you can try to avoid it by being part of your college’s govt).</p>
<p>I agree that while I was initially reticent about my s living off campus his soph year, it worked out very well. Many schools guarantee on camputs housing for no more than 2 years, so having 3 is not a bad thing at all.</p>
<p>Just wondering, how far away is off-campus housing? And is it nice?</p>
<p>It depends on where you live. The area around Rice is very nice and upscale. If you snag a house in the immediate neighborhood, you are very close to campus. I had a friend who lived just north of campus off of Rice Blvd; they were about as close to the Quad as I was from Wiess.</p>
<p>silentsailor, I don’t believe that Rice guarantees 3 years of housing. It always works out that Seniors and Juniors/Sophomores (some colleges kick off juniors and some sophomores) get housing (freshmen are guaranteed). That said, it is feasible that there are so many freshmen and seniors that some members of the next in line cannot find space. It is extremely unlikely, as the odds aren’t stacked that way.</p>
<p>As for the UG experience, I graduated 2 years ago although I have been back a million times since. I think Rice is still a great place with a very special atmosphere. I am a fan of President Leebron and what he has done so far; some don’t feel the same way.</p>
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<p>This. If the professor says no and this is needed to graduate or keep up with your major, go talk to your advisor, master, head of department etc. and tell them that you cannot finish your major without it. They will find a way to make it work.</p>
<p>Finally, I had a class of 1; me. I was the only student enrolled in a graduate chemE class. Despite being the only one (and an UG student) my professor taught the class. We moved the time to one that was convenient for both of us and he created a special project for me to work on as I wouldn’t have a team.</p>
<p>Antarius, I’m pretty sure there is a guarantee of three years. At Baker it’s not all sophomores or all juniors that get kicked. All current students get put into the draw for kicklist so it’s a mix of classes. The reason I believe that it’s a guaranteed 3 is that I got kicked sophomore year and for junior and senior year on my intent to jack form I could check the box that meant I had a guaranteed bed due to living off campus previously and my name wasn’t put in the draw. I mean I can’t speak for other colleges, but I’m pretty sure every single person who hadn’t lived off would have had to been kicked before I would have been.</p>
<p>sffh - Some colleges do give a 0.1 or a bump to those who have been off campus. Wiess doesn’t though - at Wiess, seniors get 4 points, Juniors 3 and Soph 2. I don’t think it is likely that all freshmen and seniors stay on campus and there are enough juniors that they run out of space. Just won’t happen.</p>
<p>Let me check with the guys I know at H&D.</p>
<p>The reason Rice lacks the four-year on-campus housing guarantee that is so common elsewhere is simple: The demand from on-campus housing is far greater than it is at the vast majority of schools. Most schools can guarantee four years by counting on a significant chunk of their upperclassmen opting to live off campus. The inability to guarantee four years of housing is really a compliment to the residential college system.</p>
<p>If you don’t want to live off for a year, you can often get around it. There are plenty of ways (the specifics depend on your college) to guarantee housing for yourself the year(s) you are eligible to be kicked off.</p>
<p>As for the class size issues, my experience as a rising sophomore has been similar to what others have noted: Whether through special registration by talking to the professor or through the opening of spaces as the shopping period plays itself out, I’ve been able to get into every class I wanted. And that was as a freshman. I was able to get into plenty of small, interesting, upper-level courses.</p>
<p>I don’t see a decline in the quality of life at Rice. There are some issues that come along with the larger size of the undergraduate population that has resulted from the Vision for the Second Century, but my impression is that there are positive efforts to resolve them. I don’t think the issues are major, nor do I think they’ll last.</p>
<p>As an outsider to the Rice community, I have to say that you have a great deal to be proud of in terms of the distinctive character of the school and of the passionate commitment of current and former students to perpetuating it. Even the critical comments are mostly delivered here with an underlying love of the school.
Our s has Rice on his list and, as a parent, I find the focus on on-campus housing and the intimacy of the residential college system to be a strong part of its appeal. We live in the Chicago area, immediately next to the city (and we lived for years in the city). Our boys know the up and down sides of a large metro area. We want our son to be able to engage Houston (or Philly, or Baltimore, or Providence) without taking away from the business of study and interactive learning.
My alma mater (Virginia) only guarantees housing for first year students, although The University has really expanded the on-campus options for upperclassmen since the coal-fired days when I strolled The Lawn. Nonetheless, UVA has kept its character by integrating off-campus options in a coordinated way and keeping options available so that at least some upperclassmen can live on campus.
I guess that this is by way of saying, “keep it up.” Keep after the administration, in a spirit of collaboration and openness. We in the UVA community have seen what can happen when leadership develops a delta between themselves and the rest of the school. Fortunately we came together and fixed things, confirming our character and commitment to The U and our Founder’s vision.
What I see here is the Rice community doing the same, but in a measured and more open way, without the skullduggery. Keep it up. I hope that our son is able to take part.</p>
<p>@ ericd1112</p>
<p>Nicely written post! I couldn’t agree with you more. Please visit Rice. My oldest child just matriculated to Rice. His 1st day of classes is today. We were there last week to drop him off before O-week. I actually met the president and we had a 5-minute conversation! He asked about where we were from (Cleveland) and asked about my son and his intended major. He was very personable. I went to CWRU and never met the President until my commencement!</p>