<p>I just wondered if anybody had any insight. I visited Rice and liked it a great deal, but I wasn't sure there was a really active and involved Jewish population. </p>
<p>I'm not super religious or anything, but in my school, I'm not a minority. I know at almost any college in the country this will be different and that's fine, but I just wondered if Jews at Rice felt that it was a welcoming place and that there were some opportunties for occassional Shabbat dinners or services and some Jewish friends (I'm a girl and I would hope that there would be some other girls to hang at those sorts of things with). My mom thought maybe there were Jewish guys there (which is nice too) but maybe not so many girls.</p>
<p>I’m not Jewish, so my apologies is my reference is wrong, but check out the Hillel (?), if Rice has one. They will surely be able to provide you what you want to know.</p>
<p>Supposedly, there are about 300 Jewish undergrads at Rice (according to Hillel’s outdated data, it’s about 10%). Not many are very active in Jewish campus life, so it typically feels like the number of Jewish students is smaller than that. Hillel has a lot to offer - Houston Hillel serves the general Houston area, not just Rice, but is located closest to our campus (walking distance). They have weekly Shabbat services and dinners (except for the third week each month). I definitely attended a few both semesters (although more in the fall) On campus, Hillel has lunches each Wednesday which are a great way to meet other and visit with other Jewish students from across campus.</p>
<p>I’ve found that the gender split is pretty much 50/50. Of course, it varies from event to event since there are so many other activities happening on campus at any given time, but I’ve met plenty of others through Hillel activities. The Rice Hillel student board actually had more girls than guys this year (4:2).</p>
<p>If you want more information, feel free to ask or PM me. You can also check out Hillel’s website: [Houston</a> Hillel | Prospective Students](<a href=“http://houstonhillel.org/prospective-students/]Houston”>http://houstonhillel.org/prospective-students/).</p>