<p>Rice is in a tropical area and there are palm trees in Houston, but much of Rice's campus is dominated by oak trees, as is the area around it. It's very pretty, but not tropical feeling. Rice is is downtown-ish Houston and has great academics. Smallish school (2500 undergrads) with a residential college system. If you are interested, apply interim decision.</p>
<p>Here are some campus pictures:
<a href="http://photobucket.com/albums/y62/KrazyKow/Rice/%5B/url%5D">http://photobucket.com/albums/y62/KrazyKow/Rice/</a></p>