Hello! I am going to be applying to Rice University this coming year and my preferred major is political science. Obviously Rice is a fantastic university overall, but when I visited it, I got the impression that they put a lot of focus on STEM/Pre-Med. As a political science student, will I be at a disadvantage if I attend Rice? Does the political science program get the attention it deserves from the administration? Do STEM/Pre-Med students look down on political science students?
Thank you in advance!
Rice has a lot of STEM focused students, but it has excellent social sciences as well including political science. https://politicalscience.rice.edu. Rice has the Baker Institute which is very highly regarded. There are many political science research opportunities. In addition to Political Science, Social Science students may also be interested in the Social Policy Analysis major or the Politics, Law and Social Thought minor. It is not uncommon at Rice for a student to double major in political science and another subject.
The President of the University David Leebron is on the staff of the political science department, so it is not ignored by the administration. Rice has a very collaborative atmosphere. All of the students at Rice are supportive of one another because of the inclusive residential college system. At Rice, all of the students are smart as whips and are all pursuing challenging course work. There is a feeling that they are all in the struggle together rather than snobbery.
I’m a humanities major at Rice (rising senior) and I can assure you that we have an excellent political science department. We have wonderful faculty members and so many opportunities for students interested in politics and legal work. The Baker Institute for Public Policy is an incredible resource, and in the last couple years we’ve had politicians including Joe Biden, Al Gore, and John Kasich give speeches there. I know that Rice places a lot of emphasis on STEM when students do general admissions events, but I’d definitely encourage you to look into the social sciences offerings more closely. The PoliSci majors that I know have generally been very satisfied with the opportunities that the department provides.
Hello ShoutTurkey, political science at Rice is rigorous and exciting because of the talented faculty that draw you into rigorous and nimble ways of thinking about the discipline of political science and they always bring it alive in the context of history and relevant situations. Of course, it comes all the more alive in classrooms full of bright and very engaged Rice students. Excellent courses taught by great teachers are offered every semester through the Baker Institute. Here are a few sites you may have already seen:
https://www.collegefactual.com/colleges/rice-university/news/top-college-2017-top-ranked-political-science-and-government/
https://www.usnews.com/best-graduate-schools/top-humanities-schools/political-science-rankings/page+2
I would also say that there is bias in the media that favors East Coast and California universities, and consequently, Rice in considerably underrated. I do, however, think things are changing, and the time is near when the rest of the citizenry will soon refer to Harvard as the Rice of the North. Come join us make Rice great!