<p>Hi! I'm a Long Island Senior who wants to apply to Rice, but my parents have some questions that I can't answer with their website. I was wondering if someone could tell me:</p>
<p>1) Is Rice a good engineering school? I want to study Computer Science and Business and I need to know if Rice is a smart choice.
2) Is it hard to adjust to life in Texas. I'm a Northerner with pretty liberal social values. Everyone tells me I won't fit in and the adjustment will be hard.
3) What are the huge differences (from a New Yorker's perspective)?
4) Do they have theater at Rice? As an extracurricular?</p>
<p>Thank you so much for helping out. My frantic mother and I thank you.</p>
<p>PS. The short answers are:</p>
<ol>
<li>Yes, but no business major.</li>
<li>No</li>
<li>Weather? Rodeo? That's really about it.</li>
<li>Yes!!!</li>
</ol>
<p>PM me and tell me where on LI you are from! I think we could always use more LI-er's at Rice!</p>
<p>We're from Long Island and my son is in his sophomore year at Rice and absolutely loves it. AND he's a computer science major and feels it is incredible. There are not enough grads so there are often multiple job offers for ever grad in the comp sci major. He mentioned that one company had to be limited to the number of grads they could hire, so other companies could get a chance. If you want to go on with your education the grads get into other top schools. He compares notes with other friends studying CS at other schools and feels he is learning so much more than they are and is far happier than many. The other majors in engineering are very very strong, as well.
He comes from a very liberal family and doesn't feel out of the mainstream there. Most people are very accepting of whatever your views are and it is much more liberal than you might think. Everyone is so smart there and very cooperative; it is not a competitive atmosphere, but very collaborative. The college systems is very very special. By the end of your orientation you have an incredible number of good friends. He has made many friends and he feels they are all very special, unique, and extremely bright.
Yes, they do have theater you can get involved with, because many of the residential colleges put on plays and other colleges can join in and be in them.
If you haven't visited, you might want to. When my son visited it made all the difference and he moved Rice up to his number one school, even over MIT and Cornell.</p>
<p>I'm a Rice CS grad and I absolutely loved the department. There's no business major, but you can double-major with Managerial Studies (only available as a second major).</p>
<p>I agree with jenskate.</p>
<p>If you come to Houston with an <em>open</em> mind, then you should have no problem adjusting. The city is a diverse place with all sorts of things to do, and while it's not NYC, it's still a pretty great place to be. You might find the biggest change to be that in Houston it's pretty difficult to get anywhere on public transportation, because the system hasn't really kept up with the growth of Houston. The good news is that a bunch of Rice students are from the area, and everyone can have a car on campus, so you should typically be able to find a ride somewhere with friends.</p>