<p>Just wondering,
What programs is Rice known for? If I'm interested in the social sciences and humanities, would Rice be a good place to look at (someone recommended it to me today)? Are they known primarily for their undergraduate programs or their graduate programs?</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>rice is one of the best undergraduate schools in the nation. it's a great choice if the houston location appeals to you. it's extremely underrated by the masses, and its only drawback really is its location (for me, at least).</p>
<p>Rice has fairly decent programs in social sciences/humanities, though there are numerous schools that are better...</p>
<p>I known Rice is known for their school of engineering, but are all their schools on par with each other in terms of quality of education? Also they have an interesting Center for Public Policy which appeals to me.</p>
<p>I had an impression that it was concentrated more towards science programs, but I don't think the college would mind accepting students interested in social sciences. Wouldn't it sort of increase the diversity? I think Houston is really underrated. I've seen it appear on a bunch of lists recently</p>
<p>I got that impression too, but I just want to know how their UNDERGRAD social sciences and humanities programs do compare to other schools (i.e. Chicago, Georgetown, NYU)? I really like how the school looks in almost every other area (quality of life, etc...) I'm just unsure about their academics.</p>
<p>They are on much the same level as the science program. I have an obvious bias, but Rice is known for having stellar undergraduate programs in many areas, including social sciences and humanities.</p>
<p>Social sciences and humanities is a pretty vague term. What do you want to do after college?</p>
<p>In the world of academia and in general post-graduate life, Rice has a relatively low profile but this does not mean that the quality of the undergraduate academic experience is materially different from what you'd find at virtually any of the more visible colleges in the Northeast and Midwest. Furthermore, for considerations of top colleges for social sciences and the humanities, I would argue even more strongly than normal that the experience is more heavily influenced by the quality of one's student peers than by the presence of some prominent professors. Talk with the students who attend or have graduated from Rice's social sciences/humanities programs and you quickly see the high intellectual quality that compares very well with what you'd find at U Chicago, Georgetown, Ivies, Duke, etc. I expect that they would also universally tell you that they loved their experience at Rice (inside and outside of the classroom) and felt like they gave up nothing in the academic realm by choosing to attend.</p>
<p>If anything, Rice is overrated on these boards. Lack of prestige aside, it has no truly outstanding programs. It's a poor man's UChicago except with better weather.</p>
<p>^^^^^
Totally wrong</p>
<p>It is extremely underrated on these boards. It lacks prestige when you ask the average American (39.1% of whom has a college education). True it is not ranked extremely highly (ie top 10) in many programs, but the general undergraduate experience is top notch.</p>
<p>It is also located in one of most ideal places for colleges (location in city, not the city or state).</p>
<p>aworldapart- That is incorrect and ignorant.
The Shepherd School of Music is conservatory-level and one of the best in the country.
Engineering, public policy, pre-med, history- there are SO many strong programs. In fact, Rice is pretty evenly strong across the board.</p>
<p>While Houston might not appeal to some BEFORE VISITING, almost everyone changes their mind after actually coming to campus to check it out. Houston offers a lot, and Rice is in a great area with excellent access to public transportation, museums and parks. It is also a safe area.</p>
<p>
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the general undergraduate experience is top notch.
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</p>
<p>Do you have any hard statistics or data that proves this?</p>
<p>Same with you, MomofWildChild. What makes the "engineering, public policy, pre-med, history" programs of Rice SO strong? Granted, I have no evidence that supports the contrary. My point is that so many posters scream that "Rice is unappreciated!" but give very few reasons to support the strength of Rice's programs. My initial post was in response to hawkette's who likens Rice to UChicago. In terms of student culture, I wholly agree. But on paper the difference in academic strength between the two schools is palpable.</p>
<p>If you had said "Rice has a great baseball team" or "Rice is located in a great city with wonderful weather" then there would be evidence to back that. I think there's some truth to why hawkette said that "the world of academia and in general post-graduate life, Rice has a relatively low profile." Rice is certainly making strides in trying to break its stereotype of being a regional school, but to mention it in the same breath as "U Chicago, Georgetown, Ivies, Duke, etc." when referring to ranked programs is outlandish and premature. I love Houston and think Rice is a good school, and I would be happy to be proven wrong.</p>
<p>You know, Rice has that unfortunate reputation as a backup school for students who couldn't get into SMU.</p>
<p>^^ haha. Aworldapart- I am a big UChicago fan (went to law school there), but Rice and Chicago offer very different college experiences. I might give Chicago the edge on the "prestige" scale, but so what? Rice does fine in the national arena and doesn't have to justify itself or its programs. Check out the success of the grads and the placement in med/law schools. Check out the faculty bios. I am the parent of a Rice grad who, even with a music degree, got a corporate job and now got a large scholarship to grad school at Vanderbilt. I am also the parent of a kid (at an Ivy) who wouldn't even consider Rice, but who was very interested in UChicago. It's just so individual.</p>
<p>They're very different schools. Rice is more like Dartmouth.</p>
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You know, Rice has that unfortunate reputation as a backup school for students who couldn't get into SMU.
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</p>
<p>:D Apologies, MomofWildChild. That was for you. The Devil made me do it.</p>
<p>Rice is most "famous" for engineering and sciences (and architecture and music), but the quality of the professors in the humanities and social sciences are absolutely no lower than in any other field. Although, I would say that certain concentrations are better than others (religious studies, for example, is one of the best programs in the country, in my opinion).</p>
<p>However, if you really don't understand why Rice is underrated, then what you really need to do is visit the campus. All academic interests aside, I have yet to meet anyone who has visited the campus and met with undergraduate students that didn't immediately fall in love with it (even if they did choose to go to another school for "prestige" purposes).</p>
<p>Brian Leiter, whose rankings of philosophy graduate programs are pretty much the standard in the field, wrote the following of about which undergraduate schools are best for philosophy: "High school students interested in philosophy would do best to identify schools that have strong reputations for undergraduate education first. Only then, should they look in to the quality of the philosophy department. Some ranked PhD programs have good reputations for undergraduate education, like Princeton, Yale, Brown and Rice, among many others."</p>
<p>From what I've experienced and read, Rice has very strong philosophy (as I hinted at above), history (Douglas Brinkley is a pretty high profile guy), religious studies (Kripal and Deconnick are big), and political science programs (the Baker Institute). I haven't had as much experience with the other humanities/social science programs, but that doesn't mean they aren't of the same level. </p>
<p>Be wary of talking someone's one line summary of any school as hard fact. Most of the people on this board don't have any personal experience with the schools they purport to be an authority on.</p>
<p>My highschool teacher who taught our Math team graduated from Rice. I though the Rice math program was pretty good because of it. I somewhat had a perception that Rice engineering was pretty good. Pretty undergraduate focused.</p>
<p>Other than that I didn't really know that it was in Houston, TX. What other programs are Rice strong in?</p>