<p>Why is Rice known as the "happy school"? Based on Princeton Review and many other sources, Rice is often ranked for its students' happiness. What is it about this school that satisfy the students? Its atmosphere? Thanks.</p>
<p>Its december and 80 degrees in Houston. But during summer it is so hot people are delirious and think they are happy!</p>
<p>lol is there a more serious answer?</p>
<p>I think Rice’s house system is very popular and creates cohesiveness, the school size is a sweet spot for many (not huge, but bigger than a LAC), the campus is attractive, the weather is a real plus (it’s easier to get depressed when it’s freezing and dark outside for 4 months of the school year - good weather encourages people to get out and engage), and it’s close to a major urban area so a transportation hub and lots of opportunity for internships, etc…And mid-westerners, who make up more than half the school, tend to be less angsty than those of us who live on the east coast (where sharing your weltschmerz is not only socially acceptable, but even required.)</p>
<p>Lots of things to like, right?</p>
<p>I think it is the residential college system. You are randomly assigned, so they say, to one of eleven separate residential colleges. They really aren’t other exclusive clubs, so everyone is included. The colleges have their own rituals, parties and rivalries, but students really seem to like their particular college and it is all in good fun. This system makes students feel welcome and they have an immediate sense of belonging. Students do go to campus wide parties, so it is not like you just get to know people in your college. Many schools have a residential college system, but they also have many private organizations and clubs where only a select few get to join. Think of Rice as a place where everyone feels like they got punched for a final club.</p>
<p>It is a great school for academics and as M’s Mom said, the opportunity and breadth for internships is ridiculous. They can do High tech, medicine, oil and gas, chemicals, arts (most galleries are with walking distance and so are the medical schools), music, 5 professional sports teams, you name it and people have access to it.</p>
<p>I still think they are delirious though.</p>
<p>Because their graduates have a chance to get out of Texas.</p>
<p>lol so that makes them happy?</p>
<p>A guy I know left Rice and transferred to UCSB. He said Rice students are (notoriously) unwelcoming and the place outside of the campus is sort of like a ghetto. I’m not sure what exactly does he mean by that. The guy is very smart and eventually graduated with flying colors at UCSB. He then got into the University of Cambridge, UK, for his grad studies.</p>
<p>It is in the middle of bunch of large medical center buildings and residences and so not sure where he got the ghetto idea (going to cambridge does not make someone’s assessments brilliant but we digress). The real estate value around that area is one of the highest in the city.</p>
<p>Rice is in the middle of a major city. So there is always risk of mugging when one leaves campus (it is not a big campus) and walks around outside.</p>
<p>^^^ Define brilliant.</p>
<p>Anyone who defines the area around Rice may not be brilliant.</p>
<p>When I’ve been on Rice’s campus, it always amazes/amuses me to see the parade of students and profs jogging around the campus at all hours of the day…it’s endless…you have to be careful entering exiting the campus’ entrances otherwise you may hit a group of runners. They all seem to be so physically fit.</p>
<p>The reason you see so many runners is because the entire campus is surrounded by the “Rice loop” which is a very popular running route, being about 3 miles around. </p>
<p>I’ve spent a lot of time around Rice (daughter is a 2007 grad) and here is my assessment. The students are very interested in their academics, but they are comfortable with themselves and don’t seem to have any hangups about not being at a higher ranked school. Most seem to have chosen Rice for the right reasons. Houston has a LOT of offer culturally and the transportation system is excellent. The area around nice is extremely nice- higher end retail and beautiful homes in 3 directions and the huge medical center complex with hotels in the other. Rice has D1 sports if you care about that, but it isn’t the main focus of campus. As others have pointed out, the residential college system works well, and there are really good choices for off-campus housing. The weather is great during most of the school year. Everyone seems to integrate well at Rice and the students and faculty are friendly.</p>
<p>I think the Ricitizens are happy to be in Texas, but extremely happy to be somehow separated and protected from the soulless, horribly designed and constructed, foul-smelling city that is Houston. </p>
<p>A nice bubble of one of the best academic proposals in the nation. Perhaps comparable to Tulane in NOLA and JHU in Baltimore. As long as you stay in that bubble, all is well! Outside? That is another story.</p>
<p>PS MOWC find it easy to agree on SMU and perhaps Baylor, and impossible to agree on Rice and Houston. This will never change.</p>
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<p>He might have meant that the area that a way outside of Rice is a ghetto. As in Houston proper. And he could be correct as the ghetto has some pockets of nicely gentrified areas and stately home. It is the city itself that is yucky. And why the suburbs around Houston offer such a change and (very) nice reprieve to that hopeless hodgepodge of urban Houston. </p>
<p>As it is in many urban areas, the more central parts are ranging from poor to horrible. The lack of zoning in Houston just make it even worse.</p>
<p>Xiggi - i agree there are really bad areas about 4 miles from rice as one tries to get to downtown from Rice but the area immediately outside is quite nice. I dont know whether Rice came first or the surroundings but Rice students really lucked out being center of so many things (comparatively, UHouston got nothing from its location).</p>
<p>I thought Houston was supposed to be a really nice place?</p>
<p>It is a city covering 500 square miles. It has its own areas of urban decay as well as idyllic spots to choose from.</p>
<p>Rice is not surrounded by a Ghetto, the immediate area surrounding Rice is one of the richest areas in Houston. It certainly isn’t USC</p>