Why is Rice University underrated?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Rice University
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<p>Been to Rice University and I was totally amazed. I was impressed by the huge, clean, well-kept campus. I thought the professors are brilliant and the students are extremely talented. I've also observed that the research quality of the school is world-class. It also has a substantial endowment fund and the FA is somewhat competitive. But despite that, why can't it compete with the best? It doesn't even have the prestige of UCLA or Northwestern or Duke, yet the standard of education at Rice is just as high if not even higher than those schools?</p>

<p>I really believe that Rice can easily trump the lower ivies if it would make a robust effort to do it. I also believe that it has all the potential to rival HYPSM. </p>

<p>What do you think is wrong here?</p>

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<p>I think it has at least a little to do with the fact that texans generally seem to be much less arrogant than people in other parts of the country. For example, Texans don’t actively flaunt Rice like many Californians do Stanford.</p>

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<p>I also think it has something to do w/ the fact that Rice’s graduate program isn’t THAT strong.</p>

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<p>It’s because it is in Texas. And the northeast establishment looks down on all things Texas.</p>

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<p>Shazheng, Princeton doesn’t have so many strong postgrad programs as well. </p>

<p>ModernChem: Rice has a pretty good mix of students, professors and admin staff. I think a substantial number of them aren’t Texans.</p>

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<p>Wait, I also think Texas is a great state and Dallas is a fantastic city, without a doubt. In fact, Texas is number 4 in my list, after California, Florida and NY (in the order).</p>

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<p>It’s one of those up and coming schools. I personally find it to be a hidden gem…</p>

<p>IMO, it’s underrated for the following reasons:

  1. Lack of a well-known sports team unlike Duke, UCLA, and Stanford. Apparently baseball is pretty good here, but that at the collegiate level hardly appeals to anyone.
  2. Lack of a medical school, but maybe a Rice-Baylor merger in the near future?
  3. Its location in Texas/“the South” apparently turns people off. I gotta admit, at first I didn’t even care for Rice just because it was in Texas… (Obviously that’s changed.) The coasts just give a cosmopolitan vibe.
  4. Its small size obviously contributes to it not being as well-known as the Ivies. But President Leebron is expanding it, so hopefully that’ll help.</p>
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<p>^ in what way and in which area is the school expanding?</p>

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<p>Modulation listed them all (cause awesome people give awesome reasons ;))</p>

<p>Rice has a great baseball team but college baseball isn’t well known… it also won the Texas Bowl this year which might help…</p>

<p>Mostly it is because it doesn’t have the “Grad Prestige” and also it is in TX which hurts also… And the sports</p>

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<p>The only thing I can find that hurts its rep is the slight lack of regional diversity with so much of the population still being from texas</p>

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<p>

Why do you think there is something wrong? Rice is a great school in a great place in a great state. Why should Rice try to rival HYPSM? Life ain’t all a competition.</p>

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<p>Like this year, there will be two new residential colleges (from 9 to 11). And I believe the admitted 850 instead of the normal 750 (the numbers are probably wrong, but that’s the general idea). Undergrad population will expand…</p>

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<p>I agree with all the above posts. It’s funny how people don’t complain (or at least I never heard any) about Stanford having ~50% Californians, but many take it as a negative thing that Rice has ~50% Texans.</p>

<p>As far as athletics for top 20 D-IA schools…
Stanford’s known for their HUGE sports programs…they seriously have every sport known to man…although they seem to only be insanely talented in fencing/swimming sports. Their football sucks, basketball isn’t bad, baseball is usually top 30 or so but they are having an incredibly down year.</p>

<p>UCLA- same story as Stanford but obviously much better in basketball, and somewhat in football. Baseball was supposed to be good with freshman phenom pitcher…but they underachieved for the second straight year</p>

<p>Duke-Baseball’s actually doing OK this year…might make the field of 64. Football is the perennial red-headed stepchild of the ACC, although they did do better this past year. Basketball is where the tradition and culture is at for Duke. They could give a s**t if they folded all other sports and just pooled all money into the basketball team. 3 national championships and 14 Final Fours scream success, second all-time in the number weeks being ranked #1 in the AP pool. Has been choking lately…due pretty much to the unathletic pasty white kids they have been recruiting.</p>

<p>Northwestern- HAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Actually football made it to a bowl like us this year…but they’re like the reverse of Rice…they have made 6 bowls in the past 14 years, but haven’t won since 1949. They have the dubious distinction of having the longest losing streak in Division I-A football. Rice kicked ass back in the 40s and 50s, but we’ve only been to two bowls in the last 47 years.</p>

<p>Vanderbilt…Like Duke they are the football whipping boy of their conference, the academically negligent SEC. They made a bowl like us this year…and they beat us in Nashville. The story will be different when we play them in Houston this fall. Basketball…OK, not NCAA tourney worthy every year. Baseball they have done good in the past couple years…were the Number 1 seed a couple years ago but choked.</p>

<p>Rice…basketball: haha, we stink, but recruting class looks good. Football: we had an awesome year this past year, winning 10 games for the first time since we beat Alabama in the Cotton Bowl, but we’ll be rebuilding next year, 2010 should be better. Overall, football hasn’t had a storied history at all, especially during the latter half of the 20th century. Baseball: we own everyone. UT, A&M, all those punks. Our coach is a god and Baseball America named Rice the best baseball program in the past 10 years. We were pretty ****ty until 1996, then we kicked UT’s ass in the conference championship and haven’t looked back since.</p>

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<p>Rice is really not that strong in the humanities. Not that MIT is the seat of great humanistic endeavor or anything, but their humanities departments are much smaller even than Rice’s; they don’t attempt/pretend to do well what they can’t.</p>

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<p>RML, you’ve posted two threads on essentially the same subject. You’re starting to **** me off, because you just don’t get it.</p>

<p>Rice does compete with and finish favorably against schools like Harvard, Princeton, Yale, MIT, Stanford, etc. You say that Duke has more prestige (maybe it does among the plebeians), but when you compare students who get in to both schools Rice comes out on top. Same goes for a couple of the “lesser Ivies.”</p>

<p>The fact is, people come here for more than just a name. When you start having students come here for just the name, then you lose a lot of what makes Rice great.</p>

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<p>^ relax. i’m just curious thus this thread, because i just found out that Rice is actually an excellent school but doesn’t have the prestige that it rightly deserve. I’m still analyzing why it does not have the prestige of those lower ivies. i’m also analyzing if this is the fault of Rice officials…</p>

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<p>It’s because we won’t sacrifice our values so that a few more people will have heard of us. Geez. “Prestige” isn’t the only thing that matters.</p>

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<p>RML, I do not consider Rice underrated at all. Most students who have done their homework come to the same conclusions. </p>

<p>Rice is about as good as it gets but some would agree with you and say that Harvard, Yale and Dartmouth have pretty good reputations as well. (especially those on the East coast). Just because they are lower ranked should not keep you from considering them if you really would rather go to a school in New England. It’s all about fit!</p>

<p>[Top</a> 2000 Ranked Universities for Highest Overall School Score](<a href=“http://www.stateuniversity.com/rank/score_rank.html]Top”>http://www.stateuniversity.com/rank/score_rank.html)</p>

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<p>RML, it isn’t that hard to figure out and understand. Rice was established about 100 years ago. Many of the Ivies were established over 200 years ago. Rice’s reputation has developed and increased over that last 30 years, perhaps earlier in Texas. Many of the Ivies benefit from 200 years of institutional prestige, which is causing some of them to lose focus on undergraduate studies and to carry on their reputations (which many don’t understand) through graduate research and development. You can’t create past history. Rice is on the rise, based upon its own history, and I think most feel confident that it is gaining higher and higher ground-- a little research over rankings over the past 30 years will show you that. Frankly, I think anyone that thinks Harvard, for example, is better than Rice in many areas of study for an undergraduate education hasn’t really done their homework.</p>

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<p>Yes, but Rice has also only been to two bowl games in the last 47 years.</p>