Rice University | Student Reviews | Best College

Student Profile

Diane

Class: Junior
Major: Psychology
Gender: F

High School: Lake Mary High School
Transfer Student: N

Big Picture

The College system is the best thing about Rice. I'd like to change the parking situation on campus and make it easier and more accessible for on-campus and off-campus students to park without forking over a large amount of money. It's a little too small of a school just because everyone knows everything about everyone. I spend most of my time at the varsity athletic facilities. What college town? The Rice administration cares about its students, but implement a lot of ideas that do not reflect this (such as when our breaks are, or how they spend tuition money). The lacrosse hazing incident a few years ago. There is a lot more college pride than school pride in your first couple of years, but then it turns into school pride based on the quality of education as you near graduation. Rice is a wet campus with a lax alcohol policy while most schools are completely dry. I'll always remember my first Beer Bike because it was the craziest, most unique experience I could have. Most complaints involve the food in our serveries, even though the food is just fine, and also the wide-spread apathy across campus.

Academic Life

My favorite class was Nutrition with Dr. Anding because it teaches you many life skills that you can apply for the rest of your life. My least favorite was general chemistry because it was terribly taught and way too difficult for incoming freshman. Students think they study all the time, but in actuality, people just study during mid-terms/finals week, right before a paper is due, the night before problem sets are due. Class participation is very common in small classes, but it's usually by the same annoying and pretentious kids every time. Rice students have intellectual conversations all the time, especially when under the influence of alcohol. Everyone's very competitive and fight for every percentage point or test score they can to outdo each other. The most unique class I've taken is performance psychology, which was part of the kinesiology department and taught by a ***y, motivational speaker. I'm a psychology major with a business minor.

Student Body

Students and Student-athletes interact more than they would at any other university, but the interaction is still not completely friendly. Students are intimidated by their athletic ability, and athletes are intimidated by the average student's intelligence. Both sides develop a sort of animosity toward each other and it's hard to break that barrier down. That being said, there are some athletes that are actively part of the college system and have regular student friends, but those are usually from specific sports such as swimming, cross-country, tennis, golf. This is probably because they are not as noticeable or stand out as athletes as much as a football player or baseball player. Most of the other sports are very exclusive in who they hang out with, in sort of a fratty way.