Rice University
Responses from the Student Interview
From a student who identifies as Major: Mechanical Engineering
Minor: Computational and Applied Mathematics
Student Self Identifies as: Caucasian Male
Summary
I’m on the non-major orchestra, Eclipse which is a rocket ship club, I tutor low-income students in the Houston area, and I play intramural soccer.
Background
Gender Identity: Male
Race/Ethnicity: Caucasian
High School Experience: Public school in a suburb of New York City with a graduating class of about 150 students. There was a culture of going to college
First-Generation College Student: No
Major: Mechanical Engineering
Minor: Computational and Applied Mathematics
Extracurricular Activities: I’m on the non-major orchestra, Eclipse which is a rocket ship club, I tutor low-income students in the Houston area, and I play intramural soccer.
Academic Experience
Can you describe your weekly coursework for your major?
Most of my Mechanical Engineering classes are pretty much just problem sets and exams. There will be occasional classes where there is a reading quiz. The further you get into the major, the more it becomes problem set focused. The distribution classes, which are the classes you have to take outside of your major, there are essays and quizzes.
Is there anything you feel your major’s department does especially well or poorly academically?
One thing I think they do well is the accessibility of the professors is super good. All my major classes are relatively small, around 50 people or less. Because of that, the professors seem really accessible. I’ve been really happy with the overall I’ve had at Rice honestly. I think a lot of the lower-level classes are taught by really good professors and professors who have a focus on teaching rather than research.
How would you describe the learning environment? Do you think it’s particularly competitive or collaborative?
It’s very, very collaborative. I’ve never experienced any competition other than on the individual level because I’m a very competitive person. All of my classes have group chats and we work on problem sets together. If someone has a question on a problem set, someone will answer it. The general level of student at Rice is high so you want to achieve as well as they are, so it pushed you to work and study, but I’ve only felt camaraderie with the people in my classes.
How accessible are your professors?
Super accessible. I don’t feel weird going to office hours.
Why did you pick to your major? Are you happy with your choice?
I picked my major because I’ve always liked math and physics, have been successful in math and physics classes, and like the applications of it. I think when you’re getting bogged in the theory and it’s hard to remember why you’re doing a certain thing. I want to use my interest in those fields to do something real and have an impact in the world, and I figured engineering was a way to do that. Right now, I’m pretty happy with my major. There are times when I doubt it, for example, I took some Computer Science classes and I really liked them and wasn’t sure if I should switch. I ended up staying in Mechanical Engineering, so I’m not 100% set on the major.
Reasons to Attend
1) The inclusivity of the parties.
2) The academic strength. You’re going to meet a lot of really good students and professors who will both challenge you.
3) The number of opportunities per student. Because Rice is such a small school with such a big endowment, it’s so easy to get resources for whatever you need. You can just email a professor and say you’d be interested in getting involved in their lab and there is a good chance you’ll get in because there aren’t one hundred other students applying to get in. It’s the same thing for clubs if you’re interested you can easily get involved.
4) I really enjoy the residential college system. It’s so easy to make friends with everything the college does during orientation week and other activities you do with your college.
Reasons Not to Attend
1) It’s not an insane party school so sometimes the campus can feel dead on a Monday or Tuesday night, which is fine.
2) A lot of people have problems with the career fairs because it’s not a very diverse group of companies. It’s just a lot of engineering and banking.
Around Campus
Where have you lived on campus?
Rice has residential colleges, which are effectively dorms, but you stay there for your entire career. I’m in McMurtry College.
Freshman: I lived in McMurtry College with one roommate and we shared a bathroom with another double.
Sophomore: I’m in a suite with six connected singles, a common area, and two and a half bathrooms.
How was transitioning from living outside of New York City to Houston, TX?
New York to Texas is obviously a pretty big change, but I thought it was going to be a much more difficult transition. In terms of weather, it’s much hotter here, but I was expecting it to be worse. We miss the worst of it over the summer. Once you get into October it’s a really nice temperature, so I’m pretty happy with the weather. Another thing I was worried about was the political climate being super different, but rice is a very liberal campus. The transition was pretty easy in general.
Can you describe the level of safety you’ve experienced on and around campus?
The campus is very, very safe. I’ve never felt unsafe. It’s pretty much walled off and at night they close the entrances so people can’t just drive through. We also have the blue light system. No one I’ve ever talked to has felt unsafe on campus.
Social Opportunities
What kind of nightlife or weekend activities do you like to participate in at Rice?
Rice has a pretty different party scene from what you’ll see at any other college. A lot of weekends there will be public parties, which are effectively a university-sponsored theme party hosted by a dorm. Those are always fun and what’s great is there’s no invite list. If you go to Rice, you can just show up. Also, there are obviously some private parties. Most of the nightlife is centered on campus because the bar and nightclub scene in Houston isn’t that good for college students. We also have a pub on campus that you can get into if you’re under 21, which is popular.
What nights of the week do you regularly go out?
Wednesday nights the Pub has trivia, so I go to that if I’m having an easy week. Thursday night is always Pub Night and there will be a theme and a bunch of people go to that. Friday and Saturday night are mostly either a Public party on campus, or you’ll go to a private party or hang out with friends.
What’s an alternative to going to a party or a bar that you like for a night out?
There are a ton of good restaurants. There’s a lot of good Asian food, so going out to eat is fun. We’re right next to the zoo, so I’ve gone there a few times, and there’s Hermann Park right next to campus that you can hang out at. There are also suites and common areas in the residential colleges where people hang out, like, people in my college always play board games on weekend nights. I would say a pretty large percentage of campus doesn’t participate in parties necessarily.
How happy are you with the weekend activities and nightlife? Is there anything you would change if you could?
I’m very happy with it. A part of the draw of Rice was that there are no frats so you don’t have to worry about that. I think that’s a really good part of Rice because the parties aren’t toxic environments at all. I’ve never experienced wanting to go to something and being invited, which is a really big plus in my eyes. I do think there is a danger of the small school being compounded by an even smaller population that goes out can make it seem a little cramped because you will see a lot of the same people at parties. For some people that’s good and for other’s it’s not. It’s definitely not an insane party school, but I think there are fun parties once a week or once every other week and that’s the right environment for me.
If at all, how has identifying as LGBT influenced your nightlife experience?
Not too much honestly. I don’t think I have a really good answer for that.
Campus Culture
How did you meet your closest friends?
Most of them were in my grade and in my college. The college system is a big part of life here. During orientation week you get grouped with a small group of other freshmen for your college and you do a ton of bonding activities with them and you do a ton of bonding activities with the rest of your college for an entire week, so it’s super easy to make friends in your college. Also, because you live right around them you’re going to be hanging out with them the most. I also have various other friends through my participation in clubs, so I’ve made a lot of friends from all the colleges.
What is the impact of the residential college system on social life?
You will make friends with people in your college by accident and if you want friends from other colleges you can find them through extracurriculars and classes. The colleges are really just dorms but with a lot of school spirit. People will have dorm merchandise, like t-shirts with the name of your dorm on them, when you play intramural sports you play dorm versus dorm, and there are dorm-specific cheers. If someone meets you on campus the first thing they’ll ask is what college are you from. The colleges can feel like a school within a school, but I feel camaraderie with everyone.
How would you describe the overall social scene at Rice?
I would say its work hard and play slightly less hard. A lot of people during the week are working a lot. People are academically-minded and when you hit Friday or Saturday night people will be social and maybe be at a party. Generally, people are academically-focused and into what they’re studying, but there are a lot of different types of people on campus.
To what extent do people of different races and sexual orientations mix socially?
To a super large extent. My friend group is pretty diverse in that way. Orientation week is a super good time because they make the smaller groups as diverse as possible and force you into being friends with these ten other people and starting off on that food helps people form groups with people that they wouldn’t naturally lean towards. Obviously, diversity could always be better, but I think it’s good at Rice.
How would you describe the student body?
Motivated, smart, diverse. There’s a large percentage of people who are very academically-minded.
How do you like the size of Rice in terms of undergraduate enrollment? How has it impacted your experience? [There are about 4,000 undergraduates.]
I think it was a good transition for me considering that I came from a small high school with only 150 people in a grade. You have a residential college with 100 people in each grade, which is your tight-knit group. You get to know that group of people really well, and you can go out and meet the other people on campus. I’ve personally really enjoyed walking through campus and seeing people I know. It trends towards being a smaller school than it is than a bigger school than it is because of the dorm communities.
How strong is the LGBTQ+ community on campus?
It’s pretty strong. It’s small because it’s a small subsect of a small group of people. But, there are a lot of events for people in the community and I think people feel bonded to the community.
Do you think people are generally happy with their choice of Rice by senior year? Do people leave loving Rice?
Yes, I think so. There are a lot of alumni events and people are always coming back. There is a lot of Rice pride and [residential] college pride.
Careers
Has the alumni network helped you find internships or jobs?
Not really, I haven’t used it.
What have you used the career office for? How helpful have they been?
I’ve used the career office for resume help and they have a lot of good services like externships where you can job shadow. They also have career fairs twice a year that are pretty helpful.
Have you learned any computer programs or computer languages that have been or will be especially helpful professionally?
I’ve learned MatLab, Python, Abaqus and SolidWorks.