RANKED AS ONE of the top twenty universities in the country, Rice University is a comprehensive research university located on a 300-acre, tree-lined campus in Houston. Rice’s schools of architecture, business, engineering, humanities, music, natural sciences, and social sciences all rank among the top programs in their fields.
Rice houses a variety of institutes and centers, including the Kinder Institute for Urban Research; the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, a premier nonpartisan think tank; the Welch Institute for Advanced Materials; and the Smalley-Curl Institute, the first nanotechnology research center in the world. The Susanne M. Glasscock School of Continuing Studies offers the prestigious Rice Master of Liberal Studies degree program and one of the largest selections of noncredit arts and sciences courses in Texas.
Rice’s residential college system forms the heart of campus life. The eleven colleges—small communities with their own governments, budgets, intramural teams, and advisers—are where students live, dine, and interact with faculty mentors.
Rice is located next to the Houston Museum District and the Texas Medical Center, the largest medical complex in the world. Rice students are a short light-rail train ride from downtown Houston and its array of cultural and entertainment opportunities. Houston is home to numerous Fortune 500 companies, which provide valuable internship and employment opportunities.
