Things I Love (and hate) About Rice University
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 31 май 2024
- From Rice's dorms, the students, to their culture, Rice University is a great school. But every school has its goods and bads. And after studying at Rice University for a year now, here are the things that I love and hate about Rice University.
Though I will say that y’all should take everything with a grain of salt as everyone thinks differently and everyone has different opinions on their college experience.
FOLLOW ME HERE:
Instagram | / itsgeraldwang
Website | itsgeraldwang.github.io/
For you newcomers: My name is Gerald Wang and I’m a former student at Rice University! I graduated with a degree in Computer Science and Cognitive Science. Creating vlogs is a fun hobby that I like to do during my free time. If you have any questions for me then you can leave a comment or email me.
Business Inquiries: thegeraldwang@gmail.com
Enjoy your day!
#RiceUniversity #Pros #Cons #college #rice #geraldwang
things i love about rice university: there's this one really chill dude called "gerald wang"
loooool thanks bro
UT = 437 acres for 40,000 students.
Rice = 300 acres for 6,000
students... 🤔
You're right in that the ratio doesn't make rice seem too small. But rice's campus is also very compact while ut is spread out which makes it cover a lot more area than what they actually own
@@GeraldWang Hi Gerald, I am so confused between UT and Rice. Can you please tell me more
@@faithkhashmere246 There's a lot of differences between UT and Rice! UT is a public school while Rice is private, UT is also much bigger in terms of class size and I'd say Houston and Austin are pretty different cities. There's a lot more subtle differences in terms of student culture and education and whatnot that's too much to go through in once comment so I'd suggest going to tour both places if those are your two highest choices. If you have specific questions on the difference between the two then feel free to let me know!
Thank you so much for your videos about Rice! I'm currently making my college list and it helps a lot!
thanks so much lidia!
Thanks a lot for your Video. It has given me more insights about rice. I'm planning on putting rice as my early action. I really hope I get in
That's great! Best of luck!!
This is amazing!
Thanks!
I understand the thought process of only knowing (for example) just the Will Rice peeps etc etc. I get it. Things can become stale fast because of too much familiarity. But consider this,.....unless you’re a sports standout (and really really good looking) where your situation is everyone “wants” to knows you. Or you’re a super genius where studying just isn’t a problem freeing up time to take the full social tour of Rice... You can’t in most cases “have it all” .Some people don’t have friends at all sad to say. Some people can’t even go to Rice. Gratitude 🙏 is always best.
You're definitely right! Obviously I shouldn't take anything for granted and I'm super blessed to have the opportunity and life that I have right now. Thanks for mentioning it!
Gerald Wang Gratitude 🙏🏼is not easy to come by because people always want more. More isn’t necessarily bad, but sometimes we already have everything we need.
Can you do a video explaining how the residential colleges work and everything? Like when you think it’s time to apply and things like that?
Yea that sounds like a good idea! Also at rice you don't actually apply to a res college. Instead, you apply for housing before the due date and you will be randomly selected to a college.
I’m staying 3 weeks at McMurtry for summer camp and I like it so far :)
ayy that's great!
Hey Gerard! I was wondering how "exciting" and diverse Rice is? I'm trying to decide between Rice and UT, and so far, UT seems to be more exciting cause of the large student body, party scene, and its close connection to Austin, but I absolutely love Rice so I wanted to know how "fun" it is. Obviously, my primary focus is academics and studying, but in my downtime, I would really like to have an entertaining outlet. What is your opinion on this? Thanks!
Hi Sarah! How fun Rice is really depends on what you consider "fun". If it's about parties and the city life, then to be totally honest with you UT is a lot more "fun" than Rice (though this is just from me talking with my UT friends, I haven't gone myself). I consider myself leaning slightly more towards introverted so my idea of fun is hanging out with my close friends and either playing games or sports like basketball or soccer. There are student activities that are held every now and then at the student center but I haven't participated much so I don't have a lot to say there. Also, depending on which residential college you get there will be different student activities held that are college specific which I have found to be pretty fun. With all that being said, however, I wouldn't really say I've ever been super bored at Rice or felt like there's nothing to do. Hope this helps!
Working on a summer internship vlog! Might take a while though haha....
@@jacksondavis6960 yes
😮
@Tyra C. haha, I'll spoil it now and say it's at openstax!
@@richellehuang1014 yea that's right!
is it in texas?
Love the video! just one quick question: is it hard to gat a job around the campus? or any chance to work-study? for many schools the jobs fill up quickly
There are a couple jobs that are hard to get (like front desk at the library) because those are pretty popular. But if you apply for work-study then you have a better chance of getting jobs since they a lot of jobs here prioritize work-study students.
This guys really chilled
Haha, thanks
Thanks for the great insights. Is it hard to get into courses, especially popular ones like CS, at Rice?
I know that the first two intro courses everybody can get into. After that, if you've declared cs as a major then all the core classes are guaranteed whenever you want to take them. There are a couple of electives that are popular and are hard to get into if you're a freshman/sophomore but most classes should be fine.
Hi Gerald, I got admitted to both Rice and Wellesley, and I'm having a hard time deciding btw the two. One of my friends at Rice told me that it's hard to get a good grade in CS/STEM classes, and gpa matters a lot to me since I wanna go into consulting. I'm wondering how you feel about the grading system and difficulty. Thanks!
Hey Emily! First off congrats on getting into both! In my opinion, the grading system depends highly on the major and the professor. Humanities classes are generally easier in terms of grading versus CS/STEM classes. The business school also has a rule to curve classes down if the mean GPA of the class is above 3.5 so take what you will there. It's not impossible though, I know plenty of people who have GPA's above 3.9 that are in STEM. From my experience, there will be classes that are extremely hard to get an A in but you'll also probably take classes where getting an A is easy. But at the end of the day, if you really want a good gpa, there are plenty of resources here to help and it is definitely not unachievable.
@@GeraldWang RCEL presidents be like
brooo that monitor stand though....📚
I recently became interested in Rice and was wondering how challenging the classes and if the workload is manageable as a student athlete.
Since I'm not a student athlete I don't really know for sure. I would think that the workload would be a lot but definitely manageable. I'm double majoring in computer and cognitive science right now and the workload is somewhat intense but not impossible. Also classes themselves vary a lot in terms of difficulty so it just depends on what class you're taking that semester. I have a couple of friends who are also athletes and they say that overall the workload is manageable.
@@GeraldWang is double majoring an attainable goal? I am really considering double majoring (in stem) but I don’t wanna set myself up for failure or overwhelm myself too much
@@malane8541 Double majoring is definitely an attainable goal but that doesn't mean it's an easy goal. If you are double majoring, you should ask yourself why you want to do so as it'll mean taking more classes than most people and you should enjoy the subjects from both majors. It'll also depend on which majors you choose as some double majors are easier than others. There's academic advisors at Rice and I would definitely advise asking them and seeing what they think about it as well!
@@GeraldWang those are very separate majors with almost no overlap but ik a guy who triple majored in stats, comp sci, general math at Rice because the courses were similar
Hi Gerald, thank you for your insights, just a quick question about the academic program there, just wondering if you need to follow a certain sequence of courses, or you will have the flexibility to create your own educational path?
All majors have required courses that must be taken and many of those courses are only offered once a semester and may have prerequisite courses. Because of that, you don't have 100% control over your entire course path. However, from my experience and talking with friends, you still get a lot of flexibility in what classes you can take because there is still plenty of room for non-major required courses as well as elective courses that you can play around with. It's also really easy to switch majors as there isn't any application to try another major! If I had to put it in numbers I'd say on average about half your classes in a semester is because you have to take it and the other half is your choice. But that varies a bit depending on the major. I would check the Rice department websites for major requirements and get a feel there.
@@GeraldWang Thank you so much!! That's so helpful!!
Thanks for the info, helps out a lot. How well supported is social sciences? I plan to apply to that school and am a little concerned that Rice as a whole is too STEM focused for me.
While I don't know too much about ss, I know a lot of pre-med students who went to really good med schools like Baylor that were social science majors. I will say that the ss department is smaller than the stem departments but that's mostly because there are fewer students in ss/less interest. But rice is also building an entirely new ss building (news.rice.edu/2018/07/16/rice-to-break-ground-on-new-school-of-social-sciences-building-this-summer/ ) so it looks like they are definitely investing more in that department so I'd say it's pretty well supported.
Do they offer programs related to art?
@@milagrosmorales9842 They do! Rice has a department for visual arts and design called vada:
vada.rice.edu/
From my knowledge that department is pretty well known and well respected.
See you this fall!
yea, hope to see you there!
I want to major in business and I saw that the major is new in Rice, do you have any info about it? How strong is Rice in business and if there are great opportunities in this area. Also I would like to know about the party scene and if there are things to do beyond classes, like in the campus or even in Houston (if it's accessible w/ public transportation or if I would need a car). Thankss
Unfortunately, I don't have much knowledge on the business major since it wasn't around when I was researching majors. Rice business is definitely strong in the academic field though (however it is considered a harder field since the business school likes to curve grades down a lot). I know a lot of people who have had great experiences with internships as well. While I wouldn't say Rice is as much of a party school as a lot of bigger public universities, there are plenty of small parties being hosted during the semesters. Before covid, and hopefully resuming soon, Rice also held what are called publics which are big university-sponsored parties that tend to get a lot of people. I would say you can access a lot of the good parts of Houston by foot and by metro but having a car (or a friend who has a car) is very desirable since Houston isn't really known to be a walkable city. Hope this helps and if you have other questions just let me know!
Hey, any tips for a cognitive science applicant? What makes a great cognitive science student at rice? Is it true that Rice is a sorta quirky school?
Even if you're planning to do cog sci, what rice is looking for doesn't really differ from other majors. They want someone who demonstrates the ability to lead as well as an aspiration to achieve really great things. The tips for say a bioe or comp student doesn't change for cog sci students. But having extracurriculars related to cog sci in some way will definitely help! Obviously you want to keep a good grade in school but the main thing is to emphasize making an impact in your community. Whether that be related to cog sci or not isn't necessarily what they care about. And I'd say that rice definitely has its fair share of quirky people. You'll find people of all backgrounds here so quirkiness is kinda inherent here.
hi! do you know anything about transferring to rice. for example from a community college or another uni in state, is it easier or harder to get in? if i have a 3.94 gpa from college. thanks
Hey Selin! Unfortunately I'm not really familiar with transfers but I looked at the process and it seems pretty similar to the normal application process:
admission.rice.edu/apply/transfer
Just by looking at the acceptance rate, I'd say that it's around the same difficulty to get in through transfer compared to the normal app process. But you'll be competing with a lot less people though so I would think that'd might make it a little bit easier. Your gpa is great though and should help you out!
Hi, I am currently attending a community college and was hoping to transfer to rice i have a 4.0 gpa and was also wandering if it would be harder or easier to get in. did you get in ?
I want to go to Rice but I'm hesitant to go because I'll be far from my family and the people I know. Was this a big problem for you? Great video by the way.
wow I'm pretty late...but in case you're still deciding I will say that it wasn't too much of a problem for me primarily because my family is also in texas so it wasn't too far away. But there are plenty of people that I know here who have had the same hesitancies that you have. Rice really does have a great support system and you'll definitely make friends here if you put yourself out there so I wouldn't worry too much!
Is it hard to get internship in your freshman year there? Do most pp get it? Thank u for the awesome vid btw
Thanks nasha! I wouldn't say it's easy to get an internship, I know a decent amount of friends who are doing internships but a lot of people also aren't. As long as you work for it and apply to a lot though, you'll have a good chance at getting one.
if those are the ONLY Bad thing or considered bad......I think I feel pretty good about sending my son there!
Yea imo these are the ones most applicable to everyone I think. But I wouldn't say that these are the only bad things about rice. It's different for everybody and there are always ups and downs when you're in college.
Send me there too... But I already graduated with a bachelor's lol 😂
I disagree with your point about there not being many options around Rice. Houston has an excellent food scene and we get free metro passes so if you do some research there is excellent food all around Houston. In my 4 years at Rice I've never been bored with the food that the city had to offer.
Yea, you make a good point actually! I do agree that houston has a great food scene, I've just found that actually getting around to those places w/o a car is a little tedious. The metrorail doesn't go everywhere and the bus system is a bit slow so I haven't really gotten around to trying a bunch of restaurants around houston, though that is more of my own fault
Gerald Wang Yeah I usually just resorted to bumming off my friends that have cars or splitting an Uber. If only American cities were more walkable.
@@jetblack8250 haha, agreed bro
im a high schooler looking into rice’s neuroscience program, any clue if that will be ANYWHERE near affordable (just so I don’t go into debt) also, awesome video thanks!
The quickest way in my opinion would be to check Rice's financial aid program and see where you will land:
financialaid.rice.edu/rice-investment
Depending on your financial situation, it could help a lot!
@@GeraldWang thank you so much🙏🏻
No joke, how much does it cost to go to Rice? I know the price always depends, but like, how much did you spend on your years/semesters? I'm thinking of going into Actuary science and I honestly just want a plain number to go off of
For privacy reasons I won't disclose how much I'm paying but from what I know of others and how much I pay, what you see on the Rice website is pretty much exactly what you pay (not including any external scholarships of course). Tuition is around 50k and room/board is around 15k. That is how much you'll be paying assuming no scholarships or financial aid. Additionally, with the Rice Investment, they'll waive some of the tuition away if you qualify (and I'm pretty sure the only major qualification is if your parents' income is less than the specified amount which you can see here:
financialaid.rice.edu/rice-investment
Is there chick-fil-a available on campus at Rice? What about bubble tea? Please elaborate on any student run, student owned businesses that serve the Rice student body. If there are any such businesses, please do an in depth video in which you try all of their products. Thank you
lmaooo colin. FYI, rice no longer offers chickfila but you can get urself amazing boba at east west! I know a guy who works there and loves boba more than he loves luay
Rice University application is due in 4 hours. I'm watching your video to write the Why Rice essay.
Best of luck!
Hi Gerald, how easy is it to switch majors at Rice? Once you change it, do all the classes you take change to immediately?
Switching majors at rice is really easy actually! how it basically works is that you get until the second semester of your sophomore year to take any classes you want in any major. So if you don't exactly know what major you want then, as long as it's before your junior year then you can just switch pretty easily. Any classes you take that counts towards the switched major still counts for credit as well.
Gerald Wang This is so helpful, thanks a lot!
No such word as "towards."
Jim Eppright except there is
@@sanghyunhwang1297 Not in the USA, my friend.
ballin
ayyy!
What happens to the freshmen that don’t live on campus? Does no one reach out to them and connect with them ever?
I can't remember if freshman are required to be on campus or not but even if you are off campus I know o-week is required so you can still connect with people during that time. You're also still assigned a residential college so there will be opportunities there. But I will say that being off campus will make it a bit harder to stay connected with your residential college in general so it's mainly up to you to reach out.
Quick question, why are you still keeping the AP barron textbooks?
Nothing special, I just use it as a stand for the monitor
I’m applying early to rice I rly hope I get in
that's great, good luck!!
Did you get it?
Hey Gerald,
I am Bukata Mubanga, an international student applying to Rice. It’s my top school and I really want to get in. I have so much to ask so can we have a one on one session or an interview. I will really appreciate it.
Hello! I recently have a rice interview with a senior coming up, any words of advice?
Personally, I'd try to be as open and outgoing as I can without it feeling inauthentic. They asked me questions like:
1. Why do you want to go to Rice?
2. What extracurriculars do you do?
3. Name times where you demonstrated leadership.
4. If you have unlimited resources, how will you change the world?
As long as you know what you're interested in and are prepared to answer questions like these then you should be good!
👍🏼
hi gerald, i'm thanay from hyderabad, india. I got admitted into rice for my graduate studies for fall'23 semester. Can you tell me in detail about the graduate student life at rice and how different it is in comparision to the undergrads. Thanks!
Hey Thanay, first of all congrats! Unfortunately, I don't really know too much about graduate school life at Rice since I never experienced it, but from some friends' experience I would say that the graduate life is much more independent than undergrad. Undergrad has a much more rigid course structure while graduate is mainly focused on your own research and projects.
Rice doesn't typically separate campus events between graduates and undergrads so you can still experience a lot of the things undergrads experience. There's also a lot less graduates so the community may feel smaller than for undergrad, but I also heard that's what makes it more close knit which a lot of people like.
Hi Thanay i am Nana from Ghana. Also just received admission to Rice grad school fall'23 and came across Gerald's video while doing research on Life at Rice. If Gerald is right about how small the community is i guess we will probably be friends soon (or at least one degree off lol). Looking forward to it.
@@GeraldWang thank you for the info brother, it was very helpful. I've made my decision to join Rice this fall. I hope I can meet you sometime on campus too!
@@akosuaserwaa6191 Haha, nice to finally come
across a fellow graduate. I look forward to
meeting you on campus too Nana. All the best for everything in between!
for everything in between!
@@thanaymetta5340 Congrats! I've already graduated but I come down from time to time so definitely say hi if you see me!
have you explored beyond the campus? have you had the opportunity of exploring Houston?
I've explored the downtown district of houston a decent amount. Personally, during the school year I didn't have much opportunities to explore houston because of work, but since I'm staying over the summer I've had a lot more time look around.
Is it tough to get into Rice University for BCIS?
I can't really say since BCIS is pretty specific but it is tough either way to get into Rice in general. However, Rice doesn't have major specific applications so I wouldn't worry too much about it.
@@GeraldWang I really appreciate your time amd effort.
@@bluebutterfly3419 Of course, thank you!
using your high school textbooks as a pc stand lmaooo
Gotta save money somehow
How are the music courses at rice?
I've only taken MUSI 117 which is their intro to music theory course. If you know about AP music theory then it's very similar in terms of concepts. Other than that, the classes are taught by dedicated music professors at Rice (which the music program itself is highly regarded) so I would assume the other music courses are pretty good. I will say though that unless you are a music major, then the amount of music courses you can take is limited but if you're interested in learning more there are definitely resources at Rice that you can go to!
@@GeraldWang Thank you so much!!
why are there so many AP textbooks on your desk lol
It's for a monitor stand :P
The real question: Do they have Big Red?
Haha, haven't seen anyone with that around but you can probably find it somewhere.
Im pretty sure i saw you in the coffee house yesterday lo
oh dang, come say hi next time!
Gerald Wang okay I will :D
Gerald Wang do you tutor by chance?
@@way2girly No I don't tutor formally, but depending on the topic I think I could probably do it (not guarantee though)
Gerald Wang I see~! Do you understand government, math or chemistry well?
Had way through I couldn’t hear what you were saying anymore
i love rice, don't love the price
Yea...Rice is pretty expensive
How does someone afford for rice
Rice does have a pretty generous financial aid package which you can read more about here:
financialaid.rice.edu/
If that doesn't apply to you then it would probably have to involve loans or working part time.
u like andrew ng
1:06 What if you have Rice in Rice
Well then you've got yourself a meal
@@GeraldWang Well for me I've gotta get into rice first. So I guess time will tell and hope it happens
@@chadcj2077 Good luck!
Also who's the guy talking in the video? Can you hire someone cool like Leonardo DiCaprio instead. What is this Mickey Mouse operation.
dw you'll be in the next vid bro, that's better than dicaprio
You say Rice is small and here I am literally begging for rice over Caltech.
Here's to hoping you get both! 🙌
@@GeraldWang Thanks! I'm already in Caltech. Manifesting Rice 🙏
@@GeraldWang What sounds harder to your ears? 1. Masters Degree in Mathematics or 2. Masters Degree in Statistics?
@@mathematicaleconomist4943 It's hard for me to say since I didn't take much math or statistics classes. It would also depend on how confident you are at either field. But from what I hear from friends, stats in general is slightly harder at Rice.
@@GeraldWang Interesting! Thanks for the information!
When I was a freshman at Rice and went to my advisor, an ENGLISH professor, for some help, the first thing he did was use a swear word. That pretty much overshadowed everything else that was said.
In the end, although he assured me he would take care of the problem, he didn't know the outcome, and later when I ran into him at the gym, he ask ME what happened! He really didn't even know who I was, and never bothered to get to know me.
He never attended any events during orientation week; we would sit and wait and wait while the student advisors assigned to our group kept telling us he was "running late." He never made it to a single event during O-week.
He provided absolutely no advisement when we were planning our schedules, which resulted in some big mistakes. The next year, when I ask for a new faculty advisor, the master of Sid Rich admitted to my father and me, that my freshman advisor had told him he should not have been an advisor.
Dang that's pretty unfortunate...There'll always be those types of people wherever you go. But hopefully you still enjoyed rice
Audio is very low. Please make sure this doesn't happen again in the next video.
hey turn it up bro
Rude much....😂😂😂 I'm just glad he posted it! Chiiiillll.
@@GeraldWang Can you also please have better lighting next time. I struggled to see your face as well. No more spooky lighting. Thanks.
@@wangdensherpa4598 hey the lighting enhances the atmosphere
@@wangdensherpa4598 Can you fix your attitude next time? Thanks.
Ah yes, another privileged Rice kid complaining about the food that is literally cooked by accredited chefs--not to mention the fact that there are 6 serveries to choose from for most meals.
I mean, I do say that the servery food is pretty good, but you do get used to it over time. The main point was just that I think food options outside are limited w/o a car.
@@GeraldWang get a car!
Thịnh Ngô easier said than done