ABOUT RICE UNIVERSITY

Rice University, officially William Marsh Rice University, is a private research university located on a 295-acre campus in Houston, Texas, United States. The university is situated near the Houston Museum District and is adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is generally considered the foremost university and the most selective institution of higher education in the state of Texas.

Opened in 1912 after the murder of its namesake William Marsh Rice, Rice is now a research university with an undergraduate focus. Its emphasis on education is demonstrated by a small student body and 6:1 student-faculty ratio, and it has been nationally recognized as a leading university for undergraduate teaching. The university has a very high level of research activity for its size, with $140.2 million in sponsored research funding in 2016. Rice is noted for its applied science programs in the fields of artificial heart research, structural chemical analysis, signal processing, space science, and nanotechnology. It was ranked first in the world in materials scienceresearch by the Times Higher Education (THE) in 2010.Rice is a member of the Association of American Universities.

The university is organized into eleven residential colleges and eight schools of academic study, including the Wiess School of Natural Sciences, the George R. Brown School of Engineering, the School of Social Sciences, School of Architecture, Shepherd School of Music and the School of Humanities. Undergraduates select from more than fifty majors and two dozen minors, and have a high level of flexibility in pursuing multiple degree programs. Additional graduate programs are offered through the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business and the Susanne M. Glasscock School of Continuing Studies. Rice students are bound by the strict Honor Code, which is enforced by a student-run Honor Council.

Rice competes in 14 NCAA Division I varsity sports and is a part of Conference USA, often competing with its cross-town rival the University of Houston. Intramural and club sports are offered in a wide variety of activities such as jiu jitsu, water polo, and crew. The university ranks very highly in surveys of student satisfaction, with students frequently citing the residential system as instrumental to creating close community. In the latest Princeton Review rankings, Rice ranked as the top university in "quality of life" and "lots of race/class interaction," and the second in terms of "happiest students".