Profile

Founded in 1891, Rice University is a private research institution in Houston, TX, that is a powerhouse in both STEM and the liberal arts. Its location is unbeatable: Situated in the bustling Energy Capital of the World, the campus is a vision of landscape and architecture with an average year-round temperature of 70 degrees. Rice offers more than 50 undergraduate majors; the most popular are biochemistry and cell biology, biological sciences and economics. Class sizes are notably intimate (6:1 average student to faculty ratio) for a medium-sized school. The James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy has brought a number of national and world leaders and scholars to campus. Rice has a history with some former U.S. presidents: George H.W. Bush once served as an adjunct professor, and in a speech at Rice Stadium in 1962, John F. Kennedy famously persuaded the American public to support a manned space flight to the moon, claiming we should strive to put a man on the moon for the same reason the Rice football team plays the University of Texas: it is hard. Rice’s varsity athletic teams compete at the NCAA Division I level.