Rice is a private, independent, and co-educational institution, dedicated to the advancement of letters, science and art. The university includes undergraduate and graduate programs in seven academic units
- Wiess School of Natural Sciences
- School of Architecture
- George R. Brown School of Engineering
- Jesse Jones School of Administration
- School of Humanities
- Shepherd School of Music
- School of Social Sciences
The Rice campus is a 300 acre grassy lawn, canopied by live oaks. It accommodates some fifty buildings and the largest stadium in Houston. The Shepherd School of music provides over 200 concerts each year, most of them at no cost. The university's facilities for recreational athletics rival those at any school. The university's Fondren Library houses a large collection of books, manuscripts, recordings, and other materials. An open stacks policy allows easy access to its collection.
Want to see more. Follow this link to take a virtual tour and experience our 300-acre campus arboretum and its urban surroundings. From labs and classrooms, to Division 1 athletics and recreational matches, to life in a residential college, these 360-degree photographs will put you in the center of it all.
For more information of the natural history of the Rice University campus and the species that call it home check out the Wild Rice site.
Houston is a contemporary metropolitan city that has been ranked #1 in "Best Cities to Live, Work and Play" by Kipplinger. In addition to museums, opera, major league sports teams, and night life, it also has large areas of parks and greenspace. Houston is surrounded by a wide variety of ecosystems: southeastern coastal plain forests; coastal prairies; fresh, brackish, and saline marshes; estuaries; and near-shore marine environments. In addition the Houston area, and the Texas coast offers some of the greatest avian diversity in the world.
Houston is the fourth largest city in the nation and the leading commercial, financial, and industrial city of the South and Southwest. In addition to Rice, there are seven other colleges and universities located in Houston. The Texas Medical Center contains the largest concentration and some of the best health care facilities in the world. It is the site of a number of major medical schools including Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Woman's University, Texas A&M Universities' College of Nursing, and the University of Texas's School of Medicine, School of Public Health, and Dental Branch, as well as numerous hospitals and medical libraries. The Houston Symphony Orchestra, the Houston Grand Opera, and the Houston Ballet give regular performances downtown. Several of Houston's five major museums, including the Museum of Fine Arts are located within a short walk from the campus of Rice University.
The Texans, Rockets, Astros and Dynamo also call Houston home.
Galveston and other beaches are as short as 45 miles away.