Rice University Top Questions

What is the stereotype of students at your school?

Max

Some common stereotypes of Rice students are that we are smart, anti-social, strange, Asian, and wealthy.

Ryan

- Geeky workaholics - Immature and obsessed with the "summer camp" aspects of residential college life - All engineers

Sarah

Rice students are all mega-nerds who would rather work on problem sets than have fun. Rice students' interactions with the opposite sex consist of either acting like you're married or random hookups.

Harper

Rice students are always studying and never leave their rooms/library.

Parker

People who don't attend Rice sometimes think the school consists of nothing but unattractive students who study 24/7.

Chris

The biggest stereotype about Rice is that the students are really nerdy and dorky. I'm just going to list some other stereotypes: The students do nothing but study and therefore are super smart. Rice sports are horrendous. Rice students are ugly.

Rox

That we're all nerds and only like to study.

Elizabeth

People seem to think of Rice as mostly an engineering school.

Bryce

Rice students are stereotyped as being bookworms -- you know, people who spend their entire life in the library and don't interact with the real world.

Tara

Rice students are nerds that cannot do anything but study - they are awkward and generally cannot function in society. They are socially inept outside of academia.

Rick

From what I've heard, Rice students tend to be a lot like most engineering-school students -- focused mostly on academics and extracurriculars that would look good on the resume. Socializing is a lower priority, while dating in particular is dead last.

Andy

Well, there are always those "athlete" "pre-med" and "academ or engineer" stereotyping, but stereotypes that are unique to Rice are "smart nerdy kids" and "socially inadequate". On the other hand, we are also perceived sometimes as "snobby and rich", which doesn't quite give an accurate picture of the demographics at Rice.

Ian

Nerdy

Ryan

-"Work Hard, Play Hard" -- Rice students study a lot, but they also like to party. -Really smart, driven, and nerdy -Diverse socially, ethnically -50{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} from Texas -Lots of engineers and premeds (there is an entire subtype of premed stereotypes--they're grade-grubbing and anal) -Unattractive, sexually clueless -Socially awkward

Jill

Nerdy, ugly, sheltered.

Mike

We're a bunch of unattractive, awkward nerds that do nothing but study.

Jordan

Rice kids are a bunch of nerds.

Dawson

I've heard Rice students variously (sometimes contradictorily) described as brilliant, socially awkward, nerdy, strange, upper-class, middle-class, ugly, apathetic, prudish, drinkers and secular.

Charlie

Rice students are extremely nerdy and never come out of their room from studying. They are in the library 24 hours and are mostly social inept.

Aure

I think the stereotype of a Rice student is that he/she is ugly, smart, and socially awkward.

Courtney

A lot of people think Rice students are nerdy and awkward, unattractive and socially inept.

Amy

Rice is for smart nerds. Even though you live in a warm climate, you never see the sun. We are the smartest in the South, but we're too drunk to attend half our classes.

Phil

The engineers are nerds. The majority of athletes are black.

Brian

Nerdy, drink a lot

Tammy

Students: Nerdy, ugly, socially awkward, intelligent Rice: Engineering/hard sciences are harder and higher-quality than Humanities subjects

Sarah

Dorky Guys, Ugly Girls

Jo

That we are all nerds and work too hard. Also, we are asexual.

Liz

-smart -socially awkward -nerdy-looking -bad dating scene

Danielle

Rice is known around Texas, and especially around Houston, for its high quality "Ivy-league" academics and its great baseball team. The campus is beautiful: a real oasis in such a large city. However, it's so closed off to the rest of the community that Rice students are known for being sheltered, spoiled, and closed off from the rest of the Houston community. On a more shallow note, Rice students are stereotypically bookish and nerdy, and they are not known for their attractiveness by any means.

chris

"Work hard, play hard" Study all the time "Texas"

Alex

We are stereotyped as nerdy and awkward.

Carol

nerdy kids

Natalie

You are smart. You'll land a good job upon graduating and make a lot of money. You are diverse and open to new things (i.e. political correctness).

Brittany

All Rice students care about are their grades and their classes. All Rice students are nerdy and have no social skills. Rice students are ugly and don't care about how they look.

Alison

Everyone is socially awkward and everyone is good at math

Jacob

Geeky, but nice people overall who are ready to work hard but also party hard.

Katia

For those that have heard of Rice, the general stereotype is that it is full of brainiacs and weirdos. As a relatively small university with high academic prestige, a couple strong sports teams (not too many like big state schools), and no greek system, it's understandable why this sentiment exists.

Rory

nerdy, ugly people, pretty campus, smart, bad at athletics, socially awkward

Alex

A few stereotypes of Rice include: it is a nerdy school with lots of Asians, there are few attractive people around, athletes didn't get in on their own, and finally, all we do is study.

Cody

that they are nerdy and have a hard time when interacting with other people

Becky

I guess there may be the stereotypes that Rice students are anti-social and nerdy and that they study all the time, but that's true of any high ranking school.

Carson

People tend to think of Rice students as smart and geeky.

Alex

Rice students are hardcore, work hard, party hard, are mostly nerdy, extremely unique, and love the word "free."

Melissa

Some of the stereotypes about Rice students are that no one likes to party, have fun, etc. and that all of the regular students are continuously stuck with their nose in a book, re-programming a computer, or anything else "nerdy."

Lane

There are two extremes at Rice: you either study hard and sell your soul to studying (aka live in the library), or you study hard and play hard.

Andy

The biggest stereotype is that we're all nerds. And that's true, but I'm comfortable with that, as my definition of nerd is "someone who is passionate about academic pursuits and the quest for knowledge on a life-long basis." Nerds come in all flavors, and I'd say that (here I am waxing stereotypical...oops) even our scholarship football athletes are nerds too, I know quite a few of thems are engineering or physical science majors, so they are strong academically too. And obviously nerds come in all flavors, from Women and Gender studies nerds to Economics nerds to Bioengineering Nerds to Physics and Math nerds.

Diane

Rice students are nerdy, socially awkward, and pretentious. The professors only care about their research and not about students themselves. Rice culture is cult-like due to the college system and there is no place for those who don't fit into each college's culture. Many students come into Rice never having been cool in high school, but then they magically become cool once they enter this small school environment.

Jesse

That Rice is just a brainy school and that all students are nerds!

Mark

One recurring stereotype is that hard science and engineering majors work much harder than other majors, and many non-science majors are given a hard time (all in good fun though).

Harper

That Rice students are smart.