Pros
- Rice admin staff and then chair were very accommodating (and still are) with the transition process and helped me a lot with waiving few of the requirements. - Some classes are small, while others are quite big ... it depends on popularity and also type of the course (seminar oriented, coding intensive, theory intensive, introductory or advanced) ... so class size should not really be a motivating factor to chose Rice (at least not for a graduate student). That said, it is important to point out that among (very selected) courses that I took, I found the professors pretty approachable and helpful. - Based on casual discussions with other graduate students, most of them seem pretty happy with their advisors (with issues like micro-managing, choice of problems, rapport, etc). - Funding situation is pretty good compared to other universities. Also, offices with 3 students per room are assigned to graduate students, which helps if you need peace and quiet while working ... some may like it, others may prefer a "big" lab-like environment. - There is lot of buzz going on in entrepreneurship at Rice for last few years. MBA-school is offering pretty good course on it, plus there are events like 3-day startup which are useful to both undergrads and grads. Rice OTT is also pretty helpful in this area.
Kontras
- There are fewer clubs and the current chair (along with few enthusiastic students) is trying to address that. So, as far as graduate students are concerned, there are relatively fewer opportunities to socialize ... though friday night gatherings at on-campus student-run pub Valhalla (which serves cheap beers) does help :)