Fall Rankings:
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THE SERIOUS |
The phrase ‘big things come in small packages’ is more
than just a cliché when considering Rice University. With
top-notch programs in liberal arts and sciences, a huge endowment,
and a below-average tuition, Rice is one of the best buys around.” So
says the 2003 edition of the Fiske Guide to Colleges. For the second
year in a row, the guide placed Rice on its list of “Best Buy” schools,
based on the quality of academic offerings in relation to the cost
of attending.
The Princeton Review’s annual college guide, published August 20, was even
more laudatory, naming Rice the “Best Academic Bang for Your Buck,” based
on a survey of 100,000 students at 345 top colleges.
The U.S. News & World Report annual, released on September 13, rated Rice
number five in “Best Values: National Universities—Doctoral Programs,” behind
CalTech, Princeton, Harvard, and Stanford.
And the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Management was named a “hidden
gem” by the Wall Street Journal in its list of top business schools for
2003.
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THE ATHLETIC
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On September 26, Rice picked up the USA Today/NCAA Academic Achievement Award
for the best graduation rate in Division 1-A athletics. Rice graduated 91
percent (51 of 56) of its athletes who began college in the 1995–96 academic
year. Rice was followed by Stanford, Notre Dame, and Duke, all with 90 percent;
and Vanderbilt, with 88 percent. The award includes a $25,000 prize.
And to top that off, in the Sports Illustrated rankings for best college
sports in the nation, Rice finished fourth among highly selective universities.
The
rankings, which came out at the beginning of October, considered “performance
during the 2001–02 school year in the big five sports (baseball, football,
hockey, and men’s and women’s basketball); position in the 2001–02
Sears Cup all-sports standings; number of varsity, club, and intramural sports;
range of recreational facilities; and whether or not spirit-boosting events
like Midnight Madness were held.” The three highly selective universities
ahead of Rice were Stanford, Duke, and Harvard.
The October issue of Seventeen magazine ranked Rice ahead of . . . well, everybody,
naming Rice the number one “coolest school in the land,” and the
place “where girls can get the best college experience.” Seventeen cited, in particular, Rice’s outstanding academics, a vibrant campus
life, exceptional extracurricular activities, and the residential college system.
And last but not least, the results are in: According to Kaplan’s Annual
National High School Guidance Counselor Survey, Rice is the third-best site
this year for a remake of a certain American movie classic. The bad news is
that the classic is Revenge of the Nerds. The good news is that we were behind
MIT and CalTech and ahead of Harvard and Princeton. Maybe the best news is
that Rice didn’t show up at all on the lengthy Animal House remake list.
The results were published in Kaplan’s Unofficial, Unbiased, Insider’s
Guide to the 320 Most Interesting Colleges.
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