The Rice Degree of Difference

What makes Rice special? Those of us who know Rice—especially you who are fortunate enough to be alumni—could go on for hours about what makes Rice different from other universities. But what about those who do not know Rice and who will only spare a few moments to learn about it?

That is the challenge of building a national reputation to match Rice’s reality. It is a challenge complicated by Rice’s small size and distance from national media centers compared to the nation’s other leading universities.

So what is Rice’s response to that challenge?

DREK. Not dreck, as in trash, but D-R-E-K as described by the CEO of Young & Rubicam when at Rice for a Dean’s Lecture at the Jones Graduate School of Management. When “branding” arose as the buzzword of competitive visibility, Young & Rubicam, one of the world’s largest brand managers, conducted a massive study of how consumers make choices. All involved expected the research to confirm the conventional wisdom that audiences go through a four-step process known as AIDA: Awareness, Interest, Desire, Action.

To everyone’s surprise, the study results, even after double-checking, found AIDA obsolete. The current four-step process, the data showed, was DREK: Differentiation, Relevance, Esteem, Knowledge.

In an age of information overload, we all filter out much of what comes our way. The first filter often is Differentiation—“Is this new and different, or can I ignore it?” If it passes that test, information must make it through filters for Relevance—“Does this matter to me or can I disregard it?”—and Esteem—“Is this good, or can I dismiss it?” Then, and only then, are most people willing to pause to absorb Knowledge—“OK, I’ll listen; you’ve got 15 seconds.”

Thus, in building national visibility and support among those who do not know Rice, we must first get their attention by demonstrating how Rice is different from the other 4,047 colleges and universities in America. Certainly the quality of our faculty and students puts Rice at the front of the pack. However, our real competitors, the nation’s most prestigious universities, also have outstanding faculty and students. What differentiates us from the other leaders?

We in the Office of Public Affairs set about to examine Rice and the private universities we compete with most—both their reality and what each said about itself in news releases, publications, and websites. We consulted Rice faculty, staff, students, and alumni about what sets Rice apart. When we had zeroed in on three areas of difference, we compared notes with the admission staff about what they say to, and hear from, prospective students across the country. Happily, we each found that we and the admission staff were in precise agreement. The three mega-messages we use to most differentiate Rice from other leading private universities are:

• Price and Value. Rice uses its endowment to keep tuition one-third lower than that charged at comparable private universities, and almost four of five Rice students receive financial aid. Combined with our high quality of education, that makes Rice a leader on virtually every “Best Value” list.

• Personal Teaching and Learning. Rice’s size (2,700 undergraduates and 1,700 graduate students), student–faculty ratio (fewer than six undergraduates for each faculty member), and exceptionally high percentage of classes taught by faculty (92.4%) rather than graduate assistants gives students close interaction with scholars.

• College System/Community. Random assignment to the colleges assures each a cross-section of Rice’s diversity, four-year affiliation promotes continuity of community, and the associates program provides additional bonds with faculty, alumni, and special friends of Rice.

What makes Rice special to you is undoubtedly a much longer list. To those across the nation who give us 15 seconds to persuade them that Rice is a great national and international university, though, these mega-messages convey concise evidence that Rice offers a special degree of difference.