Rice University Prowled

Want the lowdown on Rice University? Then don’t look at the university’s brochures meant to attract new students or ask the faculty or administration or even the major magazines that do annual rankings of colleges and universities. Ask the students themselves.

That’s the premise of the College Prowler series of guidebooks that give a realistic impression of student opinions on campuses across the country. The guides are student written and often tell it like it is from a student perspective—the bad as well as the good. The 160-page College Prowler volume on Rice, Rice University Off the Record: Students Speak Out! by Julia Schwent ’04, contains hundreds of quotes from Rice students about topics ranging from academics to the attractiveness of the student population. The quotes are grouped in topical sections and supported with statistical information. Some of the nearly 30 sections of the guidebook cover Rice’s best and worst, on- and off-campus housing, diversity, student organizations, and essential Rice-related terminology.

—Christopher Dow