Science is not an exception because, as our monstrous friend points out, the rule is meant to help with words pronounced ee.
For those words it works well, most of the time.
One exception after the letter c is SPECIES.
There are a few exceptions when not after c: SEIZE, WEIR, WEIRD.
And as with all spelling rules, it isn't reliable for proper nouns (Neil, Keith, etc.) and can't be used for words borrowed from foreign languages (Madeira, etc.).
Of course, as this is a spelling rule rather than grammar, by rights no-one ought to have replied to your question.