<p>hey rising senior seriously considering rice... just wondering about the roommate questionairre. on a campus tour the guide said it was very in depth. do y'all think that the questionnaire was instrumental (read: successful) in matching u up with a roommate that u could stand living with but also someone u could easily befriend and share interests with. worried that a larger public school wouldnt give as much consideration to it and that i'd be stuck with someone who resembles the emo kid in my history class who attempted to tell everyone everyday why the u.s. sucks. #2 i'm looking for rice at engineering and was wondering if the us news actually has any merit when they place rice outside of top 10. i'm looking also at publics like michigan and texas and am wondering if going to a "better" engineering school (i.e. more facilities) would be better off for job/internship opportunities or if employers ignore it and pay more merit to the overall caliber of the rice student. thanks in advance.</p>
<p>1 - The roommate questionnaire is pretty in-depth, and the O-week coordinators (who are Rice students) do put a lot of effort into matching you up with people whom you'll hopefully get along with. If you're worried about stuff like your roommate having different habits than you (smoking/not smoking, drinking/not drinking, partying/not partying), just be honest on the part of the questionnaire that's confidential (only seen by the O-week coordinators).</p>
<p>2 - I'm a science major, not an engineering major, but from having a lot of engineer friends, it seems like they end up pretty successful coming from Rice. This is especially true if you are considering chemical engineering - Houston is a big center for a lot of big-name oil companies - Exxon, Chevron, Shell, BP, etc., - and they do come to Rice and recruit a lot of the seniors. Being an engineering major also gives you some cool summer opportunities. I remember going to a career fair in the fall semester and seeing all these big-name booths recruiting engineering majors for summer internships/jobs...as a bioc major, no one wanted to speak with me =(.</p>
<p>Those USNews rankings are looking at graduate school. Rice is phenomenal at the undergraduate level, however.</p>
<p>You'll do just fine going to U of T, A+M or OU .</p>
<p>Regarding the roommate questionnaire:</p>
<p>Is it effective in matching you up with someone who you won't have any major issues with? Yes. There are, of course, a few notable exceptions, and of course people start to wear on each other after living together for a year, but for the most part it works out.</p>
<p>Will it connect you with someone who will be a lifelong friend? Probably not. The O-Week coordinators tend to go for the smaller risk, smaller return approach to matching roommates in that they will put you with someone with whom they think you will have few issues, not with whom they think you will best get along.</p>
<p>Like I said, it doesn't always work. There are always going to be the people who aren't honest on their questionnaires. There will always be a couple people left over after the coordinators do all the matching, and they will wind up together. And then there are the people who just won't be good with anyone.</p>
<p>If it doesn't work out, you're only stuck with them for a year, and you don't really have to be in your room all the time (I spent only about 35-40 hours a week in my room--only to sleep--freshman year, even though my roommate and I didn't have any major issues until the end of the year).</p>
<p>Also, misterme is right about the undergrad engineering being phenomenal. Rice puts a lot of focus on undergrad, so the grad programs are a little sub-par in comparison.</p>
<p>wut do u mean by that cressida</p>