<p>I’m that friend from Atlanta!</p>
<p>@ thelonius and NYSkins I freaked out when I was driving from Atlanta to Houston last summer and saw the 800-something miles to El Paso sign. I couldn’t imagine doubling that ridiculously long trip and still being in the same state.</p>
<p>I visited Rice last week and the statistic they gave in the information session was 40% from Texas and 60% out of state.</p>
<p>as the number of out of state and international applicants rise, the number of in state students is falling</p>
<p>I’ve made the cross-Texas drive; it took 10 hours, speeding recklessly.
It’s easy to say that Texas is diverse without elaborating, but it’s really true: you’ve got the rio grande valley (which is pretty much Mexico with laws and clean water), mountain ranges and deserts out west with the national parks, preppy-rich Dallas land, San Antonio, super-liberal Austin (which has a ton of cultural stuff going on all the time), rivers for tubing in the hill country, hills and ranches in the hill country, places with obvious German and Czech heritage, places that consist of nothing but dirt out by Lubbock, the more stereotypical conservative people in the piney woods of east Texas…and we haven’t even gotten to Houston yet, which is full of immigrants and cultural diversity. Stereotypes about Texas are mostly complete bull.
My non-Texan suitemates and I went out to a ranch in Uvalde for spring recess. We ate homemade jerky and shot guns and went hiking and wore boots and rode around on ATVs and believe me, EVERYONE had fun - despite the fact that half of us are from the Northeast, and yeah, we all vote democrat. The sterotypical texan lifestyle exists, but it’s a cultural subsection that CAN be appreciated from the outside if you’re open-minded enough. Everyone I know who came from out of state loves it here.</p>
<p>AHHH! I’m from MN too! where are all you MN peeps located?</p>
<p>wow it seems like a lot of people are from MN
I’m not from there but my host for visions was also from MN</p>
<p>I’m from Eden Prairie, MN</p>
<p>I’m from Eden Prairie, MN, too! Where do you go to school?</p>
<p>And I gotta say, it is pretty amazing that El Paso and Houston are as far apart as Houston and Atlanta. I think of Houston and Atlanta as being located in two completely different areas. I think of Houston and El Paso no more than two different cities in Texas. I guess that goes to show how little I actually know about Texas. Now, I was hoping that I would move this thread in a new direction now. Originally, I posted about the 56% being surprising and wondering whether Rice is diverse, and after seeing everyone’s replies, it most definitely is. So my new question: What is Texas like culturally. For example, Minnesota is known for its “Minnesota Nice”—I’m sure Modulation can attest to that. The northeast is known for being slightly snobbish, wealthy and high-strung (at least in MN). California is known for being laid back and liberal. Now, of course, these are obviously stereotypes, and they do not ring true for everyone in a particular region. But I think most people can agree with me that there are certain cultural differences between different regions in the country. So what is Texas like relative to some other places that I’ve referenced, or does it have it own feel to it?</p>
<p>Generally, I’d say Texas has a laid-back western attitude mixed with southern hospitality. That being said, Texas is definitely it’s own thing and doesn’t conform to many things that are stereotypically western or southern. Texas was a sovereign republic, and, as you probably saw in the news recently (Gov. Perry and the TEA Parties… namely the one at the Alamo), Texans still have a LOT of state pride. No, Texans aren’t a bunch of right-wing crazies (but there are probably more of them here than there are in Minnesota) who want to secede from the Union… they simply have a lot of respect for their state’s rights and culture. Being laid-back ends with threatening Texas–you just don’t mess with Texas 
Texans really are great people, though: extremely friendly, helpful, and welcoming. They don’t pull the backstabbing southeastern debutante crap (I grew up in GA, and “southern hospitality” there, while charming, is often superficial and manipulative), and Texans are much less concerned with wealth and socioeconomic class than people in the northeast. But, like you said, these are stereotypes, and there are plenty of people in Texas who break the mold or are transplants from other parts of the country. The Sunbelt Region in general is home to millions of domestic migrants from the north.</p>
<p>Texas culture varies across the state, and Houston is sort of an anomaly when it comes to typical Texas stuff. Yes, Houston still has great Texas BBQ and Tex-Mex and western wear stores like Cavender’s, but Houston is a huge city with lots of different kinds of people. Houston is the most demographically diverse city in the state. Houston is also one of two “big cities,” the other being Dallas. Both cities are noted for their Fortune 500 companies, national convention centers, museums, shopping, etc… just like any other big city in the country. Houston is slightly more liberal than Dallas, but the suburbs of both cities are mostly conservative. Ft. Worth is known for being Dallas’ smaller, more conservative counterpart. Austin is liberal and artsy (and a lot of fun). San Antonio is touristy, Hispanic, and historic. El Paso is right on the Mexican border, obviously very Hispanic, and might as well be in New Mexico. El Paso and other border towns have economies and cultures that are highly interwoven with those of their sister cities on the other side of the river (El Paso-Ju</p>
<p>That’s what I liked most about texas. Just walking around Houston, the people were infinitely nicer than on the East Coast</p>
<p>My son is almost ready to decide on Rice (99% sure) and he is also from Minnesota, so that makes three identifed Minnesotans on this thread. My husband is from San Antonio and I was a Longhorn and lived in Austin for eleven years. Rice is the college of choice in Texas for an elite, honors level education! Where are you other Minnesotans from? My S attends Hill-Murray High School in Maplewood.</p>