<p>So we sent in the deposit and accepted any kind of financial aid, what is next?</p>
<p>Do we have to sign up for classes yet? I know at local colleges, registration starts in May -- and the classes fill up quick. </p>
<p>I know that orientation starts on August 14th. Is that when we should arrive in Houston, or earlier? It is probably a good idea to reserve those tickets early? </p>
<p>What about dorm stuff? How do we know what stuff is gonna be there and what we need to buy? I haven't received any housing information on which residential college I am assigned to yet.</p>
<p>Basically everything will be explained and taken care of during O-Week, which starts on August 14th, as you said. When you're there you will be given tons of help, advice, and support (both from fellow students, teachers, and everything in between) on how to pick your classes.</p>
<p>When I came for O-week last year, I showed up maybe a day before, but I have an uncle who lives in Houston so I had a place to stay for free. However, I personally would advise getting in town at least the night before so you can leisurely get up and get everything ready to take over to school. The rest of the week will be hectic enough that you'll want a bit of down time. It is probably a good idea to reserve tickets early, just so you can get them cheaper if nothing else.</p>
<p>As far as dorm stuff, I cannot address what will already be in the room when you arrive just because I do not know what college you are in. However, you can be assured there will be at least a bed, a wardrobe/closet, a computer desk, and probably some other kind of storage thing like a chest of drawers. You may want to buy/bring a fridge or a beanbag or a chair or a phone or any manner of stuff. Probably the best thing to do is once you get your residential college assignment you'll also get your roommate/suitemate assignment, so e-mail that person(s) and ask what they plan on bringing. Also almost all, if not all, of the colleges have websites with floorplans that you can look at. So you'll be able to look and see if you think you'll have much room for stuff that way.</p>
<p>Basically, my point is that everything will either be taken care of during O-Week or will be easy for you to figure out once you find out who your roommies are. If you have any more questions, just ask!</p>
<p>There is also a sturdy (though not particularly comfortable) desk chair provided. Target and IKEA are nearby, and there is a shuttle to Target from Rice. Also your nice advisors or new friends can help you get to places to buy cheap stuff if you need to when you get to Houston.</p>
<p>Thanks for being around to answer my questions. I have a couple more. </p>
<p>Marie;</p>
<p>So there is not any worry about classes filling up? </p>
<p>Do we actually move in the first day of orientation week? Will we have our rooms/roomates by then? If we aren't, then what do we do if we don't live in Houston? Will we have to rent a hotel room for that week?</p>
<p>A note to add about classes filling up, it does happen. However, the school works very hard to leave a bunch of spaces for freshmen. And the chances are, maybe only one or two of the classes you want will be full and if they are there are so many other tantalizing possibilities for classes that you won't even notice. For example, the one class I didn't get that I wanted first semester was this required class for English majors that I thought I would just get out of the way, but when I didn't get it, I instead took this amazing British Romantics Poetry class that ended up being about five hundred times more wonderful than I could have ever imagined. So I suppose this just goes to enforce aibarr's "Not to worry!" Everyone at Rice just wants to help you get settled in and get comfortable. The whole school and program of O-Week is set up just to help incoming freshmen and transfers, so you'll be well provided for and taken care of, I promise :)</p>
<p>I don't know you you guys remember what time it was last year. But the scheldule says that it starts the week of August 14 (Sunday). I well be flying in. Which day and time should I be arriving in Houston to get to Rice on time. Please keep in mind that I don't want to incur the costs of a hotel room.</p>
<p>What about the weather in Houston? I know it gets hot and humid, but can anyone give me the temperature ranges in Houston year-round (I might be staying over the summer)? I am more interested in the extremes during the colder months. Should I bring any jackets or sweaters?</p>
<p>I also read about the constant rain on the oweek website. How necessary is rain gear like waterproof boots and stuff? I really don't like to walk around in wet shoes since they take forever to dry. How much of an issue is this?</p>
<p>Welcome to Houston,Joy Joy! I have lived in Houston for 25 years so maybe I can help out.
Weather in the summer is hot, hot, hot-- and humid. 90's are typical and sometimes up to 100 degrees. However, all stores and buildings are air-conditioned, so not to worry. You will get used to it.</p>
<p>The weather stays warm until around October--very pleasant in the fall, actually. Sometimes we will have nippy weather starting around Halloween, but that means about the 40's or so. In the winter, you definitely should have some sort of coat available--we have weather in the 30's and 20's sometimes, but generally it stays around the 40's I think. This past Christmas it snowed! We had a white Christmas in Houston.</p>
<p>Starting around February, everthing starts to green up and the weather is gorgeous. (That is why I don't miss the northern winters.) You can wear shorts, etc. starting around then, and certainly by March (with occasional spells of cooler weather.) Springtime might average 60's 70's. I am not a weatherman, so this is just a guess. I'm sure online somewhere you can find the official average temperatures.</p>
<p>By late April or May it gets warm. Right now it is 95 degrees--record highs for this time of year.</p>
<p>JoyJoy -- I think I arrived early Saturday afternoon before O-Week started. However, there is a broad amount of time during which you can move in (I think between around 10:00 am and 3:00 or 4:00 pm -- and this might vary between colleges) so you could possibly even fly in on Sunday morning to make it on time so you would not have to stay in a hotel at all. It's really up to you and how quickly you would like to be moving. Hope that helps a bit.</p>
<p>You really should have an umbrella. You might even want to bring some kind of rain boots because the paths get flooded regularly. I had a wind breaker/rain coat thing and wore it once, but that's mostly because I don't really mind getting wet. It's really just up to you. But you really should bring an umbrella and some kind of shoes that don't let in too much water, even regular boots instead of tennis shoes, you know. Hope that helps.</p>
<p>For some colleges it might be inconvenient, although not impossible, to arrive in Houston on opening day of O-Week. At my daughter's college last year move-in time was 9-11 a.m., or possibly 9-noon. Then lunch, then "parents say good-bye" at about 1:00 (with some meetings and sessions for parents afer that). So unless you could manage a really early flight, flying in that day might put you a little behind schedule. But I'm sure people at the college are prepared to deal with that and will try to make things easy for you; some students must arrive "late" every year.</p>