Clickbait: what Rice doesn't want you to know

Colleges and Universities A-Z Rice University
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Hello College Confidential Community,

This is the summation of my experience at Rice so far and also reasons why I have chosen to apply to transfer elsewhere as a junior.

Firstly, Rice has a pretty big drinking culture. Rice is a wet campus and the administration and police are not out to get underage students that are drinking, because they already know you’re drinking. The policy is really meant to try to deter students from drinking off campus. Basically, be smart and safe and respectful and you won’t be bothered. Also our RAs are adults that don’t bother us or come to our rooms when people are being noisy and partying. So that’s nice; no overbearing student RAs that knock on your door on Friday night asking you to tone it down.

Next, a majority of students are engineering majors or pre-meds. Personally, I have found that I don’t share much common ground with engineers. For me personally, I make friends easily with people who share my passion, which is marine science and conservation biology. I have enjoyed coming here and meeting new people with different majors and passions, but I have also found it difficult to relate to people. So be prepared. Think about the type of people you want to be surrounded by. If you’re an engineer or pre-med, you will fit in snugly.

Size and residential colleges. Rice has an undergraduate population of ~4,000. I thought this would be a decent size-not too big and not too small-but I was wrong. I need a bigger school. The residential college system divides undergraduates into eleven colleges. I was placed into one of the smaller colleges (I think around 350). While I like the idea of having a small family of peers, I just have felt that the college system serves to divide and isolate students. Freshman year, I felt that I missed out on making a friend group within my college because I was busy trying to meet lots of freshmen from all the colleges. To be fair, I am really not one to place myself into a friend group, and I have many individual, close friends. But it can feel cliquey and exclusive at times, which I do not appreciate. Anyway, I think I would be much happier at a larger school.

Research. I hit the holy grail with research. I am an ecology and evolutionary biology major with an interest in marine science. Rice I believe is trying to expand its opportunities for students to do marine science, and I am lucky that we have a well-known coral reef microbiologist here. I have had and will have many opportunities to engage in coral reef research. Basically, if you want to do research, you definitely can here. No problem.

Houston kind of actually sucks. I do not mean to offend, but Houston is not my cup of tea. Houston is a huge city with a huge population that is incredibly spread out. I feel incredibly suffocated by it. If you do not have a car, life is just a little sad. Houston is not a fun city to be in as a college student. If you are the type of person who likes San Francisco, Chapel Hill, or New Orleans, I would recommend not choosing to come here. The Rice Bubble is definitely real and I just find it sad that I would rather always be on campus than go off because I can’t enjoy the city. But, the zoo is pretty cool and is a ten minute walk. So that is a plus.

Our Title IX team and support system is great. I received a lot of help through them this past semester and believe they do their best to address all instances of sexual misconduct as well as provide counseling and support.

Rice is building a new parking lot this year that is right next to two of the residential colleges. Unfortunately for me, I have had to deal with incredibly early morning pours that are extremely loud. I am talking about waking up at 2am and hearing noise all night and morning. It has been horrible. Usually construction starts at 6:45 and it has been something I have just learned to cope with. I have been extremely irritated with the administration all semester. They should have had a better plan in place for student complaints than just throwing ear plugs at them. And the best part of it all, is that there is still construction going on during FINALS. Granted, it starts at 7am so I get an extra 15 minutes of sleep, but beware all new students placed in Baker and Lovett, I hope you are heavy sleepers. I am not. I am chronically sleep deprived and my pleas have fallen on deaf ears who care more about the shiny new parking lot than the wellbeing of its students.

Why I am applying to transfer:
I just really do not feel comfortable here at all. I think part of that has to do with some very personal traumatizing events that happened here, but it is also because I generally do not like the atmosphere of Rice. I want to enjoy the city I am in instead of bashing it all of the time. I miss fall and I even miss snow. I want to go somewhere larger and in the NE. Just because I am applying to transfer does not mean that I will actually leave. I have to weigh my happiness against incredible research opportunities and graduating a semester early. But applying to transfer will of course make my decision much easier when June rolls around. I’ve realized that there are different paths to success, and if I really do not feel happy or comfortable here, I cannot achieve my maximum potential. Rice is an amazing school for sure, but it is not for everyone.

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Very interesting perspective. Can you share a little about your background, where you came from, and what made you decide to come to Rice in the first place?

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How strong is computer science at rice? Does it fit in with the engineering?

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I’m a Rice alum and I think your points are fairly valid. I absolutely loved my Rice experience, and given the sky high student satisfaction rankings most people do, but it is certainly not the place for everyone. Everyone needs to find the environment that works for them, I hope you are happier wherever you go next.

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This post mentions that you had a Title IX complaint at Rice, and your other post says you had a Title IX complaint at the College of William and Mary. Sorry to hear that you are going through the same problems twice.

Plenty of students at Rice don’t have a car, but you can get around with the Rice bus which goes to Rice Village, and Uber is cheap and quick.

Construction noise and detours are a problem at a lot of schools. The other source of noise around the garage construction area is the Medical Center with its sirens and helicopters, and that is obviously never going to end. Construction would be a good thing to ask about before you enroll in your next college.

Good luck to you.

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@ScienceGirlMom Let me clarify. I received support at the Title IX Office at Rice about the complaint I filed at William and Mary as a third party. I spent time with the Rice support team as well as the Rice Title IX coordinator for advice and counseling. They were so helpful and really are amazing people. My complaint was not filed at Rice, because my transgressor attends WM.

Also, the noises of the medical center have absolutely never bothered me. What is annoying is waking up at 645 am and sometimes 2 am and not being able to sleep due to the construction that is happening right outside my room. As a college student that attends a very rigorous institution, I am sure you would understand why I am frustrated. I am also suffering with symptoms of PTSD and already experience insomnia and trouble staying asleep. I have contacted the administration and the project manager multiple times but no one is willing to work with me to solve the problem. This may seem like just empty complaints to you, but it has actually been negatively affecting my health.

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I am very sympathetic to your complaints about construction noise and would have hoped that the university would respect reasonable sleeping hours. Why is it taking them so long to build a parking lot?

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@pittsburghscribe

*Multilevel parking structure, it’s not just a parking lot.

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I think while none of these things have been problems for me, they’re all valid complaints or observations. It just really depends on somewhat random personal experience and personality type. For example, I agree that the drinking culture at Rice is really out in the open and has a large role in certain events, but in reality a ton of students don’t drink or don’t drink much and I’ve never been uncomfortable if I wasn’t drinking.

Same with residential colleges: some students end up mostly just hanging out with people from their residential college, and others branch out more and as a result aren’t super plugged into the happenings at their own college. Some people manage both. I’m in the first camp because that’s what I’m comfortable with. But for some people it can just not work out.

Houston’s definitely not like SF or Chapel Hill or Nola. That being said, it actually has a lot to offer culturally. It definitely helps to have a car or a friend with one, but Rice and Houston are just not set up in a way that you can experience the city without some effort. I really only started looking around town a lot this year and I’m a senior. There are definitely large parts of Houston that are pretty boring and concrete (also, Rice is in one of the wealthiest and nicest looking neighborhoods), but some of those areas also have a ton of culture to explore. I certainly wouldn’t fault someone for feeling suffocated by the on-campus-centric social scene.

Glad you’re searching for something that will make you happier!

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@jfking01 I totally agree that having a car definitely helps! My roommate this year had a car and that allowed me to escape once a week to ride horses. Houston is not the city for everyone, and I come from a much much smaller town in a mountainous region. So I miss the ability to drive half an hour and be in the mountains or middle of nowhere. That being said, I wouldn’t mind living in a city, it is just that Houston is not an intimate or cozy place to live. It is sprawled and the epitome of the place I would never want to settle. (Just my opinion, sorry to offend any Houston die-hards!)