<p>Hey!</p>
<p>I'm a prospective applicant but I just had a few simple questions if someone could answer them? :) PLEASEEE?</p>
<p>I just had a question about the LGBT community at Rice. I was just curious about the %age of LGBT students out of the student body, like an estimate if someone can provide? If not, could someone just tell me: is there is a strong LGBT community? I mean, are there a lot of gay men or women visible on campus/part of the student body?</p>
<p>Another question I had was in regards to the social/party life. I read about the wet campus policy, which is really cool. But like since there are no frats/sororities, how is the party life? Like is there a party every weekend? Or are there house parties? :/ And where are the parties? :P Most people say that with frats, there is an immediate call for parties, alcohol etc like every weekend normally.</p>
<p>If someone could please answer those questions, I will be very grateful :)</p>
<p>I’m not a terribly good resource for your first set of questions, but our Queers and Allies group is certainly around and active (though it may not be particularly numerous). I think some of them hung out with Mayor Annise Parker (Jones college alum, lesbian) during the Houston Pride Parade last year. There are certainly a number of gay students who are involved and very visible in student government, clubs/extracurriculars/etc, though I can’t really estimate a percentage. More guys than girls who have taken on visible roles (though maybe I’m just not aware). Despite any notions anyone might have about Texas (ha) it’s a totally welcoming environment. I only know one ******bag homophobic guy but he’s since learned to shut up about it.</p>
<p>Re: parties, there’s usually a big public party (hosted by a college, that most people on campus who go to parties attend) once every weekend. House parties are less common as we have a substantial on-campus population and the alcohol policy is very reasonable (though this may change during the upcoming year - we’ll see). Large public parties take place in a college’s commons. Private parties also abound, hosted by individual rooms of students - these are typically smaller (though sometimes not, haha). Also, pub is open every weeknight, and students spontaneously get together to drink/chill/whatevz all the time.</p>
<p>Hope that was helpful; let me know if you want elaboration on anything. Sorry for the excess of parentheticals.</p>
<p>About the parties, if you could elaborate more on these on-campus parties? Like are they fun? 
Repetitive? Just a bunch of awkward people shoved into a room with alcohol? Haha
Also, since Rice is a school steeped in tradition, then are there these yearly parties/events that always occur? Like speaking from a party perspective. Are there themed parties that happen once a year? If you don’t mind, could you just tell me more about the different kinds of parties on-campus And do people go clubbing a lot as well? Or do only a few people do the whole clubbing scene?</p>
<p>It varies anywhere along that spectrum. I wouldn’t say repetitive, though, or at least not more so than at any other school. Yeah, there are definitely parties that always happen. Each college (typically) throws one per semester - Martel, for example, has thrown a Don’t Mess With Texas party on the first saturday of the year and a Beach Party on the last saturday for the past 3 years I’ve been here. Likewise, Sid throws 80s and Schoolgirls, Wiess throws Night of Decadence, etc. All of those are “public” parties; people will be dancing in the commons with alcohol for those of age, and two or three rooms at the hosting college will generally open up for a keg/crowded dance room/whatever. Private parties can vary considerably in scope and success. We used to get away with posting them on facebook as open events, which led to epic success; however, RUPD cracked down, so most of them in the past two years have been smaller.</p>
<p>Clubbing happens less often. The alcohol culture on campus is very open/safe - so long as you’re not being an idiot or hurting anyone, and aren’t blatantly disregarding the law by drinking in front of cops at pub or whatever. This is a good thing: people will drink on-campus rather than going off-campus and drinking/driving, or whatever that may entail. Also, it allows us constant access to our EMS service if necessary. So that’s a roundabout “no.” Upperclassmen do however frequent bars and restaurants with good happy hours, and there are groups of people who do go clubbing - it’s just less common than it may be elsewhere.</p>
<p>I actually had a question about academic departments if you didn’t mind answering them silentsailor! I was wondering if there was any sort of major related to communication/media studies/journalism. Because I MAY be inclined to that major in college, and I was wondering if Rice offered it at all. Or do they at least have a focus on it under the Film Studies department? Another thing I wanted to know was that I’ve heard Rice is not too well known in the North East. But how is the graduate school placement? And even the job connections? Are there good job placements/opportunities as well?</p>
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<p>Rice is not well known in the northeast *to the general public *. People on the street up in Boston usually don’t know where Rice is. That being said, the group that needs to know about Rice (employers, grad schools etc.) do know about Rice.</p>
<p>Regarding job placements, many large corporations come to Rice and recruit. Local companies are present in numbers as well (Houston has a lot of corporations especially in the oil and gas sector).</p>
<p>I would not worry about Rice not being well known to the layman. Many of my friends have gone to graduate schools such as San Diego, Cal, Princeton, Harvard, Columbia, Vandy, Chicago, MIT and many others.</p>