<p>D's #1 school was Rice but was wait-listed last year, then not accepted. Went on to Rose-Hulman. Decided this year she was not happy in engineering, after all. At Rose-Hulman in addition to engineering majors there is only physics, math, or economics. She changed over to math and applied as a transfer student to Rice. Now that Rice accepted D as a transfer, she is waivering due to Rice not guaranteeing on-campus housing to transfers. Already apprehensive over leaving friends at RHIT, she thinks it will be difficult as a transfer student if she has to live off-campus. Any experiences with this? Any advice?</p>
<p>I think you should post your question on the Rice forum for more concrete answers, but I do know that transfer students at Rice are included in the orientation (which is an awesome and very welcoming experience), and they are an integral part of their residential college, even if they have to live off-campus. There’s a chance that she will end up on campus, too. She could find some other transfer students to live with; and I understand that there are a lot of reasonably priced, good options for off-campus housing near Rice. I say, go for it. My son just finished up his freshman year at Rice in engineering and he loves it there!</p>
<p>My daughter is a Rice grad and chose to live off-campus her last two years at Rice (and wishes she had moved off sooner). I know your daughter is coming in as a transfer student, but I would NOT worry a bit about having to live off-campus. There is great off-campus housing of all varieties, and you are still completely integrated into your residential college, even if you don’t live there. You can do everything there but sleep, if you choose. After about a month your daughter will feel like she has been a part of Rice all along, even if she has to live off-campus. However, there is a huge probability she will get on-campus housing.</p>
<p>Third the Rice choice! DD lived off-campus and liked it a lot. We were just there for graduation, and I past several apartments right by campus available for rent. Plenty of housing at reasonable costs, and she will feel like part of the campus community very soon.</p>
<p>Another Rice mom here agreeing with the other opinions. I know D’s college has an lounge just for off-campus students and assume the others have the same. You can still eat in your servery (with a meal plan or tetra points), check your mail, do your laundry, study in the commons, go to parties, etc. And if the hour gets to late to head back to an apartment, just crash on a friend’s couch!</p>
<p>From your description, I am sure that if she decides to stay at RHIT, she will come to regret it.</p>
<p>My D will be a transfer student in the Fall as well. We lived in Houston for 20 years (with Rice in our back yard) before moving to NY for D’s high school years. She is anxious to “go home”. Rice is in a beautiful, leafy residential neighborhood with many 4-plexes, small apartment bldgs., and garage apartments withing walking and biking distance. Many more larger apt. complexes are in the near vicinity. Houston’s housing stock is comparatively cheap and plentiful vs. other large cities.</p>
<p>While I agree that a residential experience in a residential college would be preferable for a transfer student, Rice is a pretty unique place, and well worth living off-campus, if necessary, in my view.</p>
<p>I concur with the posters who suggested posting this on the Rice board-- very helpful people over there.</p>
<p>Thanks for comments about housing. Any experiences with the apprehension of leaving friends at the first college and starting over again at a new one? </p>
<p>She’s a social person, and we’ve told her she could go visit friends at RHIT easily since they are on a quarter system with a different calendar than Rice–during some of Rice’s breaks RHIT is in session and vice versa. I’m concerned she is now looking at this with her heart instead of her head. It doesn’t seem like she would have even applied to transfer if she was totally happy with RHIT. Then there is the fact that RHIT is basically an engineering school and she’s decided she doesn’t want to be an engineer.</p>
<p>My D transferred during the spring semester. She was apprehensive about meeting people at the new school. She made a real effort to meet people, talked to people in her class, joined a few activities and talked to people there. She was fortunate to have a good roommate who also introduced her to people. She did visit her old school during spring break and was a little nostalgic at that time, but by the end of the semester she was firmly entrenched at the new school and can not imagine being anywhere else</p>
<p>I think if your D is able to go through orientation that will be a big plus.</p>
<p>My D transfered after her freshman year and is very happy at her new school but she did go through major soul searching before deciding to transfer.
Like your D, my D had a hard time thinking of leaving her good friends and going through what she referred to as “basically, a second freshman year”.</p>
<pre><code> D’s original school suggested she take a leave of absence rather than just withdrawing. This turned out to be a great suggestion because D took comfort in knowing that if things didn’t work out at her new school, she could always return to the original.
</code></pre>
<p>D did have a rough month or so at her new school; she second guessed herself wondering if she had made the right decision.It was helpful knowing that she could return to her original school if things didn’t work out.<br>
Once she started making new friends and getting involved in activities she never looked back.</p>
<p>So, it’s not easy to transfer but it caan work out quite well.
Good luck to your D.</p>