<p>Cowboy stuff and accents? How many times have you been to Texas? Most people in Houston don't really have accents- some do, but those are people born in rural areas. Yes, our state culture glorifies tall tales and that cowboy stuff, but you only hear about it from time to time- most of the cowboy stuff I see is on truck commercials trying to bank off of it. Houston is an urban area, with urban values. And I'm sure all of the college students from Texas who go to Rice are very cosmopolitan.</p>
<p>And by the way, Bush was born in Massachusetts and went to school at Yale. He came back to Texas to own oil companies his daddy bought him and then run for governor. Bush, too, banks off of Texas' culture.</p>
<p>Houston as an extremely diverse city; not only do we have an enormous Hispanic population, but our Asian population is big enough to rival most other US cities. There are even high schools where Caucasians and African Americans are in the minority!</p>
<p>It doesn't. My consoler called the admissions dept. on the phone yesterday in front of me, and, in the conversation, asked how many apps they received. The lady said that they were inudated with apps, and had received over 8,000 - more than they expected. She also said that the defecit in ED and ID was accounted for in the massive amount of RD apps. She said that they go to "committee" next week to make final decisions - then we should be mailed the week after, probably mid-week.</p>
<p>Yeah, Houston is very diverse... it seems as though at my school in the suburbia of it seems to have more people from out of the country with accepts or Lousiana with accents than people from Texas (only person I can think of with a Texas accent is the Stat teacher I had last year).</p>
<p>Texas history is taught only in 7th grade, so I doubt anyone remembers much of it by the time they reach Rice.</p>
<p>Rice accepted 2 people ID at my school and also signed two more to sports teams (one football and one baseball). At least two people were deferred... So if you mean Austin the city, that's probabaly not true, just because... well... a whole city should have more people than my school. If it's Austin that's my high school... then it's about right.</p>
<p>There was a legend that only one student from our county in Texas was admitted to Rice per year, but this year there were more. There are no "quotas".</p>
<p>I've lived in Texas since I was eight. I've never gone to school with anyone with a true Texas accent, though I do say "y'all" a lot. Seriously though, Houston, and especially Rice, is sooo not hicksville.</p>
<p>All I can say is be careful what you wish for. From the student newspaper this year it said we recieved fewer ED applicants, but more than expected RD applicants. And since we are really small (your class would have about 650 students) that still makes it very competitive. However, yes, Rice has an image issue in that we are largely unknown outside of our region. This is particularly frustrating for people like me. I grew up in New England, was top of my class, and when I announced I was not going to an Ivy, but to Rice, my friends thought I was going to an agricultural college (no joke) and my English teacher was concerned that I had burned out and was going to some obscure community college.<br>
Rice now has a new President. Darth Vader, I mean President Leebron. To the dismay of most of the student body, he's a lawyer. ( The unofficial rule on the selection committee was "no lawyers".) And he's from Princeton. Strike #2. Most Rice students chose Rice because its kind of the anti-ivy. It's an incredibly challenging school without the snobbery, I mean, it's Texas after all. There is no phrase more annoying to us than our former Presidents allusions to Rice as the "Harvard of the South." We are not. I'd guess we are just as smart as Harvard students, we just prefer a different environment. But back to Leebron. Seeing as he IS from an Ivy, he's all about elevating Rice's profile and making us, well, more like Princeton. And scary as that sounds, he has the power to do that. This will mean an expansion in Rice's size, although it can't get too much bigger or it will ruin the residential college system, and more attention to the grad school.<br>
So don't worry. You just might get what you want. However the Rice you get may be a very different place from the one that the current students know and love.</p>
<p>My s railed at the rumors of expansion and the <em>horrible</em> decision to replace the ever-popular Zenaido Camacho as Dean of Students/ VP of Student Affairs ( not sure of his exact title prior to "retirement"). I must admit that I laughed out loud during parents weekend when I read in the "police blotter" (or whatever it was called) section of the Thresher that several students had, shall we say "anointed" the podium prior to Leebrons installation as President. But, rather than form an opinion based on heresay, I decided to goe hear what he had to say at the coffee he hosted during parents weekend. Some of what he said I thought was reasonable, ie to improve Rice's visibility and notariety (I am paraphrasing). I imagine you would prefer that people in your hometown say "wow" when you tell them where you go rather than "huh?" I kinda like that you and my s are already in, and will only benefit from improvements in PR. I also thought some of his goals of getting the Engineering school to be #4 in the nation, and to improve academic/research access to, and interface with the medical facilities across the street was good. He talked of an improved bioengineering program, and a building on that empty lot at the corner of university with a bridge over Main St to the medical complex. </p>
<p>He did say that he felt growth in the size of the undergrad and grad population was a benefit, and he talked of three new residential colleges. No, I didn't like that one. Some parent asked about the possibility of housing all the freshmen in one area, like they do at Yale, before they move into their res. colleges, but I don't think he answered that one. I don't personally like that idea either. He tried to quash rumors of doing away with a lot of the Rice traditions (ie beer bike, Baker 13 etc). Claimed that wasn't true. </p>
<p>But remember, any idea has to get through the Board of Trustees and lots of other bureaucratic layers. The decision to stay a DIV I school went against the recommendations of the big gun consulting firm that they hired, so <em>poof</em>, up goes tuition. </p>
<p>Anyway, I am all for student activism and protest. I loved the creativity of having the Camacho's as homecoming king/queen, and wasnt there something about nominating a car or bus or some campus transportation?? Enlighten me.</p>
<p>Anyway-- change is often not well received. But I am willing to sit and watch for a while before I cast my final vote.</p>