The world’s stupidest question, probably, but how redolent of Texas culture is Rice? Is a northeastern coast blue state kid going to have culture shock? For example, I have read that there is a state law allowing open carry firearms on campuses in Texas, which I am not too keen on.
A culture shock? Yes. I came from the northeast to Vanderbilt, which isn’t a dissimilar situation to going to Rice from the northeast. I didn’t find it to be a ridiculous culture shock, but many of my northeast friends did, especially the more liberal ones obviously. However, I wouldn’t let that stop you from going - the firearms policy is not a complaint often voiced by Rice students given their location and environs in Houston, and incidentally these students are alleged to be the happiest in the country. If you’re lucky enough to get into one of the elite southern schools, rest assured that the vast majority of people enjoy their experiences in the warm and friendly south, and don’t spend their time in fear of someone with a different background, world view, or political stance. A different experience than what you’re used to is the very point of college, in my opinion, and FWIW one is far less likely to be shot on the Rice campus than one is on, say, the Johns Hopkins or Yale campuses which lie in far more dangerous cities.
To date, every private university in Texas except for one adult-education school has opted out of open carry. http://college.usatoday.com/2015/11/30/rice-university-campus-carry/ The public universities do not have an option.
Here’s an article I posted a while back about the city of Houston, but all of these points still apply. http://www.houstonpress.com/news/12-things-you-have-to-explain-to-people-who-arent-from-houston-6753823
Rice is a Texas school in terms of importance given to sports. The school is within walking distance to Museum district, Houston Zoo, the largest medical center in the nation (there are two medical schools and 10-20 hospitals), and is about 4 miles from downtown. I believe the student population in undergrad is 44% Texan, 44% OOS and 12% international but (las although many students may be from Houston schools who are representing Texas. They have a strong masters and Phd program with about 3000 students at that level where you will see a majority of international students. I found 47% International out of 1450 or so which means there will be about 700 internationals among the doctorate students.
I moved from Long Island to go to college at SMU. Was it culture shock? Yes. I did not quite fit in with the sorority type girls who thought dressing up every day was the way to go. I loved my jeans. People called me a yankee. BUT that was many years ago. I met my husband there and have lived in Houston for the last 30 years, so it wasn’t a bad shock. Houston is one of the top 5 largest cities in the country. It is a melting pot. There are people from everywhere here. Rice is the same way. Sports, yes it is stereotypical Texas. The campus is more like any other excellent school campus. People are from everywhere. You will do fine there. Open your mind and don’t go in with a negative attitude towards Texas. It is a huge state and not at all what many people feel the stereotype is.
Is a northeastern coast blue state kid going to have culture shock?
I think not. I have two daughters from a “northeastern coast blue state” attending. They have never expressed any opinion about a Texas culture shock. If anything, for good or bad, much like most universities, Rice is it’s own universe, very diverse and progressive.
I’m a very liberal Rice student, and in my experience, Rice certainly leans left (although there are student clubs for both Republican and Democratic students). We have a reasonably diverse student population, which tempers the “Texas” vibe a lot. Most importantly, though, Houston is a large urban city, so the city itself is left-leaning. We have an ACLU, Rice LGBT organization, and Rice Students for Planned Parenthood, and last year we had several events to help students deal with the election. As people above have mentioned, we opted out of campus carry (by quite a large vote), and if I recall correctly, over 95% of the votes cast on campus were for Clinton. (I’m biased in that I’m a liberal humanities major, but many of the students and professors I know are also progressive). I don’t mean to suggest that it’s not part of Texas - you will see gun stores around the city occasionally, and I do know some conservative Rice students. I definitely understand why you would be hesitant to come here from the north given Texas’s reputation, but I don’t think you’re likely to find what you might think of as “Texas culture,” at least not in the political sense. I admit I wish the student body as a whole was more politically involved, but I feel as though we’ve gotten better about that after the election. I’d really encourage you to have lunch with a student on campus or do an overnight stay, but in general, I don’t think you need to be too worried about the political atmosphere.
Houston is a blue city in a purple county. There is not much of a culture shock especially in Rice’s mostly progressive campus bubble. Most shocking thing for you will be the weather.
Rice does not feel like Texas in the sense that, say, Texas A&M feels like Texas. Let’s just say that Rice feels like Houston, which is a very large and diverse city. For me, coming from Maryland, the biggest shocks were the weather (hot, hot, hot) and the topography (flat, flat, flat). The students and faculty are diverse, intellectually curious, and highly motivated. Nobody will feel out of place. And for people who don’t already know, Rice opted out of campus carry, so there are NO guns on campus other than the police officers.
An interesting fact pertinent to this conversation is that Rice was just named Best Quality of Life in the Princeton Review. Rice consistently ranks very high, if not first, in quality-of-life and happiest-students-type rankings.
My D (from very blue CA) felt much less culture shock at Rice than she did at Vanderbilt. The Greek life southern thing was way, way more evident at Vandy than the Texas vibe was at Rice (She found the Texas-shaped pancakes and waffles they served adorable.)
The residential colleges at Rice do a great job at creating community and it seemed like a warm, welcoming, progressive, diverse place to study. By the same token, when I asked her about a specific program at UT Austin, she told me she had but two words to say: “open carry.” 'Nuff said.
Thanks, everyone, you have helped a great deal (especially about the gun issue). Rice seems like a fantastic university and my kid would be lucky to attend!
@prodesse Many years ago I went the opposite direction - grew up in a small West Texas city but went off to college at the University of Chicago. Culture shock is a good thing! I applaud your child for his or her spirit of adventure. Rice is a very good school, but there’s more to education than course work. It wouldn’t surprise me if he or she makes some very good friends among kids who have come to Rice from the Texas hinterland and may at first seem exotic. Interesting and worthwhile people - even kindred spirits, once superficial qualities are gotten beyond - can be found everywhere and are not always of one’s own political stripe. I would encourage your child to read some Texas history, get out in to the interior of the state if possible and have some good sympathetic interactions with all kinds of Texans. A kid from the eastern seaboard with real interest in Texas will have a very good experience at Rice.