<p>Hey guys, I got accepted and I'm SOOO excited. and congrats to all of you who have been accepted!</p>
<p>well this is a question mainly for you guys. I really don't know whether to live in a dorm or in a nearby apartment or a condo. What do you suggest? What are you gonna do?</p>
<p>live in the dorms dude. the residential colleges are amazing!</p>
<p>What selter01 just said.
Live in the dorms; it’ll be a much more fun experience for you!</p>
<p>Your freshman year you should definitely live on-campus. You can decide whether you want to stay on-campus or move off after that.</p>
<p>I’m a transfer; I’ll be in the dorms next semester, but after that I was wondering about how easy it is to find someone to room with off-campus. I mean, consider the “worst-case” scenario where none of your friends will be living off-campus, so you need to track down a roommate whom you don’t necessarily know ahead of time. Are there ever any difficulties doing this? At my current school, I think it would be slightly hard to do, but I get the sense that it’s probably easier at Rice for some reason.</p>
<p>One thing to keep in mind is that there isn’t much off campus housing “nearby”, not within walking distance, anyway. I agree with what everyone has said here about living on campus as a freshman. You’ll bond with your college that year. You just won’t meet as many people or feel as comfortable if you’re off-campus. You’ll be “kicked off” campus for one year, most likely, either sophomore or junior year anyway, depending on your college, so you’ll probably experience both. Most students want to live on campus at Rice at least 3 of the 4 years. It may turn out that you’re one of the rare people who’d rather be off campus most of your time there, but I’d recommend deciding that after your freshman year, not now.</p>
<p>zSquared, are you going for sure? Congratulations, and I hope everything worked out okay! Do you know what college you are in? I just got an email today that I’m in Lovett!</p>
<p>Berkeley Mom - both my kids found great housing within a few blocks of Rice. And Rice U itself actually owns some apartment buildings near Rice (in addition to the grad student apartments), and lots of landlords around Rice cater to Rice students. They actually saved money living off-campus and liked their experience (except one semester that DD lived alone). There are no mega-complexes, but lots of smaller houses and apartments.</p>
<p>Anxiousmom–thanks for that correction. My impression from my daughter (whose college is off-campus this year) is that the majority of off-campus housing isn’t within walking distance. Maybe there’s more of it than I realized, though.</p>
<p>According to an off-campus housing search provided by Rice’s website, there are plenty of apartments, condos, and houses, being as close as next door and as far as 4 miles away. They also range from 400- 1500 dollar monthly in rent.</p>
<p>My parents’ main concern is pricing and safety, and I really should make sure that those needs are met…</p>
<p>I lived in a house that was four blocks away from campus over the summer. I used my bike whenever I went to campus, but it would have been walkable.</p>
<p>techpirate, yeah, I decided to go once and for all. I haven’t got my housing decision yet. I hope it comes soon, though!</p>
<p>I do agree that it’s important to live on-campus for at least the first year! :)</p>
<p>The residential college system was one of the reasons I applied to Rice ED. I really like the concept and am very excited about next year. I’m very social and I’m looking forward to getting to know the people in my college and making new friends. However I do have one rooming quirk – I’m a neat freak! My friends tell me I’m pathological because I like to organize their rooms for them (their parents thank me). Maybe it goes with being an architecture major. I know some schools have boxes to check on the housing form for “neat”, “average”, or “total slob”. Do the O-week coordinators consider things like that when making pairings?</p>
<p>@HEH2010:</p>
<p>Yes.</p>
<p>Housing isn’t determined until June.</p>