<p>Hello,</p>
<p>I was recently accepted to Rice as a transfer for Fall 2013. I was honestly extremely surprised and also thrilled to be accepted to such a great school! I currently attend St. Olaf in Minnesota, and I have had a really good freshman year. I am not considering transferring because I have had a negative experience, but rather because I feel I could challenge myself more. I applied out of Olaf mainly because I felt it was isolated, homogenous, extremely cold (we currently have a foot of snow on the ground on May 2nd) and socially conservative in terms of the religious atmosphere and the strict dry campus policy. </p>
<p>I was wondering if I could get some input from students who transferred into Rice about the social adjustment process. I wasn't guaranteed on campus housing and worry that it may be difficult to make friends without living on campus. Also, I have literally never been to Texas and would feel intimidated having to come to Houston and arrange my own housing. I am curious what O-week orientation is like for transfers and whether students think transfers are an integrated part of the campus community. </p>
<p>I know that academically Rice is a far more prestigious school than St. Olaf and I feel it may give me more opportunities in pre-law that I couldn't get at St. Olaf. At the same time, I don't want to transfer just because of prestige and have to go through a re-adjustment process if the caliber of education will be similar. Academically, I have found Olaf to be fairly easy and haven't struggled tremendously, but I still feel I have learned a lot. </p>
<p>Socially, do students find the campus (specifically the administration) to be liberal? St. Olaf isn't exactly conservative but the college, imo, takes an irresponsible stance on drinking and treats the students like children rather than adults, encouraging reckless behavior. </p>
<p>I would greatly appreciate any advice or information current students may have regarding the transfer process. Thank you in advance for your help.</p>
<p>Don’t have much time to reply today, but hope to make you feel at least a little better. :)</p>
<p>Transfer students ARE VERY INTEGRATED into the community, especially if you come to O-Week. You are most likely going to have more friends from the incoming freshman class since you will be spending a whole week getting to know them during O-Week, but the residential college system makes everybody feel included. Unless you choose to isolate yourself and decide not to partake in any of the activities, I wouldn’t worry at all.</p>
<p>Regarding housing, it is a bit of a challenge to get oriented and find a place if they don’t give you a room on campus since you will be getting here somewhat late (I imagine) and many students have already found arrangements. I by no means want to make you worry you won’t find a place (you will), but I would encourage you to start looking into it soon if you can and post around on the Rice facebook groups such as 2015 or 2016 since some of those people need others to live off campus. Do this after you figure out if you have a room on campus (I encourage you to take this).</p>
<p>Academically, Rice will no doubt be the better option. The school is filled with some of the smartest students in the nation and the classes are made to be challenging. I am not sure how hard the pre-law classes are, but if you find them easy, there is always a lot of other things to do.</p>
<p>Yes, I would say Rice is pretty liberal (Houston in general), although very tolerant (as long as people aren’t being offensive about their views).The admin is also usually very lenient and gives the students a lot of responsibility. We are a wet campus and we are the ones who need to make it a safe place to keep these rights.</p>
<p>All the transfer students I have met have been very happy with their experiences and I am sure you will too!</p>
<p>Thank you so much for your response SchoolAdvice! This really made me feel a lot more confident about choosing to come to Rice! I just deposited today, and I am crossing my fingers that I will receive on campus housing. Literally everything I have heard so far about Rice has been overwhelmingly positive, so I am really looking forward to next year. I really appreciate your thoughtful responses!</p>
<p>I’m also considering transferring to Rice for the Fall, and I e-mailed Rice housing asking about the chances I’d be able to get housed on-campus. They told me I should definitely arrange for off-campus housing, since they are not expecting to house many transfers this year. If they do, wait-lists move during mid-July to mid-August when enrolled freshmen decide not to attend Rice. It’s sort of a bummer, but I am still considering attending Rice. I’ve been looking at off-campus housing, and the good places are a bit expensive, but I’ll make do. Hey, maybe if you need a roommate you could shoot me a message :)</p>
<p>Hi kevinzhengify,</p>
<p>I will definitely do that! Do you think you will put down a deposit anyway?? I just deposited,but I was in a bit of a dilemma because I got into Vandy with guaranteed housing, but I would MUCH prefer to go to Rice. I wish the deposits werent so expensive bc there is no way for me to hold a spot at Vandy until I know about Rice housing. I am really really hoping to get housing since I think that would make the experience much better as a whole. It’s a shame they are not going to be able to house many transfers this year.</p>
<p>Hey guys, I hope you choose to come to Rice! I transferred to Rice in Fall 2011 and would be more than happy to answer any questions you may have. I will message you guys with my email address. </p>
<p>Housing can be a bit of a pain for transfers, but we are working on guaranteeing housing for all first-year students, including transfers. Currently, some residential colleges guarantee housing for transfers within their own housing policy/constitution. If you tell me what college you were placed in, I can find that out for you. Even if you don’t get on-campus housing, you should not be too worried. You’ll have to put in a little more effort to come out of your shell, but you’ll find that this is true for all first year students, on-campus or not. That’s what O-week is for. 
And trust me, you want to go to O-week.</p>
<p>Anyways, check your inboxes for my contact info. Hope to see you soon!</p>
<p>Hey ichabod,</p>
<p>I actually got a PM from a current Rice student who said that if you are willing to wait long enough, i.e. late July - early August when enrolled freshmen withdraw, you will likely get housed on-campus. Of course, it’s still not a guarantee, but it may very well be worth the wait.</p>