Don’t know if there are any current or former students on here, but if there are, could y’all please share the pros/cons you feel there are regarding living in the residential colleges vs. somewhere off campus?
I was accepted ED for the Class of 2020 and am from Houston. My house is only a 45 minute drive to/from Rice. Of course, during rush hour, that time can double (and who really wants to wake up super early in the morning in order to make an 8 o’clock class). However, I don’t know if there will be too many distractions on campus, if campus-living is beneficial, or if it’s worth the additional cost over four years, when that money could be used for something else. If I stay home, my parents won’t make me pay rent or anything, so it could be a possibility for me to start saving some money for post-college life, like an apartment of my own or graduate school. But I do know that living in one of the colleges can make for a better transition into college and better overall experience.
Looking for honest feedback, but please refrain from any rude comments.
I’m class of 2020 with you, but I’m OOS so I have no choice but to live on campus pretty much.
Anyways, although I’m not a student there yet I think living on campus would be nice mainly for:
The Residential College System/Culture
Not having to commute by car
At least for me, one of the biggest reasons I chose Rice as my no.1 is because of the community. The Residential College System just has this culture that I think is really cool, and not living on campus might, I dunno, take away from that a little. Of course living there is not the only opportunity you have to interact with your assigned college but it makes up a big part IMO.
Also, wouldn’t you have to pay for gas for that 45 minute drive? I guess it probably wouldn’t add up to the housing costs but it also is a commute, which takes up time.
Of course, it’s up to your priorities and preferences I suppose. That’s just my opinion tho, but I’m sure current students know a lot better.
I am a Rice grad from the 1980’s and my daughter was just accepted into the class of 2020. In my opinion it is extremely beneficial to live on campus, at least for the first couple of years. The residential college system was an amazing experience for me (I was in Baker). When you live in your college you can take full advantage of all that the system has to offer, but when you’re off-campus you just don’t get to experience things the same way. At least in my day, students who always lived off campus were never very involved in college life and missed out on a lot - in fact we barely knew the off-campus people and had almost no interaction with them. That being said, I did move off campus as a junior, but by then I had found my niche in Baker and continued to be as involved as I had been when on-campus.
When my daughter arrives at Rice next August, she will definitely be on-campus, even though we live only 10 minutes away. I want her to have the ability to fully experience the college system just as I did. And if she wants to move off campus later, that will be fine, too.
Also, don’t underestimate the stress caused by a significant daily commute. 45 minutes each way is LONG, and trust me you will really appreciate having that time to spend on other things once the semester gets going.
Best of luck with your decision and congratulations on your acceptance.
@ricegradricemom Thank you for your insight as a previous student! That’s what I was thinking, but I wanted someone else’s opinion before my parents go and spend $14k on Room/Board, y’know?
It’s so cool that your daughter’s continuing the Rice tradition; what will she be majoring in? I’m Bioengineering.
Also, I completely agree about the drive; it’s long but it is doable. I currently take dual credit classes at the University of St. Thomas down the street from Rice, and while the drive isn’t horrible (thank God for EZTag), I could totally live without the drive to/from school. Most of the full-time students at UST are commuters, so the atmosphere is noticeably different from that at Rice and I can agree with you on that point.
My daughter plans to major in math and/or physics, with maybe some economics and computer science thrown in too. And she’s actually a 3rd-generation Owl - her grandparents graduated from Rice in the 1950’s. I think it’s become a habit.
You’re right about UST, I took some graduate classes there a while back and the atmosphere is completely different from Rice. The residential college system is such a plus - I’m still friends with fellow Bakerites I met more than 30 years ago. It’s pretty amazing, really.
Room and board isn’t cheap, but in your case the cost will be offset somewhat by the money you aren’t spending on gas and wear and tear on your car. I think it will be well worth it to live on campus, at least for the first year.
My son is a MechE grad from Rice. Everyone loves living on campus, but some get kicked off due to space limits. He lived off campus soph year and the summer both before and after, but returned to live on campus Jr. And Sr year. One of his roommates was a local Houstonian, and they lived on campus.
I would definitely live on campus, at least freshman and sophomore years. It’s a huge part of the Rice experience, living in the colleges with your peers from all over the country and all over the world; with musicians, athletes, engineers, liberal arts majors.
As mentioned above, many students live off campus (OC) one year in order to get a better room draw for senior year, and each college has their own policy for this. In my college, it was most typical to voluntarily live off campus junior year. I lived pretty close to Rice that year and really enjoyed my OC year, but I loved coming back on campus senior year. My husband, also a Rice grad, went off campus junior year then stayed off campus senior year since he had a great apartment not far from campus.
When we visited in March, the colleges were going through their room draw. Several of the colleges had enough open rooms for everyone from that college who wanted to live on campus. Also, for those reading this who might not want to live off campus, many students live on campus all four years. Most athletes do.
So the bottom line is that you will have plenty of opportunities to live off campus in future years if you feel this is best for you, but I would definitely take advantage of the opportunity to live on campus freshman year so you get to experience the full residential college life at least one year, and all of the opportunities for fun and friendship that it brings.
