McMurtry and Duncan???

<p>I know those are the two new colleges that Rice are building. I was wondering if anyone could tell me more about them? I know that they are said to open for fall 2009. I hope they are nice since they are new. </p>

<p>Does anyone know if they will have upperclassmen in them or not and would that mean that they would leave their allegiance of their initial college (after reading how some people feel about theirs, I wonder how this will be achieved) or will it be for transfers. Also, I heard that the two new one dwarf the old ones. </p>

<p>How do you think this will affect the residential college system? Also, does anyone else think that 11 colleges is TOO much. I mean, if they wanted to increase enrollment, why not just add on to the existing colleges. Not all change in good you know. I just wonder what Rice will be like with the two new colleges/</p>

<p>I dont know what exactly your asking but 11 colleges is pretty decent- I've seen that Northwestern has approximately 11 residential colleges. I think that by building two more residential colleges, Their will be alot more competition in the sense of intramurals, Beer Bike rally, etc. I've heard that these two colleges will use state of the art plumbing and elegant/ "Green" design that will benefit the environment (not 100% sure). They will definitely have upperclassmen but i think Rice is planning on building apartments for Rice graduate students.</p>

<p>They're actually renovating some of the existing colleges (Will Rice and Baker) and the displaced students will be moving into Duncan and McMurtry next year. As for upperclassmen, I believe that they will take volunteers from the existing colleges to become members of the new ones.
As for adding on the the existing colleges, they're all in a confined amount of space and there is really no room to expand in the numbers needed. Like the south colleges are practically on top of one another. I have no issue with two more colleges.</p>

<p>well that's good to hear. The only other thing I worry about is their size, I hear that they are much larger than their predecessors. Also, what are the new ones like? I mean like suites or regular dorms.</p>

<p>as efs001 stated, the two oldest residential colleges will have new accessible ramps that will aid the disabled. Although the new systems will be finished by fall '09, no freshmen will be placed in there. William Taylor, the chief of Police at Rice, said that they will start placing freshmen in '10.</p>

<p>Also, as you know Rice wants to increase the availability of housing from 78% to 80+% not only for the OC sophomores and juniors, but also for the prospect 3.9k undergraduates by 2011 :D</p>

<p>regular dorms</p>

<p>Why wouldn't freshman be placed there. If Baker and Will Rice are being renovated, and they relocated the sophomore-seniors there, then will those two colleges not have freshmen? Or is it that they wont be open at all until 2010? I'm confused but anyway, it's not that big of a deal.</p>

<p>Honestly, we're all still a bit confused about what's going to happen. I'm not sure whether the plans are finalized. Most of it right now is just hearsay.</p>

<p>I really wouldn't worry about it... wait until December when you get your decision first.</p>

<p>Heard Dean Forman said there might be two O-weeks in McMurtry/ Duncan, as in 1 Will Rice, 1 Baker, 1 McMurtry, 1 Duncan, which would mean they are putting freshmen in Duncan, McMurtry next year, which IMO would be bad. But nothing's been finalized yet</p>

<p>what does "which IMO would be bad" mean? specifically, IMO and why?</p>

<p>IMO=In my opinion</p>

<p>i spoke to an admissions officer a couple of week ago who said that in their first year, the new Res Colleges will be made up of upperclassmen who have volunteered to move. (Probably because they didn't get housing in their own Res Colleges) That way, there is at least one year to establish some traditions and the like before Freshmen come in. Plus, upperclassmen always run O-Week for freshmen so you need some upperclassmen from those Colleges to be willing to prepare for that.</p>