<p>Yea, I’m in wingless’s situation–really expensive to fly–and I definitely cannot drive from here to Houston in a manageable time. And I don’t want to sit on a Greyhound bus for two days. It sucks, but what can I do? </p>
<p>This is my question: how vital is it to attend Owl Days or Admit Days? I’m totally in love with Rice at the moment and I would like to send in my deposit, but I’m worried that coming from the intense East Coast and merely reading about Rice from online sources (message boards, pr, emailing people, etc.) is building me up to a huge letdown if I don’t visit Rice myself. But visiting seems like an impossibility at the moment. Maybe there’s like, you know, a litmus test to know if you’re “right” for Rice? Maybe?</p>
<p>^Maybe you can visit on a non-admit day/Owl Days. You can possibly try to request for an overnight. Either way, I would definitely visit unless Rice is CLEARLY your first choice.</p>
<p>Back in the old days, before CC forums existed, before there were special events for prospies – h.s. seniors were generally guided by what their guidance counselors said, by what the college catalogues revealed, by what they read in a couple of guidebooks. Many of us visited colleges for our interviews (which counted more heavily in the old days) and took the tours and that was about it. There were no US News rankings – mostly, you learned from kids who knew kids who went there.</p>
<p>Last year, my son went through this process and was inundated with so much info about
Rice and other top schools. Too much info, I think – it turned the decision process into an epic production. Yes, we flew out and attended Owl Days – and he went to a couple of classes and saw first-hand how nice, sharp, unpretentious everyone was. </p>
<p>As for a litmus test – obviously, Rice Admissions thought highly enough of you to open the door for you. Have you looked at the class listings, the clubs, gotten a sense of how
the residential college system works – you can see how pretty Rice Village is by googling it – it’s right off-campus and has so many fun restaurants.</p>
<p>There’s a certain leap of faith every admitted student has to take before checking the yes box. Owl Days or no Owl Days. I hope you get to see the school – and meet the
students. I’ve been to campus three times now and am struck by how happy they are!</p>
<p>It was a major decision – but looking at the year that’s gone by, it’s the best decision my son ever made!</p>
<p>I understand how you feel. I was in India at the time of being admitted and having lived in the North (east and west) and overseas, I never made it down to Rice. Everything worked out great and everybody fits in</p>
<p>Yep - and you might attend and DISLIKE Owl Days and not get a sense of the school from such a short visit and decide not to attend Rice and then miss out BIG TIME! Sometimes little things can turn you off a school -My DD was not wowed by Rice for many reasons; problems with scheduling interview, trouble getting through to admissions, attended interview and walked all over campus and it was as dead as a doorknob. (Saturday morning at 11:00 a.m - Now we know better than to judge a campus by who is awake at that early time!!! ;)) and she thought the campus was okay. She did attend what was then “Owl Weekend” after being admitted and called me and said, “This is where I want to go to school!” You could, however, attend Owl Days, and have trouble sleeping on the cold floor and get a headache and be with a host who is frantically studying for finals (coming up soon!) and maybe the weather turns ugly and it rains and there are no parties or events going on (since everyone is studying for finals and Beer bike and Willy week are over) and you might decide you don’t like Rice so much. And that visit could turn you off a wonderful place like Rice. So, like Antarius said, Why don’t you just take the chance and accept Rice? You’ll be welcomed and you will feel right at home by the end of O-week. ;)</p>
<p>Well, sort of. They match you based on things like smoking/nonsmoking, and they asked hosts if we drink and asked us to rank ourselves on a socialness scale 1-5…I actually had a friend who was doing the matching so he put the girls in my room with prospies he thought would fit with us. That and you’re gonna be doing a lot more than sleeping.</p>
<p>Southwest Airlines gives double the flight credit to college students; also offers 4 free flight credits just for signing up for their Rapid Rewards program. It isn’t easy to find, use this link:</p>
<p>My son flies Southwest frequently (Hobby is closest airport to Rice) and has earned to free roundtrip tickets much easier than normal with their college “credits”. </p>
<p>ALSO most importantly…sign up for Southwest’s DING fares. You cannot access these fares any other way; a little icon is placed on your desktop and “dings” to alert you when fares are available (usually every day!). Example…recent one way flight Houston to Dallas $49 with Ding Fare, $127 otherwise. ALSO Southwest charges nothing for baggage; AND if your plans change there is no change fee other than fare difference (other airlines charge $100 to $150 PLUS the change in fare). We’d be lost without Southwest!</p>
<p>I have heard from my D. who is at Owl Days. We’re disappointed that she is not impressed. The class she attended was taught by a TA who was reviewing a problem set. (That shouldn’t happen when prospects are on campus…) She also felt, after listening to a number of students in the dorm common room, that drinking and nudity were highly prized and that there was little middle ground between the extreme nerds and the heavy partiers. </p>
<p>Now, I will hasten to say that another school has been the front runner for awhile now but we really wanted her to see Rice before she committed. Given our contacts who attend we thought she’d find the environment to her liking. Oh well.</p>
<p>Marsie Dotes, it is very possible that she ended up with a bad host/bad match for hosts. I did not drink coming in to Rice and felt no pressure to pursue any such activities. I was (as is everyone) to attend all the parties regardless of whether you drink alcohol or not. Some partier friends of mine (found at every party) do not drink as well.</p>
<p>“The class she attended was taught by a TA who was reviewing a problem set.”</p>
<p>It is one week to finals… thats probably why</p>
<p>I just feel that your D just ended up with a mismatch. Hope all goes well!</p>
<p>Finals or no, if the most exciting thing happening is review of a problem set, the prospective students shouldn’t be invited to those classes. There were only two sets of times for visiting classes—I’m sure the profs could have planned ahead for actual lecture at those well-published times.</p>
<p>This is a pet peeve of mine—our parochial school teachers used to fail to understand the importance of showing off the best during open houses. Everyone knows there are boring review days at any college, but you need to see what the best is when you’re trying to decide.</p>
<p>i disagree. I think that amping up something to an artificial level does not help. Why would one fake the truth to prospies?</p>
<p>I disagree with Rice setting Owl Days this late in the semester. Blaming students for trying to do well is not fair. Prospies need to see what a university is like for real. The last 2 weeks are normally busy and im sure most people in the class appreciate the review session.</p>
<p>At the same time, Rice students are going out of their way to help make prospies comfortable. There are many events planned and fun activities. At the same time, college is a place to learn while having fun.</p>
<p>Agreed that a two day party would be ideal, most Owls seem to be enjoying themselves. They see what classes are like (we had Owls in my History class) and they also get to see how we learn and what forms of help are available.</p>
<p>I understand your frustration, but condemning Rice because we are not overdoing the college experience and deluding prospies doesnt make any sense</p>
<p>I agree with Antarius. While attending a class where there is just a review going on may not be the most exciting, it is obviously what is happening here. We’re almost at finals, and that’s what the profs have scheduled. They shouldn’t have to change it for prospective students. When I was a prospie, I wanted to know what classes were actually like and I appreciated the fact that they didn’t make a special lecture or something because we were there. I felt like I was in real classes. Plus, I’m sure the actual students appreciated the review and we definitely don’t have enough time before finals to take a day off for the prospies. Anyway, I’m sorry your daughter didn’t have a nice time. I hosted 6 with my roommate and I’m pretty sure they got a very different view of Rice.</p>
<p>im pretty sure that the class list they gave us was for EVERY single class occurring at that time… meaning that some classes likely had no prospies in them. therefore, it would be a little bit overkill to ask every professor with a class on wednesday or thursday morning to plan a lecture that would befit prospective students</p>
<p>My son had the opportunity to attend 4 classes (2 yesterday and 2 today). Because he had to leave a little early today, he sat in on three. Two were really great. The third was much more advanced than he expected, and he didn’t have the background to get much out of it. I really wish he could have sat in on a 4th class. All three classes were taught by profs.</p>
<p>To be clear, a “special lecture” was not expected. But a lecture by the prof would have been nice. If the problem set review was unavoidable, then a warning note to those attending Owl Days would be helpful.</p>
<p>Again I’m sorry this happened to your daughter. It’s unfortunate that she picked that class because the classes I had with prospies in them had regular lectures. Anyway, at least it sounds like she has another school that she loves.</p>
<p>Yes, “WARNING: This class is taught by a TA, something that occurs at every university.” </p>
<p>Really? Do you really feel the need to complain? It’s ONE bad class that your daughter sat on. The first engineering/physics class I sat on wasn’t that exciting, but it at least gave me a realistic feel for a college-level engineering class. If sugarcoating is something you value, maybe you shouldn’t come to Rice after all.</p>
<p>Marsie – I think what most people here are trying to say is that some schools simply put on a show for admitted students – a special program, a special event, and a choice of a dozen classes specially selected for admitted students with favorite professors. Rice makes it more real by opening up all of the classes to admitted students. The downside with this is that not all classes will be having something that admitted students might be interested in seeing. Bear in mind that admissions operates as a separate segment of the school and doesn’t drive the course work. It its what it is.</p>
<p>Most people are appreciative to see what really happens. It’s a college with all kinds of classes happening at a stage of the semester right before finals. It’s somewhat unreasonable to expect that there will be an interaction between admissions and every professor to put an asterisk in the course list to warn admitted students that a review will be in progress. The bottom line is that most admitted students would come away with a feeling of “oh, rats, I made a poor selection to attend that class since they were just having a review” instead of the reaction that made you post here. </p>
<p>With that said, if your daughter finds that Rice is not a good fit, then there’s value in her visit. Not every school is for every person. I think the reaction that you’re getting is one of surprise in the expectation that Rice somehow shouldn’t go about its everyday business of educating current students so it can put on its best face for the guests or that there should be some high level of interaction between each professor and admissions to guide which classes will be worthwhile to see. If you really think about it from the perspective of the school and the current students, you might get a glimpse of why you are getting the responses you are to your post.</p>
<p>I think the reaction that you’re getting is one of surprise in the expectation that Rice somehow shouldn’t go about its everyday business of educating current students so it can put on its best face for the guests or that there should be some high level of interaction between each professor and admissions to guide which classes will be worthwhile to see. If you really think about it from the perspective of the school and the current students, you might get a glimpse of why you are getting the responses you are to your post.</p>
<p>Well said. I think that sums up what Ive been saying</p>