<p>Thanks to all for your responses. This information is very helpful!
@IBWarrior–Thanks for your additional information from a mom’s standpoint of Owl Days resulting in you feeling more comfortable about having your S being so far from home. We live in southern California. I have to admit that I’m a bit nervous about that myself. Hopefully, my visit at Owl Days will provide me that same comfort. Thanks!</p>
<p>Is Rice willing to help offset the travel expenses? I really want to be able to visit the school, but financially it’s very difficult for my parents to afford the air fare. :/</p>
<p>^
Your best bet in that regard is to call the Office of Admissions and see what they say. I’m not sure what, if anything, they’ll be able to do, but it’s worth a phone call.</p>
<p>I think if theyll pay anything theyll have already told you. They emailed me saying they would pay up to $400 … also it wasn’t for financial aid, I didn’t turn in anything. How were the chats last night? I completely forgot with homework and whatnot…</p>
<p>^ that is just for a select group.</p>
<p>Anyone want to share a super shuttle from the airport to Rice on April 12th? S’s flight comes in at 8:15am.</p>
<p>My S’s plans have changed due to a conflict with another school’s preview days, so S will be there on Monday the 16th. Anyone else?</p>
<p>I’m going to Owl Days! However I won’t be able to stay the night due to the fact my One Act Play group has area competition on Saturday 
My mom had already taken off, so we couldn’t switch to one of the admit days… I’m very excited though! I hope to see everyone there! Aaahhh I can’t wait until August!!</p>
<p>So what did everyone think?</p>
<p>Unfortunately my S did not fall in love with Rice at Owl Days. He did say the campus was beautiful and his host was terrific. He also thought the dorm room was fabulous BUT he didn’t feel as if he clicked with the other prospective students. Gymnastixgirl - what did you think?</p>
<p>Really? That is unfortunate. I am sorry he didn’t enjoy it overall. All the prospies I spoke with and showed around really seemed to enjoy everything. Did he cite anything particular that he didn’t like about the other students?</p>
<p>NJ mom of 2 - could you elaborate on what your S didn’t like?</p>
<p>I also went to Owl Days and and am sorry to report that my visit didn’t make me fall in love with Rice 
I really wanted to! And I did like the school. It’s just, I LOVED the other schools I visited. Something about the people/vibe at Rice was kind of off-putting… and I don’t know how I feel about the residential college system. I don’t know. I’m sorry! That’s just my 2 cents on Owl Days.</p>
<p>I guess my experience was a little bit different- I had an incredible time at Owl Days, and I only wish I had been able to stay at Rice for a little bit longer! I had to leave Friday morning for a UIL competition, unfortunately. Lots of the prospies at the college where I was at (JIBA!) also enjoyed their stay, too. Admittedly, I did apply to Rice ED, so I’ve loved it since pretty much forever, but I still had a fantastic time at Owl Days and met a lot of incredible and really nice people. 
I guess it just varies from person to person.</p>
<p>I am also curious as to what you guys found “off-putting” about the people/vibe at Rice?</p>
<p>I recently returned from Owl Days this year, and like LastShadow, I had an incredible experience. While the beginning was good for the parents, and the tours were obviously informative, I am going to focus on my interaction with the people at Rice. When I was walking around with my parents, students would stop walking to class just to offer directions, or even ask what I thought of the school. On top of that, when I got to the Residential College, (Weiss), the immediate vibe was “family”. I talked to the RA’s and listened as the adult RA asked about the individual members school life, and social life. It really impressed me. At the end, one of the Seniors from this year was telling me the difficulty he is going through in realizing that he will be leaving Rice and his Weiss Family in a couple weeks, and how hard that is to come to terms with. I personally was sold on this aspect, the people at Rice are the ones that make me excited to attend next year.</p>
<p>My D decided after Owl Days that Rice is the place for her. She was down to WUSL and Rice. She really liked the residential college system, the BME program, and the study abroad opportunities for engineers. She “clicked” with the Rice students more than the WUSL students, but thinks she would have been happy with either school.</p>
<p>To all of you who enjoyed Owl Days, I’m really glad you had a great experience. I had a blast helping to organize the event, eating lunch with many of you, giving tours, and otherwise ditching some of my classes (my professors were okay with it…) to be with you guys. It was a wonderful, but exhausting day. (I’m not used to getting up at 7 am!)</p>
<p>As far as I see it, the point of Owl Days (and Admit Days) is to help you determine if Rice is really for you. You obviously applied because you were interested, but the only way to get a feel for the school is to come and visit. These days are designed to expose you to as many Rice students and faculty as possible and hopefully give you a good idea as to what life at Rice is really like.</p>
<p>Rice definitely isn’t a good fit for everyone. The residential college system only appeals to a certain type of person. Some may find it too small and constraining. Maybe you want the social environment of a much larger school. Maybe you don’t click with the “quirkiness” of Rice students. Without Owl Days, you might not have realized that. Even if you walked away from the day thinking that Rice might not be for you, I’m glad we helped you realize that. Myself, along with everyone who works for or volunteers with the Rice Admission Office, wants you to end up at the school that is right for you, whether that happens to be Rice or somewhere else. Yes, we volunteer with admissions because we love Rice and want to help you understand why we think Rice is awesome, but we all went through this process too. I talked to many of you over the past week of Owl Days and Admit Days who have some wonderful choices on your hands. Even if you don’t end up choosing Rice, you are going to have a wonderful 4 years ahead of you.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that only a select sample will post somewhere like CC. These are great places to pick up both ends of the spectrum, but very hard to get responses from the middle. Keep this in mind when reading these responses on reactions from Owl Days.</p>
<p>I wish all of you the best of luck with your college decisions. You can only say yes to one school, so you are going to have to let somewhere go. It will be difficult. Choose the place you think you will be the happiest, the school you see yourself at the most, the students who you just clicked with when you visited. And to those of you who do choose Rice, I look forward to meeting you in the fall.</p>
<p>Adam- Went to Owl Days and loved Rice. I did not get the feeling that the residential college system would be small and confining as you stated in your post. Although I would be assigned and be loyal to one college, I thought I would have the freedom to socialize at and visit any college. It seemed many people had friends and significant others at different colleges. What are your thoughts? What so you feel is the difference between the social scene at Rice and a much larger school?</p>
<p>Also, while there were quirky people at Rice, I felt overall there was a healthy balance of all types. I consider myself pretty mainstream and social and did not feel out of place. I enjoy being around all types of people from quirky to athletes and feel like Rice represented that.</p>
<p>@malp25: Great! I think you understand it perfectly. I personally don’t find any of those issues at Rice and I think this is the place for me. I don’t find it small and confining at all (I know people from all across campus) and love the people here. I was just trying to illustrate some possible reactions to Rice that others might have if Rice isn’t the school for them. Sorry if you misunderstood me.</p>