<p>So ... did your visit to Rice for Owl Days help you make a decision?</p>
<p>yes! i had one of the best weekends ever. i am so excited to be an owl next year :)</p>
<p>Yup, but I decIded I wouldn’t attend. It was fun - all the students were so nice and went out of their way to spoil the prospies! - but in the end I decided I prefered another school</p>
<p>While of Owl Days is all about helping prospies get to know the campus, there’s another audience that gets a lot out of the experience – prospie parents. In our case, we’d come from a considerable distance, for the first time, to see one of the schools which opened its doors to our son. We wanted to feel good about Rice – and so when our son was assigned to a residential college, we found our way over to see where he’d be sleeping, and we talked with professors, and shared our opinions of our options with other parents. We asked our tour guide lots of questions and talked to so many friendly students and walked around knowing quite soon that there couldn’t be a better place
for our son. Dinner in Rice Village was so lovely – and walking from Rice Village back to our hotel at close to midnight and feeling very comfortable was another plus. By the time we saw our son again the next morning, it already felt like home. Yes, there was still one prospie event left to attend – but it didn’t stand a chance! </p>
<p>If any prospie parents have questions – we have quite a few active parents here…</p>
<p>YES! I absolutely loved it. I sat in on a political course and it completely got rid of any hesitations about the social sciences/humanities at Rice. I am so excited for next year!</p>
<p>just wondering, which class was it that convinced you so thoroughly?</p>
<p>@ Ottoline, and anyone else who can answer:</p>
<p>When do they assign a student to a residential college? Is it when the student is admitted to Rice? After s/he enrolls? From your post it sounds as though your son was able to check out his future college. Is that because he already paid the deposit? Because he went to Owl Days? Or because all students are told when they get accepted? I’m asking because I’m a transfer applicant to Rice, and curious about how residential college assignments work.</p>
<p>The residential college we visited is the one where he was being hosted for an overnight stay during Owl Days. It’s not where he lives now. Assignments are announced in either June or July – I just remember that a few weeks after he filled out his roommate questionnaire, he learned about his residential college and roommate. Nobody knows about his/her college assignment yet. Do you have a favorite residential college?<br>
Try to think well of all of all of them…</p>
<p>Well I’d be lying if I said I don’t have preferences for the college I’d like to be in if accepted, but that isn’t the reason I asked. As a transfer student, the concern is more about the availability of housing than it is about the actual college assigned. From what I’ve read and heard, a lot of transfer students at Rice end up having to live off campus due to a lack of space on campus. I don’t really think I’d like to do that. I’m currently in a commuter school, and hate commuting; it takes away from the college experience. I figure if I were placed into one of the newer colleges (Duncan or McMurtry), there is probably a higher chance of landing a room on campus. Thus, if I were admitted and told at the time of admission that I was placed in one of those two, I will have more reason to pick Rice over another school.</p>
<p>I wish you double happiness --getting in and moving into a residential college community.
I hear lots of good thngs about living off-campus, too.</p>
<p>@ maisats: It was called persuasion and political rhetoric. When I visited they were discussing the inaugural speeches of various presidents.</p>
<p>@smartie_shopper: I’m glad to hear you decided on Rice!!! You chose a truly hidden gem of a place to attend :)</p>
<p>Anyway, I strongly recommend you take Dr. John Ambler’s “Introduction to Comparative Politics” (POLI 212) class during Fall 10 (not offered in the spring). Although the class is challenging, he is an AMAZING professor. He makes an honest effort to know something about every single one of his students in his 75 person class. Very interesting material as well… learned about governments in Britain, France, India, Nigeria, Mexico, Iran, Japan, Cuba, North Korea, and many others.</p>
<p>My daughter had an outstanding experience at Owl Days, but she also decided to attend another college. She is telling all of her younger friends to apply to Rice though, she really loved it, but she just felt that it didn’t meet some of her needs.</p>
<p>For the transfer student - we were told that four-year students are only guaranteed three years of housing. In fact some friends that we stayed with in Houston told us that all the Juniors are denied college housing. Apparently the key is to study abroad in junior year and then you are welcome to return to college housing for senior year. I have no idea how that works for transfer students, but there is definitely a housing shortage at Rice.</p>
<p>No, most people, if they really want to, can get housing for 4 years. It just isn’t guaranteed for 4 years. It depends on the residential college on how many juniors they “bump” off campus.</p>
<p>Yeah, there’s not really a “housing shortage” at Rice, since Rice isn’t taking housing away from anyone it’s guaranteed to. Guaranteeing housing for four years is expensive and infeasible, especially with a residential college system. That said, I’ve lived on-campus all four years, and I know a number of people who have done likewise.</p>
<p>Also, although housing is not guaranteed for transfer students, they do very often get it. The O-Week coordinators work really hard to provide on-campus housing for everyone who wants it.</p>
<p>Both my kids had great off-campus experiences, and my daughter ended up living off campus for 3 semesters and abroad for one semester. DS has a terrific 4 bedroom/2bath duplex with hardwood floors about 6 blocks away from Rice campus which he shares with three other students - and he only pays $550 a month. Even with bills and food it is cheaper than living on-campus. That being said, we are funding his move back on-campus for his senior year, because he likes the whole “roll out of bed and walk into the servery” and “crawl out of bed and go work out in the new rec center” thing and it’s only ONE more year of college to pay for. :)</p>
<p>For those worried about a “housing shortage” at Rice, you might be enlightened by this article in today’s Rice Thresher. [On-campus</a> housing numbers drop - News](<a href=“http://media.www.ricethresher.org/media/storage/paper1290/news/2010/04/23/News/OnCampus.Housing.Numbers.Drop-3911542.shtml]On-campus”>http://media.www.ricethresher.org/media/storage/paper1290/news/2010/04/23/News/OnCampus.Housing.Numbers.Drop-3911542.shtml)</p>