<p>Hello, I just had some questions about Rice. It sounds great, but all brochures are starting to look the same now, and i was pondering the specifics.</p>
<li><p>Why did you choose to attend Rice over your other choices?</p></li>
<li><p>After you enrolled, what surprised you? Both positive and negative.</p></li>
<li><p>Whats your favorite aspect of Rice? Least favorite?</p></li>
<li><p>How are the professors? How close are students and professors?</p></li>
<li><p>How are your classmates? Care about education or grade-grubby?</p></li>
<li><p>Activities? Events, clubs, social life?</p></li>
<li><p>How does Rice compare to high school?</p></li>
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<p>I know it’s a lot… but I’m very interested in getting to know the facts. I don’t have the opportunity to visit, so thank you for helping!</p>
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<li>Rice was my first choice from the start, and I was incredibly fortunate that it was one of the few schools that accepted me, albeit after a brief period on the wait list. My interest in Rice started my sophomore year of high school, when my friend Trevor, who was then a senior, chose to go to Rice over a myriad of other great schools (most notably Stanford). That piqued my interest in the first place, but what really got me excited about the school was talking to Trevor whenever he would come home for the holidays. I would ask my friends, "How's Yale?" or "How's UVA?" or "How's Stanford?", and I would always receive the same, "Oh, it's great." But when I would ask Trevor "How's Rice?" he would go on and on about Beer-Bike, the college system, Casino Party, Powderpuff Football, and, yes, even about his classes. It sounds cheesy, but there was a sparkle in his eye when he would talk about Rice.</li>
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<p>I visited Rice during fall of my senior year, and you could just feel the enthusiasm and energy of the students. People are incredibly happy to be here, and there's not really that much of a sense of entitlement. I think the residential college system is the biggest contributor to this sense of common purpose at Rice, and I love it.</p>
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<li>I was surprised by how quickly I was able to get involved in residential college life, and how many of my friends were upperclassmen. I was also surprised that there are a number of students who don't really "buy in" to the whole residential college thing, but I guess that was more my own naivet</li>
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<p>Ok, so I've only been here a month so remember that when you read my answers.
1. Rice was the last school I added to my list. I can't remember how it got added but after I applied I started looking more into each of my schools. There were certain factors I knew I wanted in a school, being in a city, still having a campus, good school spirit. Rice and a couple of my other schools had these characteristics. Eventually I narrowed it down to Rice and one other school, both equally prestigious, both costing about the same in my situation. I knew I liked the other school, but it was a little close to home. So, I decided to come down for Owl Days and if I liked Rice I would come here, if not I knew I had the other school that I also liked. I got down here, met a few people, heard so many things that I liked about im sports, the college system, classes, etc. and within two hours I knew I wanted to come here. It ended up being a much easier decision than I expected just because it felt so right when I was here. I went on a lot of college visits and I always wanted to get that feeling but never expected to, but I actually did at Rice. Plus I like warm weather.</p>
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<li><p>I was surprised how inviting and welcoming everyone was from the very start. The advisors at o-week went way out of their way to make everyone comfortable. It was really nice and calmed my nerves about starting somewhere completely new. Also along the same lines the university did a lot to make starting college special. Matriculation was really nice and it was obvious a lot of work went into all of the o-week activities. </p></li>
<li><p>My favorite aspect of Rice is the residential colleges, by far. By the end of o-week I knew pretty much every freshman at Baker. Then, after the upperclassmen moved in, it was really easy to meet a lot of them. At least at Baker, meals are awesome because you can sit at basically any table and because most of the people eating there are from Baker you will know multiple people. Also you become so in love with your college so quickly and that feeling of unity really does make it like a family.
My least favorite thing is so minor but it bothers me. The meal schedules are really limited and I understand why but since dinner only runs until 7:30 on weekdays and we get hungry later at night, we have to rely on the food in our room. As I said minor problem that you just have to learn to eat when food is being served and take some stuff back to the room for later. But I have missed dinner twice already and had to buy stuff at 13th street.</p></li>
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<p>Ok that's it for now, I'll answer the rest later.</p>
<p>3(continued) So, one more least favorite thing that has nothing really to do with Rice: cockroaches. I'm from the north and I had never seen a cockroach before I came to Houston. I don't like them but I've had two in my room and seen a couple of others. Again, not a big deal, just something I don't like.</p>
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<li><p>I'm only taking 4 classes this semester which means I have only had 4 profs here but so far so good. All my profs seem pretty awesome. I went to one's office hours the other day to ask some questions about a test and we ended up having a pretty nice conversation on a variety of subjects. My psych professor makes the class really fun and interesting. My other two profs are also really nice and are always offering their support. I say how close the students are depends largely on the students. From my own experiences and those of people I have talked to, there are a small number of profs who don't seem open for getting to know their students better.</p></li>
<li><p>People care about their grades, but it's not done by competing with other students. Even when a class has a curve, students work together a lot. I always see groups of people working together in the commons, mostly on the natural sciences and math classes, and it is not hard to find someone to help. As the person above said, pre-meds have to worry about their grades, but it still doesn't lead to a lot of competitiveness. </p></li>
<li><p>There really are a lot of activities going on here. Since I arrived there have been two activities fairs, one during o-week and one since the upperclassmen have arrived. I signed up for a huge variety of things and am now sorting through the emails deciding which meetings to go to. Also, it is so easy to get involved in your college's sports which is something I really like. Whether you like volunteering opportunities, sports, academic clubs, you'll probably be able to find something that interests you. And if not, you can always try and start something. I know someone who just put together a little running club. There is always a lot to do on weekdays and weekends. People definitely don't get stuck under all their work (at least not yet) and have a social life.</p></li>
<li><p>Rice is way more awesome than high school. The classes are harder (but then again I went to a not good public school) but you have so much more time to get things done. It is a completely different atmosphere than high school because everybody wants to be here. </p></li>
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<p>If you have any more questions feel free to pm me. I'm happy to answer what I can.</p>