Rice for a northern kid?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Rice University
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<p>My younger son, a rising HS senior, may be interested in Rice. We have read a lot about it, went to a college fair where it was represented along with a couple Ivys, and like everything we have read and learned about the Rice college system. But Houston is not a city we are familiar with, and we do have some concern about whether Houston and Texas would be a complete culture shock for a kid from Wisconsin. My guess is that he would get used to the weather pretty quickly (at least after the September heat and humidity); in fact I suspect he would find the idea of wearing shorts and t-shirts in February pretty nice, even though I'm sure he'd occasionally miss the snow and cold, too. (It does have its charm, believe it or not.) But weather isn't the only difference, of course.</p>

<p>A few things about him. Academically talented, of course, with excellent grades and scores such that he would certainly have a real shot at admission (and hopefully at some merit aid). Voracious reader. Geeky (computers/games/tech) and a little proud of it. Not much interested in sports. Not a life of the party type, but loves to kick back after very diligently getting his academic work done. He's very unpretentious, very casual, friendly, and funny; an ordinary kid, in other words, other than his intellectual gifts. (That raises another question. How wealthy/preppy is the Rice student body? Another school that interests him is Brown, but we have concerns that he would be a fish out of water socially there. This is a kid who might not notice, and wouldn't care, if he had his t-shirt on inside out, and certainly couldn't care less what label of clothes or shoes he's wearing.) He is most interested (now) in computer science and languages, but he simply isn't ready to decide exactly what he'll ultimately major in. So he wants academic options. Finally, while no one can predict where life will take you, does anyone have any experience on how well the Rice name "sells" in the midwest if he wants to settle closer to home?</p>

<p>For context, as of now (completely subject to change) the schools that are on his list might include MIT, Brown, Rice, Wisconsin and some good midwestern LACs. We believe these are all outstanding colleges; fit is more important to us than the relative prestige of each.</p>

<p>Any comments would be appreciated. Why should he want to go to Rice, or why not, for that matter? Thanks.</p>

<p>P.S. Sort of off-topic but how long does it take to get from HIA (Bush) to Rice. If we were to visit would it be crazy to rent a car? I can follow a map easily enough but I have no idea what the traffic patterns are like in Houston.</p>

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<p>Check this out</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/rice-university/291183-101-reasons-attending-rice.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/rice-university/291183-101-reasons-attending-rice.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>It sounds like your son would be a very good fit in the student body at Rice. Your description of him would fit the majority of the kids I have met at Rice (my son is a rising Jr). Also most of the students spend 95% of their time on campus or at Rice village. I do not think he would feel culture shock in the city. Rice is NOT preppy, sure a few kids are. My experience with the Ivies is that they are much more preppy, socially nose in the air, old money etc.</p>

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<p>I agree that Rice sounds like a great fit for your son.</p>

<p>As to the airport/car question – yes, renting a car is a great option. It gives you the flexibility to get around more. The drive time between IAH and Rice varies considerably on the time of day/day of the week. If it’s an off hour or weekend, it would take about 30 minutes. If it’s rush hour it could take twice that long. You might also want to see if any flights fly into Hobby instead. It’s a smaller, closer airport and easier to manage.</p>

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<p>

At least your not in Minnesota, it becomes so cold that the snow stays on the ground so long during the winter, it literally becomes ice like.</p>

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<p>We had some of the same concerns you do about the cultural adjustment. We’re from Berkeley, CA, so the reputations of those two cities couldn’t be much more different. My daughter loves the relaxed social atmosphere at Rice. It seems to be very unpretentious and she claims that no one really cares how anyone else dresses. It was interesting for her to be there for the Presidential election last year, but even that didn’t feel like a culture shock. A bit more right-leaning than Berkeley, of course, but what city isn’t? I would say that the biggest adjustment/eye-opener for her was the number of religious Christian students. Not evangeligal, but certainly more religious than the kids she’d grown up with. It’s all been good. She’s made great friends, with diverse backgrounds and interests, and feels very at home there. She says she loves Texas (“people really ARE more friendly there”) and she loves the warm weather.</p>

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<p>I probably should have said “not fundamentalist” rather than “not evangelical”.</p>

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<p>Definitely not wealthy/preppy… people at Rice don’t care what your socio-economic background is, unlike the eastern establishment schools.</p>

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<p>Whenever I’m around campus it looks like 90% of the students I see are wearing some type of Rice t-shirt. Not to mention that I think I’ve seen my son wear one non-Rice shirt so far the entire summer. I think he must own over 30 different Rice t-shirts. It’s nice that the school provided him with a new wardrobe!</p>

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<p>I originally had many of the same concerns. I am from a town in Florida where basically 75% of the population is retired New Yorkers. Thus, though technically “southern”, I’m not really southern in culture at all.</p>

<p>I worried about the “girls in pearls” sort of culture but I really think you’d find that more at Vandy, Wake Forest, and Duke. Rice students are really laid-back, and you don’t have to wake up every morning feeling like you’re going to a fashion show. Plus, the residential college system at Rice takes out A LOT of the elitism, superficialitiy, focus on wealth/materia possessions, etc. you’d find at frats/sororities at other school. Houston is an incredibly diverse and vibrant city–I’d compare it to Atlanta in terms of being technically southern, but extremely cosmopolitan and vibrant. The sci/tech scene in Houston is incredible (which sounds like it would be a good match for your son) which draws a nice pocket of liberalism around the research areas.</p>

<p>If anything, I think it would be a good idea for your son to apply and see if he gets merit aid. Also, it’s good to get out of your comfort zone a little bit. I am Jewish and never thought I’d be going to school in Texas, but here I am. One of my roommates is the daughter of a software engineer from Cupertino, CA, one is a first-generation Mexican-American who’s the first in her family to go to college, and the other is a Brazilian who moved to Oklahoma. No preppiness among any of these girls =)</p>

<p>On that note–Brown is renowned for being very liberal and not that preppy…I’m sure you’d find some subset of preppy students there but for the most part I’ve heard it’s one of the least preppy of all the Ivies.</p>

<p>Don’t focus so much on the stereotypes though. Certain schools are known for being extremely wealthy/preppy and none of the schools you mentioned are on that list.</p>

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<p>PM me, and I’ll give you the email of one of my best friends, who’s also from Wisconsin. He just graduated and absolutely loves Rice and Texas.</p>

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<p>Thanks all. NYSkins, just send me a message. Thanks.</p>

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<p>I thought I’d reply about flying into Houston and renting a car. Our first visit to Houston and Rice was over Easter weekend. We have the luxury of flying direct from Cleveland to Houston International. Renting a car allowed us to stay a little bit further from Rice and save a bundle on the hotel room. Plus we got to explore Houston and made a small vacation out of the trip. We all fell in love with Houston and Rice. Hope you make the trip to see both the city and the school for yourself. It’s a good fit for those of us from the midwest.</p>

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<p>When we visit we actually like to stay at the med center Mariott or other hotels right next to Rice (there’s a Best Western and a Holiday Inn, too - all within only a block or two or Rice.) Then you can take the light rail if you want to go museuming, and you can walk over to Rice in the early morning, or later at night if you like… but that’s just us! Traffic is BAD in Houston, so we try to drive there as little as possible. ;)</p>

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<p>MilwDad, my husband moved from Madison to Austin to go to UT grad school. I think he would warn you that your son will find the southern girls hard to resist, lol! He and I were engaged within 3 months.</p>

<p>I lived in Texas for 24 years and I’ve lived in Maine for 23 years. IN GENERAL, I have found Texans to be friendlier and more accepting of people “from away.” I think it’s harder to be a conservative in Maine than to be a liberal in Texas, at least in the cities. If my son goes to school in Texas, I think the hardest adjustment would be the heat and humidity. Even growing up in Austin, I could not BELIEVE how humid Houston was! </p>

<p>My son is considering Rice and Texas, two very different schools, but I think he would do well at either one.</p>

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<p>You should consider adding Carnegie Mellon to your list.</p>

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<p>Coming from Northern California, the heat and humidity were a concern for us, but my daughter loved the weather in Houston last year. The worst heat and humidity are during the summer, of course, so I’m hoping that will keep her coming home for the summer. I don’t know if the past school year was cooler or less humid than usual (maybe some upper classmen or local parents can comment), but other than the first few weeks of school, which were pretty warm and sticky, my daughter thought the weather the rest of the year was great, right up to May.</p>

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<p>i guess its whether you like warm weather. it stays in the 90’s will like spetember ish. the only time that the weather is good is december - feb</p>

<p>by march its upper 70’s to 80’s and its humid. </p>

<p>by march/april at night the humidity is like visible when you walk.</p>

<p>compared to california weather (which is good, judging by how much people are willing to pay living here) its like that for only 3 months</p>

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<p>Also keep in mind that the worst of Houston weather (95+, high humidity) is mainly in July and August. I almost never have a problem with the heat in late August when classes start.</p>

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<p>Rice appears to be a perfect fit for your son. I’m an incoming freshman from Cincinnati and I had the same worries about Texas. I recently came back from a weeklong community service trip in Houston sponsored by Rice. At the end of the week, I felt that Houston was my new hometown: almost everyone there is friendly and chill, unlike many Northern cities. It is now one of my favorite cities; as someone else said, it has a similar feel to Atlanta. Along with what I observed during Owl Days (which is a two day event for admitted students), everyone in the same program I participated in was friendly, down to earth, interesting, very inclusive, and fun. Rice is not known for students that wear brand name/expensive clothing; there is a myth that you can tell the freshman girls from the senior girls because the freshman girls dress more nicely. Its not preppy/full of rich kids either because Rice is known for giving phenomenal financial aid (ranked #1 by Kiplingers as a Best Value Private College in 2007). The residential college system is also known to facilitate inclusiveness, diversity, bonding, and fun.</p>

<p>For these reasons, among others, Rice was ranked #1 for Best Quality of Life by Princeton Review and #8 for Happiest Students (Brown was ranked #1 for Happiest Students fyi). Harvard, Princeton, Dartmouth, Cornell, UPenn, UChicago, MIT, CalTech, Northwestern, Duke, Johns Hopkins, Carnegie Mellon, Emory, and Vanderbilt can’t say that :slight_smile: All of these schools are excellent schools (in fact, i almost went to Emory and Duke), but I truly believe that in terms of quality of life, Rice is better than all of these schools.</p>

<p>Brown will be a great fit for your son, but he has to be very comfortable in a very liberal atmosphere. Rice has a more balanced atmosphere.</p>