<p>The problem is that I am thinking of transferring in, and housing is not guaranteed for us.</p>
<p>It's not guaranteed the first year, but after that you can't get kicked off. This year you probably have a better chance of getting on-campus than most. From what I understand many people decided to live off-campus this year, creating extra room on campus. At Lovett there were two suites completely empty that will be given to transfers for example. (I'm pretty sure about this, but someone please back me up though.)</p>
<p>Different colleges have different criteria for kicking out students. Lovett sends some sophomores off-campus, other colleges juniors. Check the Rice online off-campus housing guide for other options and roommate requests. There is lots of housing near campus; houses, apartments, garage apartments, rooms for rent, etc. and it usually ends up being cheaper than on-campus. Lovett actually ended up with room to spare, and most kids on the waitlist end up with a place to stay on-campus.</p>
<p>Well, I am not in any danger of not having housing, since my parents live in Houston; however, I would rather not stay at home, and applied specifically to Rice so I could immerse myself in the communal atmoshere offered by the residential college system. </p>
<p>I wish there were a way that I could find out my housing situation before I placed my deposit.</p>
<p>i sympathize. i am in the process of transfering residential colleges and i am in pretty the same boat as transfers. the process is like this. </p>
<p>you are put on a waiting list. the list is prioritized by when you got on the list. for transfers that would be last unless there is some weird circumstance with a current student. spots show up due to on-campus students not notifying office that they are off-campus, studying abroad, etc, so this happens right before school starts when things start to get organized again (typically 1 week before school starts). places are sometimes given even after school starts which means you would have to have a month-to-month lease if you have an apt.</p>
<p>on the bright side, you can easily get a place for the spring since more people study abroad then than fall AND seniors are graduating more and more after their 7th semester. </p>
<p>also check here for places.
<a href="http://cohesiondev.rice.edu/recasp/stucent/housing/browse.asp%5B/url%5D">http://cohesiondev.rice.edu/recasp/stucent/housing/browse.asp</a></p>
<p>Thanks, sreis:)</p>
<p>I also have to decide between Rice and the University of Chicago. Not an easy choice.</p>
<p>Oh Jeremiah... thanks for taking the time and energy to respond to my comment that I'd really like a single, but, of course, I simply have to disagree with your assumptions.<br>
Firstly, just because I'd like a single doesn't necessarily mean that I don't want to socialize. Quite the reverse. I'm not asking for a lone cabin in the woods, a la the unibomber. I'm quite confident that, if I leave my room, I'll be able to find friends (on the corridor/in the dorm) with whom to socialize. It's just that I'd like a degree of privacy; if I have to, or want to study into the early hours of the morning, or if I'd like to have someone over for the night, I'd just as soon not have to negotiate with a roomie. I don't have any problems doing my work, and I definitely don't anticipate having issues with getting to class on time.
Actually, if you have to have someone sleeping in the same room as you in order to have a social life, do work, and/or get to class on time, I'd say that YOU have some maturity issues that are cause for concern!
I don't think it's unreasonable, especially considering college costs today, to expect to have the option of a single freshman year. I know it's possible at Columbia, MIT, Pomona, Oxford and Cambridge (and hopefully other places), so why (if a single is desired) would someone settle for sharing a room? I really did like the sound of Rice, but the forced camaraderie of living with a complete stranger for a year, is not an appealing prospect. I've "been there, done that" at summer camps -- but college is not summer camp.</p>
<p>Singles are nice, but doubles aid the freshmen in acclimating. Double or more is best for you and roommate.</p>
<p>suntan dad -- I still think the belief that "doubles aid" freshmen in "acclimating" is a convenient myth perpetrated by colleges to rationalize economizing on housing. If anything, as most/many students come from families where they have never had to share a bedroom, doing so at a time when they are getting accustomed to living independently, and assuming more academic responsibility, simply adds to stress. What is so awful about the idea of sleeping in a room by oneself? Studying and sleeping would not be disturbed by a roomie with different sleep/study schedules. And, if you want company, simply invite people into you room -- or hang out with them in the hall/kitchens/common areas. "Double or more is best?" I don't think so. Perhaps in the military, where everyone shares the same schedule -- but what about independence and individuality? I have never minded sharing a room with someone at a summer camp -- but college is different. Being able to sleep and study in peace is important.<br>
And the idea that sharing a room might help you later in life is sheer nonsense. You don't have to sleep with people you work with (well, unless you're a politician -- j/k) and, unless you're heading toward a monastic career, you'll have plenty of practice of sharing a room with someone to whom you're sexually attracted. I respect people's efforts to try to see a "silver lining" in the room sharing policies of over-taxed colleges, but, please, let's be honest with ourselves. Given the choice, wouldn't you like your own space -- expecially knowing that, just outside your door, are hundreds of people on campus that you can kibbutz with? Yeah, gimme a single anyday!</p>
<p>an article from the Rice newspaper about room assignments for next year</p>
<p>magd, I think you'll be hard pressed to find a selective college that will guarantee you a single room, (unless you have a significant medical condition), but you are welcome to try! At Rice, guaranteed single rooms are all off-campus! ;)</p>
<p>Yes, I know it's tough. Apparently, however, students who want singles are pretty much assured of getting them at Pomona and Columbia. There may be others out there too, but I've yet to learn of them. Oxford and Cambridge only have singles, but I'm not sure I'm ready to specialize (English universities require you to spend your three years in just one field -- though one can study/read for degrees like Politics Philosophy and Economics).
If anyone reading this thread is aware of other schools where the chances of a single are good, I'd love to know! It's odd, though, how such a request seems to bother people. I don't have a medical condition, and I'm very social, I just want my own space.</p>
<p>
[quote]
There may be others out there too, but I've yet to learn of them. Oxford and Cambridge only have singles, but I'm not sure I'm ready to specialize (English universities require you to spend your three years in just one field -- though one can study/read for degrees like Politics Philosophy and Economics).
[/quote]
</p>
<p>You cannot apply to both, however, so it is impossible to be admitted at both.</p>
<p>It's odd when that stops being just one of the factors of what colleges you will apply to and starts being reason enough to scratch off a college completely. I agree; singles are a nice thing to have. However they tend to be isolating. When everyone is studying and people are just not as available as you would like (believe me, this does happen) it's nice to have someone you can talk to right there. You seem like a very mature and thought out person, but take it from someone who has had the experience first hand, having a roommate does not add stress to aclimation to your new environment, it lessens it. You have someone who is going through the same things you are there to keep each other straight. Forgot how to register for classes? You roommate will know. Who do you talk to to borrow the vacuum cleaner in your college/dorm? Maybe your roommate remembered. It's a safety net that I assure you is not a myth perpetrated by any institution.</p>
<p>Your own privacy is nice, but you make the mistake in assuming that you cannot have such with a roommate. Yes, there is a hassle in co-ordinating your differing sleep/study cycles, but that is part of learning to live with someone, and despite what you may think it will help you later in life. Being in a romantic relationship and living with someone are two very different things I assure you. Like in any relationship you have to make personal sacrifices sometimes and come to compromises. This is true with your roommates and will hold equally true with your future spouse. "Independence and individuality" are one thing. Learning to live with other people is quite another.</p>
<p>You seem very intelligent and, I would say, mature. But I have to question someone who would refuse to adapt their schedule or habits at the expense of missing out on many quality institutions (and you will if you expunge them from your list for such a trivial matter.) What's going to matter much more in the long run is the quality of the education you will receive and the connections you will make (with secondary worries like location, price, social fit being the deciding factors among institutions equal in the primary factors.)</p>
<p>Maybe you are mature enough to handle the new environment with finesse. Maybe you can make such fast connections and are social enough that you will immediately be able to call up at any time for help. Maybe when you're doubled over in pain from food poison there will always be someone there to call EMS for you (sound far fetched? It happened to me this year. If I hadn't had a roommate I don't think I could have made the phone call.) Maybe you are mature and independent enough to handle everything coming your way next year, but most people aren't. And I have to question the maturity of someone who would refuse an institution just because they would be forced to adapt their schedule or learn to compromise/co-ordinate with someone else. I'm not trying to be antagonistic, but I would advise seriously rethinking your policy on freshman housing. You will be in an environment where you know no one and those hard bonds of friendship from high school are nowhere to be found. Having someone there to look out for you (and vice versa) and socialize with is invaluble. I'm not making this up. This is coming from experience.</p>
<p>yeah i'll put my 2cents in... housing, though not the deciding factor, was a large factor in why i chose my current school. i was in a suite this yr. it had 2 private bedrooms, a shared living room, and a shared bathroom. it was fricken awesome....except for the fact that i was granted the suite mate from heck and a hurricane came through...anyhoo...that girl was crazy and horrible and dirty, but she loved me bc i was her suitemate so now i have to pretened to like her...just goes to show you there are crazies EVERYWHERE. i'm now trying to transfer and am actually excited about having to share one room and using community baths...yes, it's quite sad, i know</p>
<p>alykat04 - Where are you at school now? (just curious) :)</p>
<p>McNeese State Univ...its in southwest louisiana</p>
<p>are the dorms AC?</p>
<p>Of course! This is Texas.</p>
<p>thanks.. the "This is Texas." bit didnt make sense to me tho :)</p>