<p>I want to strongly agree with anxious mom. Rice has been a time of growth and a refreshing change from HS. DD’s comments have all been extremely positive, ranging from the simple “I love it here” to the detailed descriptions of the amazing support she has received from her profs, to the helpful collaborative support from her fellow students. She works very hard at Rice, but doesn’t regret her decision to attend for 1 minute. She, like Sliknik, is not a partier but she finds lots to do each week. Rice is truly a hidden gem.</p>
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S isn’t part of the “popular” crowd, but he’s not a social nerd either. So he would probably be as much of a misfit at a predominantly nerdy school, as he would at a party school. And some of the earlier comments on this thread got me concerned that Rice may be closer to one of these extremes than we had previously thought. Thanks for the insight!</p>
<p>Just FWIW - both my kids had large friends groups in high school, though neither were part of the “popular” kids, who tended to focus on clothes, football, etc. and less on academics. Both were/are very into club sports in high school, and both adore/adored Rice, including the very active club sport and intramural sports scene. (If you are into big sports game watching, as in big football watching, Rice is not your place.)</p>
<p>When my s volunteered as a prospy host, he spent a lot of time with the prospies, took them to see things like the Rice U comedy improv group (Spontaneous Combustion) and basically asked the prospy what they were interested in and took them to those kinds of things. He had a 100% “success” rate, meaning 100% of the prospies he hosted got in and chose to attend Rice. I totally agree that the timing of the admitted students weekend/Owl days can be really challenging, with lot of projects due and exams and such, so many that might normally host prospies just couldnt accomodate them. </p>
<p>Perhaps the prospy hosts think that HSers want to see the party options. They should certainly ask the students visiting, not make assumptions. It is unfortunate if that left a bad taste in a prospies mouth. Rice is a great place, with friendly, easy-going students, fun traditions, committed students and great opportunities. It is a shame if a student gets a bad host, but I guess that could happen anywhere. Many colleges don’t offer overnights at all. Maybe this is why…</p>
<p>@Tomismom: When I said “socially awkward” people are here, I do not mean that they are in the majority. As schee410 said, most of the students here are in the middle: intelligent students who balance their academics with their social lives and extracurriculars. However, I do think there are more awkward people here than at maybe Vanderbilt or some of the other “fratty” schools, for example. Your son can find a good group of friends who are completely balanced and “normal.” I have found that once you get to know anyone at Rice, they tend to be fascinating and interesting people. I know plenty of extroverted/outgoing people here who are very happy with the social scene.</p>
<p>I was considering Case myself, and I do feel Rice is less nerdy than Case. Hopefully you son has visited/will visit and can judge for himself.</p>
<p>Thanks, everyone! What I’m hearing is a lot more in line with what we had thought about Rice in the first place. We did visit both Rice and Case (along with a bunch of other schools) last year. Then S went to Case for a second time to interview for their guaranteed medical school admission program (PPSP). He didn’t make it past the interview and we expected him to be very disappointed. Instead, he seemed a little relieved and finally admitted to us that he didn’t find Case to be a great fit once the allure of the PPSP program was gone. As for Rice, the problem is that we visited back in July when school wasn’t in session–and the weather was horrendous–so he didn’t get to interact with more than a couple of students, one of them being the tour guide. Unfortunately, a second visit to Rice isn’t an option for us.</p>
<p>We visited only once and did not do Owl days. My son is shy and quiet but once he has friends was on homecoming court and prom court and dates and loves sports and music but likes culture and smart people. I am trying to get a guage on what the kids there are like. The drinking thing is not an issue. My girls both went to big state schools and managed to handle both. My son doesn’t want a big frat school but I know he wants to have a chance to meet people that may play a large part in his future life. I still can’t be sure this is it for him and he can’t either. Guess in the next few days we will spin the wheel and just make a decision and hope it is a good one. Choosing between Wash U, USC, Tulane and Boston College. So hard.</p>
<p>My son and I went to Rice for Owl Days and I’d like to add a bit about our observations. </p>
<p>He was offered an opportunity to drink and he declined. That seems to have determined the schedule for the evening so the host and his friends steered clear of the drinking parties. There was no evidence of drinking aside from that comment. They played basketball, went to the improv and talked with other students in the dorm. My son said that some of the female prospies seemed a bit shy but none of the Rice students did. He took this as a good sign, that some students come in socially anxious but that by second semester they feel confident with themselves. He enjoyed talking with the other students and said that they had intelligent things to say. This, BTW, is his idea of partying: hanging out with bright people and having intelligent conversations. He also approached a coed after a class he sat in one and found her to be very open, bright and friendly.</p>
<p>My own contacts with prospies and students were briefer and more superficial. I judge a campus by body language a lot and I was very pleased with what I saw. I’m astonished at the OP’s opening statement: “It seems like there is(sic) only like 5 attractive people in the entire school???” That’s absolutely ridiculous. Like slik nik, I’m not much of a judge of male good looks, but I can assure you that there are many attractive female students…and prospies. They don’t put as much attention into makeup and fashion as girls at Vanderbilt, but they don’t need to. I saw only two overweight males and one overweight female, and she was on one of the treadmills at the fitness center, bless her cholesterol challenged heart.</p>
<p>Looking at the students I believe that they are confident without being arrogant. In fact I saw only one arrogant looking male. At Vanderbilt it seemed like 30% of the males looked arrogant. I must have approached 25 students for directions and they all seemed alive and engaged in helping me out.</p>
<p>Looking back at my own college years I would warn you not to generalize from one student or circle of friends. If you had visited my campus back in the day and got dropped off with one host and his buddies for a day you could easily have concluded that this place was totally populated by: a) talented rock musicians; b) political radicals about to blow up the Pentagon, c) overly intellectual types who got off on voicing pretentious arguments, d) pot smoking depressives, e) compulsive studiers who just wanted to get into the best graduate school, f) serious alcoholics, or g) people who had dropped out years ago but no one had figured out that they were no longer students. And there were probably two or three other groups - maybe religious or student government types - that I didn’t interact with enough to remember them now.</p>
<p>My sense is that kind of like Alice’s Restaurant, you can get anything you want, excepting fraternities, at Rice. And don’t worry about the things you don’t want; they won’t bother you a bit.</p>