<p>Also, is it possible to know whether I’ll be able to get in a dorm before I accept the admission? Because having to get an apartment or off-campus housing would probably make meeting new people super hard in the middle of the academic year like this.</p>
<p>I’d love to see stats of those accepted if you guys are willing to post! :)</p>
<p>Congratulations to YOU, zSquared! I’m pretty sure I’m going, too! I am just sitting on it for a few days to make sure I’m not doing anything rash. Out of curiosity, where are you coming from? I’m originally from Southern California (Irvine), but am currently in New York City (at NYU) for school. </p>
<p>I’m also worried about moving away, since I know it will be an adjustment, but my impression from when I visited was that it really won’t be hard to make new friends and put down new roots in a friendly town like Houston.</p>
<p>And yes, I tried that Student ID and PIN for application status, but I didn’t see anything there regarding the deposit. Mine just listed that everything on the application had been sent in, etc. Hopefully they’ll update or give us a new ID with the actual paper packet. I’ll let you know what’s in it in case you’re away for break!</p>
<p>This page: [Rice</a> University O-Week: Undergraduates](<a href=“O-Week Schedule”>O-Week Schedule)
is the only info I’ve been able to find, plus the page in the tabs titled “Mid-Year Orientation”. It doesn’t look like we’ve got a great chance at getting on-campus housing, which is also a concern of mine, but I think with the residential colleges we should be able to get some socializing done. They’ve also added the two new colleges, so we might have a shot…</p>
<p>arcadefire, here’s some of my info:</p>
<p>It is currently the fall semester of my Sophomore year
NYU Environmental Science, Mathematics
College of Arts and Science Presidential Honors Scholar
3.65 GPA (but all A- or As in my Environmental classes; Bs are from GE humanities classes)
ACT = 34
High School GPA was about 3.7 unweighted
I’m pretty sure I had 2 good recommendation letters, but I only read one of them. One from a writing professor, and one from a professor who taught one of my ES classes. (I’m also doing an independent study with him this semester.)
Extracurricular activities:
The College Group at the Met: work to engage college students with programs at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC.
Interned at a non-profit theatre production company–The Foundry Theatre.
Worked over the summer with a non-profit group dedicated to reducing construction waste by encouraging recycling of usable building materials.
NYUnplugged: a program from the NYU Sustainability office that organizes a competition among dorm buildings to reduce energy use over a given time period.
[I know my first two ECs aren’t related to my field at all, but I wrote about my additional interest in theatre/museums on my app.]
Reason for transferring: NYU doesn’t have a specific department dedicated to Environmental or Earth SCIENCE – its Environmental Studies program is focused on the social/policy side. They have an Environmental Science track, but the class offerings are limited. Courant, the math department at NYU, has a center for Atmosphere-Ocean science, but it’s mainly a graduate program. I am doing an independent study with a professor from this department this semester. </p>
<p>I feel like visiting really helped in tie my application together and make it convincing, though. I got to meet with professors in the ES department, which was fantastic! Everyone I met was soooo friendly. The only thing I had trouble with was the ridiculous humidity. I couldn’t even fan myself the air was so still! Digression…</p>
<p>Yeah, I’m not seeing anything on that website about the deposit either, but my application status did change today to “Admit.” </p>
<p>I’m in Missouri right now, just about two hours away from where I went to high school.</p>
<p>Here are my stats, arcadefire:</p>
<p>High school:
GPA 3.95 (top 8%)
ACT 34E, 34M, 30R, 30S, 32 composite
1st place all four years in a programming competition at Missouri State University
Lots of medals in science olympiad</p>
<p>College:
GPA 3.98 (one pesky A- ironically in a class called “learning strategies” that I took in order to tack on some extra credit hours… stupid mistake)
Honors College
I’m taking somewhat advanced classes (real analysis, abstract algebra, etc.)
Half-way through my first semester I got offered a job at a local software company because one of the employees was taking some courses with me and was apparently impressed
And I’ve tutored in multivariable calculus and linear algebra unofficially.</p>
<p>One of my teachers wrote me a really, really good letter. She just called me to her office and handed it to me one day. I think this one probably made a big difference. The other letter I didn’t see, but the teacher liked me so it should have been at least decent.</p>
<p>zSquared, I’m becoming less and less concerned about not living on campus for our first semester. First, because I randomly found this: <a href=“http://cohesion.rice.edu/campusservices/oweek/emplibrary/ACF3E8A.pdf[/url]”>http://cohesion.rice.edu/campusservices/oweek/emplibrary/ACF3E8A.pdf</a>
So it seems like the school does something to get you in contact with other students/offers you the option to set you up off-campus with another transfer student. Also, I’m thinking that since we are coming in in the spring, we will probably only have one semester of off-campus living before we’re allowed back on. It might be nice having your own room for a while…
Another thing: when I visited, my tour guide took me back to her college’s dining hall with her, and I got to sit down and talk with some of her friends. One of the guys said he was a transfer and everyone else was like, “WAIT you transferred? ***?!” So I get the impression that transfers assimilate well with/are welcomed by everyone else. Like I mentioned before, they’re building the two new residential colleges and expanding the space for housing, so this should be good news for our future year housing. Are you an incoming second-semester sophomore?</p>
<p>I was trying to read the 8-minute housing guide, but it’s not working. Maybe I’ll call them and ask them to put it back online.
[Rice</a> University Housing Services : 8 Minute Housing Guides](<a href=“Housing”>Housing)</p>
<p>I wish some real-life Rice students would come on here and talk to us!</p>
<p>I just called and they said they would try to get the 8-minute Housing Guide up in the next hour.</p>
<p>So today was the day I had to move out of my dorm for the break, and the packet hadn’t arrived. I spoke to the mail people and they said the mail will be completely inaccessible over the break. I won’t be back until the 29th. I may call and see if I can request to have another copy sent to my home because my email says it’s due by Dec. 2nd. </p>
<p>I just really need to know how much aid I’m getting. I don’t know where this information is at, but I really hope I’ll be able to find out during these two weeks. This will really determine whether I can go or not.</p>
<p>Yep, it’ll be the second-semester of my sophomore year.</p>
<p>Off-campus housing wouldn’t be that bad if they matched us up with other transfer students or something like that. I just really do not want to have to scramble to find an apartment or something nearby Rice late December. My current school (Univ. of Missouri–Columbia) has some off-campus dorms/apartments that they will set people up in automatically as if it were on-campus if the on-campus dorms fill up (and they almost always do).</p>
<p>When do we find out which courses will transfer? </p>
<p>There’s so much to think about!</p>
<p>Congratulations to zSquared and techpirate! Rice is terrific (my S is a junior there) and I’m sure you’ll love it.</p>
<p>Here are a couple of sources that might help you find off-campus housing if you don’t end up getting a room in a residential college right away.</p>
<p><a href=“http://cohesion.rice.edu/CampusServices/OWeek/emplibrary/OCG2008final.pdf[/url]”>http://cohesion.rice.edu/CampusServices/OWeek/emplibrary/OCG2008final.pdf</a></p>
<p>[Rice</a> Student Center](<a href=“http://offcampus.rice.edu/]Rice”>http://offcampus.rice.edu/)</p>
<p>There are plenty of apartments nearby and there are often people looking for roommates for spring semester, so don’t worry.</p>
<p>patsmom, thanks for those suggestions! I’ll definitely be checking them out. </p>
<p>zSquared, I got my packet today… My mailman thought it would be nice to fold my packets in half and secure them together with rubber bands, so all my papers are folded and ripped… hahaha… Anyways, there are two packets: one from the admissions office, and one from the dean of undergrads.</p>
<p>The packet from the admissions office contains:
-your admissions letter (same one you got via email that said Dec 2)
-financial aid
-list of the courses that will transfer, based on the transcript you sent when you applied. (you have to submit separate forms to convert transfer credit to equivalent credit, and you have to send your transcript at the end of your semester so they can add the credits from fall 09)
-disability support services brochure
-letter detailing what you should do in the coming weeks to enroll/prepare for orientation
-enrollment response form and envelope (the deposit is $300. $400 if you’re applying for on-campus housing)</p>
<p>The second packet contains:
-letter from dean of undergrads
-another disability support services brochure
-orientation info and schedule
-composition exam info
-language placement exam info
-meningitis vaccine info
-counseling center info
-list of hotels, banks, places of worship, directions
-summary of alcohol policy
-letter from peter steffensen, student director of orientation
-off-campus housing guide
-important forms to return: rice transfer questionnaire, confidential roommate matching questionnaire, residential college placement form, parent guardian information, academic advising form. these all have to be returned by Dec 4, and are available online here: [Rice</a> University O-Week: Undergraduates](<a href=“http://cohesion.rice.edu/campusservices/oweek/undergrad.cfm?doc_id=13549]Rice”>http://cohesion.rice.edu/campusservices/oweek/undergrad.cfm?doc_id=13549)</p>
<p>I hope this helps. The forms are all available online (except the response form, I think), so maybe you could just call financial aid and ask them about your package? Good luck!
PS: I’m jealous that you’re already out for break! I am stuck here until December 23rd!</p>
<p>Hmmmm… I also see this Health Data form on the website that’s not in my packet. I’m guessing they probably send it to you with your residential college information once they receive your deposit?</p>
<p>Thanks so much for typing up what’s in the packets! As the days pass the more and more certain I am that I’m going to go. Everything I can find indicates that the off-campus housing isn’t anything to be worried about at Rice.</p>
<p>Yeah, I think I will call Monday to see about my package.</p>
<p>This week is Thanksgiving break for me. It’s awfully nice having a week off! After this week, I have two more weeks of classes, then finals week, and then winter break, but it looks like my winter break will be cut a bit short since I’ll need to get down to Houston earlier than I would need to start classes here again.</p>
<p>Oh, I thought you were out for winter break already. That would be nice. We only get Thursday and Friday off, which totally sucks. My winter break is going to be short, too. I’m anticipating I’ll be flying to Houston on January 5th to move in before Transfer Orientation starts. Less than two weeks to sit in a vegetative state. Boo.</p>
<p>I spoke to the financial aid office and, long story short, the office misplaced some documents and just found them today after I called, so they are just now evaluating my financial aid.</p>
<p>They’re mailing me another copy of the packages and said they’d give me a few extra days if I can’t get it back in time, so that’s good. They also sent me my transfer credit in an email, and it looks like everything I did in college transferred but I’m going to be losing all the dual credit I did in high school (about 25 credit hours), which sucks but was expected. Unfortunately my high school offered no AP courses, so everything I did was through dual credit programs with nearby colleges, not the AP program. I’m going to have to look at the course requirements at Rice in some detail to see exactly how significant this is.</p>
<p>I looked briefly at General Announcements and I saw that AP’s only count for certain distribution credits, so maybe you already have those covered with your college courses you did get credit for. It kind of sucks we have to take that writing exam. I was hoping my expository writing class from NYU would take care of that. But it shouldn’t be too bad.</p>
<p>I got my financial aid statement, and I didn’t get anywhere close to enough, and that’s including a loan and work study. Plus I thought they didn’t give loans to families with incomes less than $80,000. Maybe I misunderstood? Either way, it’s significantly less than I was expecting and needing.</p>
<p>Unless I can work out more aid, I probably will not attend. I can’t afford it with my current aid. :(</p>
<p>zSquared, I’m so sorry to hear that. That’s really a bummer. I thought they didn’t give loans to under $80,000, too. Maybe there’s a difference in transfer financial aid and freshman aid. They are known for giving good financial aid, though, so I bet if you call the office and appeal your package you can get some more money. Best of luck! I hope you can end up going!</p>
<p>I honestly don’t understand the details of how the financial aid was calculated, but I think what happened is that my parents have a bit of money saved up for their retirement. They were self-employed for a long time, so they saved as much money as they could (not much, but it added up over the years) in order to make their own retirement plan.</p>
<p>But even now they barely have enough to retire. I don’t have the heart to ask them to use any of that money. It’s really not even enough for them to retire off of now as it is; it definitely wouldn’t be enough if they used any of it to help pay for my college. </p>
<p>Strictly speaking, though, we could afford Rice if they used that money, so I suspect this is why we got so much less than I expected. I don’t know if explaining this to the office would make a difference or not. I’ll see what my parents think.</p>
<p>My only hope failing that is to see if my grandpa will help out, but I’d feel awfully bad asking him to help with such a large financial burden. He’s told me in the past that he would help pay for my college if I ever needed it. I’ll need to discuss this with my parents.</p>
<p>I’m not sure what to do. Thanks for your kind words!</p>
<p>You can ask for more loans if that helps, I called the financial aid office yesterday to see if they could give me more aid, and they said I can send them an email and they’ll see what they can do.</p>