<p>Great, that's very comforting to hear. I have another unrelated question -- does Rice look at applications holistically are they very keen on test scores and grades?</p>
<p>every college that uses the common app considers applications holistically</p>
<p>I'm a transfer student for Fall 2009 from PA. Rice is my top choice as of right now (I'm visiting in a few weeks, and IMO, you never know until you go), but I'm wondering if anyone has suggestions for safety school options that are similar. The elements that are most attractive to me are diversity, small or no Greek presence, fewer than 5,000 students, close to a major city, and excellent academics. I haven't had much luck so far; there just does not seem to be anything quite like Rice.</p>
<p>Any suggestions would be great, and I'm open to any location!</p>
<p>oceangirl, my daughter's 2nd choice was Hendrix College in Conway, Arkansas (about 30 minutes from Little Rock). One of the "Colleges That Changes Lives". Check it out.</p>
<p>Oceangirl: Safety for Rice/diverse/noGreek/urban/small/excellent</p>
<p>U of Rochester on many attributes (has Greek life but not overwhelming)
Case Western
Emory
Brandeis</p>
<p>thank you for the suggestions! i think hendrix will be a great option for me...i actually just bought that book!</p>
<p>I'm sure alot of Liberal Arts schools would meet you criteria.</p>
<p>Re: Rice politics, I'd just like to add that Martel partied it up tonight.
By which I mean a suitemate and myself ran screaming along the top floors...and got half of the rest of the college cheering...before we blared the speeches from the fourth floor...</p>
<p>Anyway, what I'm trying to get at is that although Rice's political landscape may be split more evenly than those of other "top" colleges (and hey, Texas is Texas...though Houston went blue tonight), the left is more vocal. It may simply be the crowd I run with though so take that with a grain of salt.</p>
<p>I'd also like to confirm the existence of a large libertarian minority.</p>
<p>Sid was rather subdued about the whole election thing. We had a government meeting right when the announced that Obama was the projected winner so that may have been part of the reason. But our president was wearing her Obama shirt to the meeting. I may also have missed the after celebration because I've been working too hard. Now that I think about it, there were some girls who were screaming in the lobby of my floor in celebration.</p>
<p>memake, Emory also has Greek life (i.e., frats and sororities) which the social life tends to revolve around.</p>
<p>Overall, OP, Rice students are pretty politically apathetic. You will be accepted and respected here regardless of your ideology and beliefs. People will admire and accept you for who you are, and while there may be a pretentious person here and there, overall Rice kids are very comfortable with who they are, despite any quirks or idiosyncrasies.</p>
<p>Don't worry, your alleged "stereotype" holds no validity.</p>
<p>I don't think apathetic is the right word. Busy with lots of other things, maybe. Both my kids are interested in politics - but they have/had a lot on their plate. My DS called me last night to discuss the election and he was certainly interested, and he definitely voted - but he didn't actively campaign for O'Bama. That's not apathy. :)</p>
<p>Thank you all very much for your responses, I am definitely getting a better idea of the study body at Rice. I am officially scheduled to do an overnight in a few weeks and it will be my first time visiting Rice (and Texas!). From what it looks like Rice is an absolutely INCREDIBLE school, but it is obviously very difficult to get into. My ACT scores are sub-par and I'm not the top 10% of my highly competitive school, I am just hoping that they will look past that! Maybe my geographic diversity might be a slight hook? Do any of you have similar experiences with good/great ECs but your test scores might not have been excellent? (I have a 30 on the ACT, so while it's not TERRIBLE, it's not great either... I took it again in Oct. and I have faith it went up :))</p>
<p>efs001: we had our CC meeting when the election was called, too, but we had CNN on in the background on mute. Everyone started cheering when it was announced that Obama won. Then our master ran into our commons, draped in an American flag, shouting "I LOVE YOU AMERICA!" then took a swill from my roommate's flask. It was beautiful.</p>
<p>I realize that there are a number of liberal arts options meeting these criteria, but I'm also very concerned with price. My family won't qualify for financial aid, but we really can't afford these $30,000+ tuition rates. I'm trying to find some options that offer decent merit scholarships for transfers (that are under 5,000 students, diverse, near a city, and have excellent academics), but it's been quite challenging. Again, any suggestions would be appreciated!</p>
<p>Would you say it is comfortable to be asian at Rice?</p>
<p>I would say it’s comfortable being a person at Rice.</p>
<p>"Would you say it is comfortable to be asian at Rice? " </p>
<p>yes.</p>
<p>@iambored10 wow what school do you go to?! I have a teacher notorious for being Republican and bashing democrats. but maybe thats just 70% of Texan teachers</p>
<p>anyway, I wouldn’t say Texas is die-hard-conservative where Rice is concerned. The current Rice students I know tell me that Rice is very liberal with drinking and such. But no flaming hippies or whatever you said.</p>
<p>I’d call my son a left leaning moderate. He’s glad he’s taking AP Gov/Econ this year and is really diving in so he can intelligently discuss politics with the conservatives he expects to encounter at Rice… ASSUMING he gets in…10 days and counting…</p>
<p>Good luck to your son, AVHS Dad! (And FWIW, my son who’s a Rice student, is far from a conservative.)</p>