<p>My daughter is thinking about applying to Rice, but it seems that the percentage of students from Texas is quite high for a private university. Any thoughts on this?</p>
<p>Rice is more known in Texas, and many out of state-ers aren't willing to go to a school in a city as conservative as Houston.</p>
<p>Texas is huge too. Second biggest state by population I believe. And since everyone has heard of it there, everyone applies. Texas students are good students, too. Stanford has a very similar situation with about 40% in state.</p>
<p>As a New Yorker, I was a little worried about this issue when I was applying to Rice. Now that I've been at Rice for 2 years, I've come to realize something that probably seems obvious to Texans, but wasn't obvious to me. </p>
<p>Texas is a ridiculously diverse place!</p>
<p>I would say that Texas is at least as diverse as 12 New England or Mid-Atlantic states combined. This is partly because the state is so large - it's as big as several states combined. But I think it's more than that. Texas encompasses a huge amount of racial, ethnic, financial, political, and religious diversity. I know Texans who are die-hard Republicans, Southern Baptists, White guys who grew up around farms. And I know Texans who are Gay Democrats from the city. I know Texans who are black, hispanic, white, asian, and mixes of all of the above. There are Texans from Austin, and El Paso, and the middle of nowhere in particular.</p>
<p>In short, pretty much the only thing these Texans have in common is that they are from Texas. And, at Rice, that they are pretty smart. So I wouldn't worry too much about the OMG, they're all from Texas thing.</p>
<p>Plus, you always have the other half of the student body, who are from out of state!</p>
<p>Also, Rice is a lot less conservative than the state.</p>
<p>It all depends on who the person is. I tried telling my friend Rice was diverse, but when she visited, she hated it and still felt that it wasn't good enough. She was from Boston.</p>
<p>I think the lack of out-of-staters is caused by the size of Texas, as misterme said, and by the sterotypes so many people have about Texas. Also, many of my friends (I'm from Houston) didn't want to go too far from home, which meant Texas, Lousiana, and Oklahoma, and Rice is generally consider the best private school in the region.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Rice is generally consider the best private school in the region.
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Can we say understatement of the year? ;)</p>
<p>Yes, Rice certainly is the best private school in the region, and one of the best in the nation. I didn't see any understatement.</p>
<p>How much of an advantage is there in applying from out of state?</p>
<p>Lots...... I think acceptance rate out-of-state is almost 40% - but check the rice website for better stats.</p>
<p>I can't find any.</p>
<p>any stats relevant to out of state acceptance rate</p>
<p>I don't think so. But I don't believe it's really much of an advantage because out of state students who actually research and find Rice, tend to be very smart students ;) And so they have a good shot anyway. It's like U Chicago admissions.</p>
<p>I don't want to offend anyone who is partial to Tulane, SMU, or Baylor, and they may have particular programs that Rice doesn't offer.</p>
<p>I think out of state is an advantage in admissions, but the out of state acceptance rate is a bit misleading because the group is self selecting. Many Texas students will apply to Rice as a far reach just because they can, and they plan on attending UT or A&M.</p>
<p>One important thing to also consider is that with the enormous growth in population that took place in Texas during the the 80's many of the Texans applying are children whose families moved from other parts of the country and while they may be native Texans have strong ties to other parts of the country. My children were both born here and are proud of their Texas heritage but aware and proud of their midwestern roots/values as well.</p>
<p>I worried about this too when I was applying (I'm from the east coast and very liberal. Texas seemed like a foreign country.) but it has turned out not to be a big deal. Like someone else said, Texas is actually REALLY diverse. Coming from PA, I didn't know this, I sort of thought it was all cowboys and tumbleweeds. Nothing like that. There are lot of people here who are from Texas/somewhere in Latin/South American or Asian countries..I even know a couple people from Africa, New Zealand, and Egypt. Rice is really diverse.</p>
<p>HAHAH tumbleweed....sorry i found that hilarious....</p>
<p>I've never visited Rice, but if you just look at the data, the student body is immensely diverse. My friends ask me why the heck I'd be interested in going to school in Texas and my answer is that Texas is almost a country in itself. Texas seems to have its own subculture but also has various ethnic and religious groups. I have a friend who's Indian who flew to Houston from NYC to attend a Hindu convention. Even though I'm from NY, I think parts of Texas may be even more diverse than my hometown in terms of viewpoints when you consider that NY is predominantly liberal (I am myself), but in Texas you have a mix of religious conservatives, economic ones and the hippie, artsy liberals in Austin.</p>