The Rice Graduate Experience

<p>Hi everyone. I realize this is primarily an undergraduate forum, even one for prospective college students, but I was curious if someone could shed some light on the experiences of graduate students at Rice. I will be entering a graduate program in psychology in the fall and would be interested if anyone could share their own experiences, or perhaps those they have heard about. Beyond that, for those undergraduates at Rice, how are the grad. students perceived? Is there much interaction with them? Do they participate in any of the clubs and activities? Thank you for any assistance.</p>

<p>The grad students don't really hang out too much with the undergrads. at all.
In fact, most undergrads think grad students tend to be a bit "creepy." This could be because the only time we see them are when they are TA-ing our labs or hanging out at the grad student pub, Valhalla.</p>

<p>Grad students tend to have their own activities, although we do compete against them when they play as the GSA (grad student association) in intermural sports.</p>

<p>Azmodi,</p>

<p>The department that admitted you should be willing to fly you down so you can see the student life for yourself. Aside from that, I believe graduate students are placed in the graduate student apartments, which are off campus. The location of your residence could thus reduce any contact you might have with undergraduates.</p>

<p>I am surprised at the situation jenskate describes. I have several good friends in our graduate program, and my friends at Harvard and Princeton frequently socialize with their graduate students, despite that the graduate students at the latter school reside off campus.</p>

<p>Thank you both. I was flown down to Rice several months ago, but wanted to get the perspective of some actual Rice undergraduates, who I did not encounter during my visit. </p>

<p>Jenskate, you echo what most of the graduate students told me, save for the "creepy" portion (which is unfortunate). Do you think there is anything that can be done to build bridges between the two student bodies? I believe this is one of the goals Pres. Leebron has set out to accomplish. But, do undegrads. really desire more interactions with graduate students? Coming from a liberal arts college, I really have no conception of how these two bodies "should" relate to one another. It seems to me that graduate students would be an excellent resource to learn from for undergrads., and vice-versa, certainly, especially for those grad. students coming from institutions that are significantly different from Rice in geography, atmosphere, etc.</p>

<p>It is unfortunate!</p>

<p>I know, like you said, that this is an area President Leebron wants to improve. And I agree with you that better relations would benefit both groups. I think that we would be able to improve relations in a number of ways.... Here are some of my ideas:</p>

<ol>
<li><p>Assign grad students to a residential college so that they would have a place to eat and socialize with undergrads, even if they didn't live there.</p></li>
<li><p>Encourage grad students to take part in undergrad clubs and activities</p></li>
<li><p>Offer more classes and seminars open to upper-level undergrads and lower-level grad students</p></li>
<li><p>Have events where grad students talk about applying to and going to grad school, or how undergrads can get involved in research in their department, etc.</p></li>
<li><p>Have undergrads (or grad students who went to rice for undergrad too) give a panel discussion on rice culture or the city of houston for new grad students</p></li>
</ol>

<p>I think many undergrads would like to have more interaction with the grad students, but don't really want to befriend their TA or hang out in Valhalla.</p>

<p>Now, their are some exceptions to all of this. There is a freshman dating a 3rd year grad student (perhaps not the greatest idea...), and especially in the music school the grad/undergrad interaction is much higher.</p>

<p>Thanks for the suggestions. I will attempt to implement some of them, and encourage other interested graduate students to do so as well. Honestly, I got the impression upon visiting that Rice's graduate students respect the intelligence of the undergrads. very much, but also regard them as vaguely "alien," just as undergraduates seem to regard the graduates. Surely these are preconceptions that can be altered fairly easily.</p>

<p>Hmm, my interaction with graduate students has been limited to playing cricket with a few of them towards the beginning of the year, and winning the badminton doubles tournament with another one of them. Apart from that, I have not encountered graduate students. One sees them at the Recreation Center, in classes, in the RMC, but one doesn't really associate with them. I don't know why, I guess it has something to do with age. To use a crude and inaccurate analogy, as a senior in HS, would you go out of your way to interact with middle schoolers?</p>

<p>my french teacher has just gotten his PHD from rice and succesfully defended his disotation last friday. he told me that he loved the rice proffesors and the individual experience. also, they are pretty laid back and understanding.</p>

<p>
[quote]
To use a crude and inaccurate analogy, as a senior in HS, would you go out of your way to interact with middle schoolers?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>In high school, it was cool to be old. When you are in graduate school, boy... do you want to be young, or at least socialize with a younger crowd.</p>

<p>I am certain that when I am earning my Ph.D, I will likely socialize with undergrads. Heck, I already socialize with grad and law students here.</p>

<p>I guess it also depends on what you want to go on and do in the future. If you are not so attracted towards research after your undergrad, you are less likely to spend time with grad students--even given they are cool people. It's just that most interaction with grad students from undergrads, in my observation and experience, occurs to get some sort of mentoring.</p>

<p>grad students are not well received here as in other colleges i have been to. i talked to a grad student (not at rice) who was telling me that the undergrad/grad relationship was one of the most important things he considered. he didnt want them to be standoffish, and here im afraid thats the case. </p>

<p>but like one of jenskates ideas, an easy way to change that is to assign them to a residential college!! i dont know why this has not been done. maybe you can work toward getting this through, Azmodi?</p>

<p>Sreis - I did send that idea in via Rice's website (it had actually occurred to me before, as well). I will also bring it up at a GSA meeting. Even if this idea were not to work out, I plan on participating in some of the organizations on-campus, which will naturally bring me into contact with some undergrads. I will also be utilizing undergrads. as research assistants (most likely), so that seems another avenue through which to build better relations.</p>

<p>Any idea what the relationship is stand-offish one?</p>

<p>it sounds as if you would be a welcome exception :) i guess youre asking 'why' the grads are standoffish? well i dont know really. housing is certainly one thing, the lack of affiliation is no good, and the undergrad focus seems to contribute negatively also. i dont think an email is going to do much; you pretty much have to be here and be talking to people. i went to a panel discussion on how to improve the involvement of new faculty, and that really is a similar problem.</p>

<p>the faculty are assigned a college, but a lot of them don't even know about it or don't care. so its not only structural (what rice can do) but social (what you can do). that is important i think because a new faculty member or grad student is not at all expected by their peers to mingle with undergrads. even if a grad student had an inkling to be involved with undergrads, i could definitely see him quickly falling into the normal rhythm of going with their grad friends to valhalla and slowly forgetting that initial desire. </p>

<p>i dont know if we should look to deep into it, because there are too many things going on. i mean, it doesnt even seem to me to be the case that grads even want to be a part of our undergrad community. i only know 2, and they are both kinda nerdy. one asked me to do research, and that seems about the only way i would know a grad student.</p>