<p>OK, I get the fun and loyalty in each of the houses, but I have an S who is actually very concerned about the housing at Rice. Some of his concerns relate to not being (necessarily) with like minded peers. He needs someone who "gets" him, his jokes, his passion, his hours, his idiosyncracies, and his interests. My S, the engineering/science major doesn't think the history/English/business major is going to be "compatible". I don't think it is just about the roommate, but his group of dorm peers. </p>
<p>How does "randomness" work out so well at Rice? Isn't it basically the same as a state school just putting people together and in a dorm and saying "have fun"? Oh well, at a state school I think you can at least choose which dorm you're in. </p>
<p>Help me help my S feel more comfortable with the whole "random" idea at Rice.</p>
<p>I think what your son is concerned about will most definitely be resolved come summertime when Rice emails out their roommate question/personality survey. As I understand, students fill out a comprehensive survey about their personality and character among other things(sleeping schedule?) and the housing department attempts to match people up who will gel well together to the best of their ability. As with any college, there are always going to be people who dislike their roommates, but from what I have heard, at Rice that number is very small.</p>
<p>If your son genuinely doesn’t think he could be friends with a non-science/engineering major, I think he has more pressing concerns than Rice’s housing process.</p>
<p>Most people at Rice are somewhat quirky. Just like your son, then have weird interests, jokes, and passions. People here get each other, even if its not about the same field or major. I don’t know how to really describe it. I’m an engineering major as well, and believe me, I also need people who get me. Plenty of people here will tell me I’m weird, and I just tell them that they’re weird too and we laugh about it. He won’t be alone here.</p>
<p>Randomness isn’t the same as a state school throwing a bunch of people together. Speaking for my residential college for a moment, the process is very different than that. My O-Week coordinators actually created floors of people who they thought (and were mostly right. All they have is the forms so the most important thing your son can do is be very honest on those!) would be compatible before they even paired roommates. We’re not all the same majors. But we all hang out and have fun together.</p>
<p>The smallest residential college is around 250 students. Of that 250, there will be at least someone like him. In my opinion, part of the beauty of the residential college system is that it is people from all majors. It creates a very different culture than if all of the people in my building were engineers. There will be a cog sci major who is into nerdy science stuff, but just doesn’t want to major in it. Econ majors who know many calculus songs, and proudly sing them. Everyone won’t be like that, but no matter what dorm situation you’re not going to be friends with everyone in the building.</p>
<p>There are a few people who dislike their roommates, but for the most part, they try to match you to your preferences. Part of the residential college experience is creating a melting-pot of athletes and non-athletes, academs and SE’s, people of different cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds. </p>
<p>Also, remember that a decent number of people who are engineers at O-Week will not be engineers in semester 2. Same goes for any other major as people figure out what they want to do. Personally, not getting your roommate is far better than having someone who doesn’t match your cleanliness level, your sleep preferences or likes to blast the airconditioning at 60 degrees all the time.</p>
<p>Finally, this is only for one year. Year 2 onwards you pick your roommates either on or off campus.</p>
<p>Ah it appears that I have misrepresented my S. He likes lots of people with lots of interests… heck he debates too (which is most definitely not an engineering interest). It’s just that when he comes “home” it would help if he could be with someone “compatible”.</p>
<p>I personally do think that S will be happy with whatever happens, it’s just a concern he has right now.</p>
<p>If your son wants to room with someone with a similar major, there’s a section on the form both for your ideal roommate and for anything else that should be considered. He can mention it there, and that will probably be taken seriously in matching him up with a roommate.</p>
<p>As for the randomness with the residential colleges, they try to get a representative sample of the population in each college, so your son would probably find people both at his college and at other colleges that he got along with.</p>
<p>Ultimately, it’s not a big deal if you don’t get along as well as you’d like to with the people who live right around you - there’s plenty of other places and ways to make friends at college.</p>