<p>jazzymom- The residential college system at Rice does NOT mean you are housed with the same people for four years. First of all, each year a class of seniors leaves and a new class of freshmen enters. One year (at least) many kids HAVE to live off-campus. Many juniors and seniors move off anyway. Besides that, the residential colleges are quite large and it is unlikely that you will even KNOW everyone in your college at any given point in time. The residential college system is basically your core affiliation within Rice.</p>