<p>Rice recently emailed me to ask me if I'd like to do an overnight visit in February. I would most likely go on February the 12th. My only qualm is cost...I live in Massachusetts and flights would be about $300 round trip, not counting cab fare from the airport to the university. It's a bit late to help much in the admissions process, and I'm definitely not a shoo-in by any means. However, Rice is my top choice, and I'd like to visit. Should I wait to decide to visit until after decisions are mailed, or would it be worth it, in your opinion?</p>
<p>We were wondering the same thing!</p>
<p>If the cost isn’t a big deal, Id recommend it. It would count as demonstrated interest and potentially give you a small bump. Plus it can help you confirm and experience Rice and help you confirm you want to go.</p>
<p>If the cost is an issue, then don’t do it as the upside isn’t that high, IMO.</p>
<p>Have you visited before? Did this email seem like a personal email or a mass email? Will there be other overnight opportunities after asmissions? Certain schools have fly ins and waivets gor transprtation, if finances are an issue there is no shame in asking if its a possibility and declining it if its not. For certain applicants it just wouldnt be feasible but the experience itself could be a valuable one</p>
<p>I haven’t visited. I’m not sure if it was personal or not, but I’m assuming not, since I recieved the email only 6 days after I sent in my application and I doubt that they’ve already looked at it. Here’s what the email looked like:</p>
<p>(my name),</p>
<p>Thank you for applying to Rice University! While we get to know you better through your application, you are invited to get to know Rice better by spending a night on campus in January or February.</p>
<p>With an overnight stay, you will be able to immerse yourself in the highly acclaimed Rice residential college system. Explore the facilities, eat the food, and find out how easy it is to make new friends. Experience the relationships that develop as a result of membership in this highly inclusive, intellectually stimulating environment.</p>
<p>Spaces are limited so act today. To register for an overnight visit, simply login to your student portal and click on the link provided.</p>
<p>We hope to see you in January or February!</p>
<p>Sincerely,</p>
<p>Julie M. Browning
Dean for Undergraduate Enrollment</p>
<p>Cost isn’t a huge issue, I just don’t like the idea of throwing money away on an experience that isn’t overly helpful. But from what I’ve heard, it sounds like a nice opportunity. Thanks for your advice!</p>
<p>I suggest you go and visit. Rice is enough off the beaten track for someone in Mass that it’s important to get a good hard look at the environment. I was never concerned about visiting the known schools that my kids applied to that had peers going there where there was that familiarity, but we spent time checking out the schools that were far from home and not as well known to us. If you can afford it, do the visit. </p>
<p>Qwerty, did you request an off-campus interview after you submitted your application? That would be a no-cost way are confirming your interest in Rice. We are in Pennsylvania and Rice is high on my son’s list of schools. We have viewed all the online videos of Rice’s campus that we could find, and he has his off-campus interview with a local alumni this week. </p>
<p>We decided to wait to see if he is accepted and what the financial aid package looks like before visiting. (no sense visiting if we couldn’t afford to send him)</p>
<p>Good luck whichever decision you make.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, I did not know that off-campus interviews were available until after the early December deadline. (Is ir just me, or was that deadline very early? Tufts and Johns Hopkins had the same application deadline but gave me much more time to request an interview. I really shouldn’t have to submit the application a month early to get an interview, in my opinion. Oh well.) That’s a major reason why I want to visit. Seeing as I’m not applying for financial aid, my biggest obstacle is getting in. I was planning on waiting until I got in to visit, since it is such a selective school, but I’m worried about appearing to have a low level of demonstrated interest, especially seeing as I’ve visited most of my other favorite schools. </p>
<p>Definitely visit then. Barring it being a financial burden, you stand only to gain by doing so. </p>
<p>If you can afford to attend Rice, I would definitely visit. People love Rice and you might just fall in love with it yourself. I hear that demonstrated interest is very important to Rice, so visiting would give you an admissions bump for sure, I would think. My son got the same letter, but I don’t think I will send him to the overnight. For us, we really cannot afford Rice without a big merit award, and I don’t want him to get his hopes up about a place he probably won’t be able to attend. (We are trying to set up an interview though.) Good luck! :)</p>
<p>I just booked my flight to Houston- thanks for the advice, everyone!
And @chris17mom , I’m sure things will work out for the best. Best of luck to your son!</p>
I personally would wait to visit after you see if you get in. My son was accepted and then they paid for him and I to fly from California to visit Rice in April and spend the night on campus for Owl days and then we had time to make the decision before his decision deadline.
@IBWarrior I was planning on doing that seeing as it’s such a selective university, but I feel that I had very little demonstrated interest, seeing as I applied too late to get an interview. Besides, I’ve never been to Texas before, so if I get rejected I will still have had that experience!
Edit: Seeing as I decided to go, I was looking for a little more info on the visit itself. From what I gleaned off the website, they suggest bringing a sleeping bag. Now, I’m not planning on checking a bag, and a sleeping bag is a bit of a cumbersome thing to take on a plane. Is it necessary/does anybody know how the sleeping arrangements work? I’m sure I can figure it out if I need to bring one, but I’d rather not if it’s not necessary. Weird question, I know…
maybe you can give a phone call to find whether it is necessary and some other related stuff.
@flyingpants yep, I’ll try that once their offices are open again!
I did an overnight and it was an amazing experience for me. It’s hard to really get to know the character of a school, I feel, based just on tours (although i felt I did with Rice. I did ED so I was very into it). The overnight really helped underscore what I thought I knew and gave me a really strong image of what it would be like going to school at Rice. It’s also just so amazing to have contacts and get to know everyone. The people there are incredible and so sweet. The girls I stayed with even let me stay an extra night and texted me a lot the day of ED decision releases. It was an amazing experience
@kmackall It’s great that you had such a good experience (Also- congrats on your acceptance!)! Would you mind sharing what you did at Rice while you were at the overnight (ie did you attend classes, visit clubs, etc)?
@Qwerty568 yeah of course! The first day, I actually hung out some with someone other than my host in duncan college, as my host was in class. He was fabulous, and we just had a really fun time. He showed me around and took me rollerblading throughout the calls of the residential college. I then met up with my host and she did more showing me around and we talked a lot. There was some time spent doing homework-it was a Thursday so they needed to do some. After that, she introduced me to as many people as possible, which was great because I got to talk to tons of different types of people. We went to pub, which is like a small bar/music joint and watched some of battle of the bands, which was one of the main events that night. The next day, I went to intro to bio and gen chem and did an interview, all of which were great and really helped me get to know the school academically. There was a barbecue going on in the afternoon at Wiess, which is the college I was staying in, and I met more people there. By that point, my host had offered to let me stay another night because I wanted to get a good sense of the social environment and it was hard to do that the night before. Will Rice was having their college night, so we went over there for a while and I got to meet some people there and see their dorms (all of the dorms were super nice by the way). That night, Wiess had a party that I think was called the Big Bang. I went to it and that’s when I really got to know more people. The next morning I went back to the hotel with my mom.
That’s super long, I realize, but hope it helps! It was pretty priceless for me and I’m still friends with my host and her roommate. Everyone was so welcoming and really wanted to get to know me. The people there are so great and the overnight really helped me understand the people, and also get a taste of the acedemics, which were exciting because the classes I went to were challenging but I knew I could keep up and really get into what I’m learning.
@kmackall Thank you for such a thorough response! I really appreciate it. I’m very excited for my overnight now 
It sounds like you really found your place at Rice. Thanks again!
I’m sorta in the same boat – deciding whether to wait to visit and see if I am accepted or go now to demonstrate interest. Do you guys know of any other ways to demonstrate significant interest other than visit?