incubyte

Just wondering if anyone else is thinking similar things as me.

I applied feeling that Rice was not that great of a fit for me, but I did visit with a completely open mind. Basically, the visit confirmed all of my reservations about Rice--academically, socially, culturally...

I have complete and utter respect for Rice as an institution -- everyone I met was amazingly nice and many were brilliant -- but the visit made me realize it was definitely not for me. I did not find some of the things I seek in a college.

mollypockets

I had an amazing time at Owl Weekend, but sadly I'm sending my deposit into UVA this week.
It's a financial thing.
I did find the ready presence of alcohol on campus a little offputting, but I already knew it was a wet campus.
Every single person I met was bright, friendly, hardworking, and in general, someone I would enjoy having as a classmate.
But I do agree on some levels with the OP...I'm just not the partying type. Granted, not everyone at Rice parties, and everyone makes their own choices, etc.
I don't know. As much as I would like to go to Rice, between the cost and the drinking, it just doesn't seem meant to be.

misterme2009

Among all the schools I looked at before coming to Rice, Rice was by far the least of the drinking schools. That put aside, college students drink everywhere. I congratulate you all on your choices of college, but its unfortunate Rice came off that way to you.

mollypockets

Were you at the same Rice as I was?
And if so, where else did you look that was wetter than Rice?
No offense to Rice, I love the school, but there's a serious alcohol problem. I understand the work hard, play hard ideal, but one of the dorms I saw had about 200 empty beer and liqour bottles in it. On display...like trophies.
Another had a permanent beer pong set up.
And these are not anomalies.

deb08

Keep in mind that this year's Owl Weekend started the day after Beer Bike 2.0, which could account for the greater number of beer cans, etc. around.

lauras50

My son is there and he doesn't drink and most of his friends drink very rarely. That's the play hard party hard atmosphere. He and his friends work very very hard and some do relax and maybe have a drink when they have a moment. Some students do drink too much, but most schools have drinking issues. Most High schools have drinking issues...and drugs. As I warned my son, you might not drink, but you better be prepared not to be too judgemental or you will not have any friends. Just choose them wisely and you will find people just like you....and he did and lots of them. He's very very happy, even as a non-drinker.
The point of an wet campus is that the school understands that kids do drink and if it's driven "underground" someone may get hurt if someone drinks too much and kids feel they will get in trouble if they report a problem. Rice has a good samaritian policy that if you report someone very drunk who needs help you will not get in touble. At other schools you can get in trouble. That's why it's more out in the open which can save lives.

jenskate1

Yeah, I drink very very rarely. And the vast majority of my friends do the same. It's hard because the drinkers are a bit more visible than the non-drinkers sometimes, and that can make the drinking seem more overwhelming than it really is. Also, some people think that 1. It's fun to get prospies to drink, or 2. That prospies all really want to drink, and so that it why the alcohol can be more present at Owl Weekend than on a normal weekend.

Clendenenator

My host didn't drink, and yet somehow there ended up being a party in his suite...interesting, but anyway, he told me that almost nobody usually drinks on a sunday/monday and that people were just trying to stick it to 'em since they changed owl weekend to a non-weekend.

kathryn07

At Rice, you can find students who drink all the time and students who never drink at all. I happen to know a few students who have been at Rice for two years now and have never taken a sip of alchohol. There are students who go out and get drunk, and it is very easy to get alchohol on campus if you want it. However, as far as social pressure to drink goes, it is actually quite minimal. I don't plan to start drinking at Rice, and I was not concerned about the drinking I saw on campus. (As a matter of fact, most of the drinking/smoking/who-knows-what on campus the past few days were from PROSPIES.)

I would suggest that you don't let Owl Weekend completely influence your decision. Let it be a part of it, especially if that was your only visit to Rice, but don't let it be all of it.

Ricebound1

Do you think UVA students drink less than Rice students? I honestly cannot say, but I'd doubt that they do.

Clendenenator

I'm certain UVA students drink more than Rice students. My brother-in-law went to UVA. I think most would agree UVA is one of those very good schools that is also a party school, whereas Rice is a very good school that has parties. You can't avoid that unless you go to Caltech or a religious school.

Also...note that at least Rice doesn't have an exclusionary feel. At a frat dominated school, there will be crazy drinking AND people will be left out. At Rice there is drinking, but at least nobody will be ostracized.

sorrygrateful

Drinking and partying isn't unique to Rice, and I doubt UVA students drinks less than Rice students. It doesn't matter where you go (unless it's a religious school), you're always going to find liquor bottles on display and beer pong tables set up in people's rooms. Alcohol's everywhere, so don't let it bother you too much.

I rarely drink and so do most of my friends, and we're happy here. On weekends, we barely even notice the parties are around unless we're actively seeking them out.

NYSkins1

The thing about Owl Weekend is that it's really hard to match hosts to Owls. On the hosting form, we were asked "How social are you, on a scale of 1-5?" Nobody answered 1, and only 4 people answered 2. About 70 percent said 4 or 5. That's just the nature of the type of people who like to host for these sorts of things. My friend, who put down 5, got an Owl who put down 1. I put down 4, but both of my prospies, I believe, put down 3, and one of them really should have put down a 2.

What I tried to do over Owl Weekend was take care of the prospies who elected not to drink (which I can respect--I didn't drink in high school), and show them that there is a sober culture at Rice, and that it's not necessarily mutually exclusive from the drinking culture. However, you can only do that for so many people--you start to feel like a camp counselor when you're leading around more than 10 or so prospies.

Some of the weekends I have the most fun are those on which I choose not to drink. I wish there weren't such a social stigma attached to alcohol, because then this entire thing wouldn't be a concern.

Singersmom07

You did a good job. My D was matched perfectly.

jipper

if you are going to be this judgmental you will not have many friends in college buddy.