Rice Tour Questions

Houston1021
Sun, 30 Jun 2019 13:47:53 +0000

My daughter is a Rice tour guide. She gives tours year round. After the info session several tour guides take small groups on a walking tour of the campus. Pick the tour guide that you think is a good fit in terms of personality/major etc. Let your student ask them questions. Sometimes the parents are really overbearing. While the campus is not as busy now as it is in the fall, there are summer school classes in session now.  Some students are on campus taking summer classes, and the athletes have returned. You probably will not get to see an actual dorm room as they are mostly closed for the summer. However, you will go into at least one dorm (residential college)building. Ask the student guide which residential college he/she is from and why it is the best. The guide will definitely have an opinion.

  Before or after  your tour, visit the Rice Coffee House, a student run business, in the RMC (Student Center) and hang out for a while. It is near the bookstore. The staff are all Rice students. You will be able to cool off, observe students in their natural habitat, and use the wifi. The coffee house, or Chaus as it is known, has great and reasonable coffees, pastries, etc. My daughter spends lots of time and $ there.

  It is great that your son is going to be able to interview while he is on campus. He should go online and read some back issues of the Rice Thresher (campus newspaper) to get a feel for college life and maybe spur some questions. If he waited until fall to interview, the slots might be filled. Local alumni also do interviews, but typically that is after the applications are in.

 My daughter interviewed on campus during the fall of her high school senior year with a Rice senior and said it was pretty informal. Over the summer, the interviews may be with admission staff rather than students. I  waited in the reception area of the admissions office while she interviewed. She and the interviewer came out afterwards, and the interviewer asked me if I had any questions. I was not expecting that so had nothing really to ask. It probably was just a courtesy. Casual dress is fine for the interview.

If you have extra time visit the Rice Village area just to the west of campus. There are lots of shops and restaurants there. That is where the students go for occasional meals off campus, to shop, etc. Some restaurants to try in the Rice Village are Hungry’s (table service healthy food), Torchy’s Taco’s (order at counter tacos) and Hopdoddy’s hamburgers (order at counter burgers). There is some street parking in the Rice Village, but the Rice Village parking garages allow you park for 2 hours for free. There is also a Rice Owls shop in the Village next to the Shake Shack. The museum district and the Houston medical center, the largest medical center in the world, are right across Main street from the campus entrances. The towers of the medical center are easily seen from all parts of the campus. If you have a car, you could drive through Hermann Park which is directly across Main street from campus to see some of the museums and cultural amenities there.

Rice does set up on campus overnight visits for high school seniors In the fall. If you have already visited, it is not really necessary to come back for that. My daughter did an overnight, and it really sold her on Rice. However, we live in Houston so it was easy for her to get there.

Wear cool clothing and comfortable walking shoes for your campus visit/interview. Make sure to have a small fold up umbrella in case of rain. I hope you and your son enjoy your visit to Rice.