Since the beginning, Rice University has offered both undergraduate and graduate degrees. Rice University (or The Rice Institute back then) opened its arches in 1912 to students seeking higher education. Rice’s first commencement ceremony in 1916 awarded 35 bachelor’s degrees and one master’s degree. In 1916, the first doctoral degree was awarded. Here is a fun fact: typically, schools that have “college” in the name only have undergraduate degrees, while those with “university” in the name have both undergraduate and graduate degrees. Rice continues to be an exceptional university with competitive acceptance rates similar to those in the Ivy League.
All of the history and numbers are good to know, yet they do not describe the Rice “Experience.” In this blog, I will discuss a few differences I have noticed between my undergraduate and graduate experience at Rice. To provide a short backstory of my academic career, I began my time at Rice in 2016 at Baker College (Hell Yeah!) and graduated with my bachelor’s degree in 2020 (COVID time). I double majored in psychology and cognitive sciences and double minored in neuroscience and engineering design. I joined a doctoral program at Old Dominion University (ODU), where I completed my master’s in psychology in 2022. I then moved with my advisor back to Rice, where I am currently completing my doctoral degree in Human Factors/Human-Computer Interaction psychology.
I know my Rice experiences are not back-to-back as others may have. Yet, when I reentered Rice in 2022, pandemic protocols were relaxing, which allowed me to better compare my two experiences. My discussion will span over multiple blog posts since there are multiple facets of the Rice Experience that I can compare. This blog is the second installment and focuses on the housing differences between undergraduate and graduate school at Rice.
Undergraduate: Residential Colleges
Life at Rice is strongly promoted through residential colleges for the undergraduate experience. Instead of sororities and fraternities, Rice has residential colleges. The residential college is where students have their on-campus housing (if they choose to live on campus), common space where they can study and eat, and outer commons space where they can relax and play games. On-campus dorms come fully furnished with a desk, closet, drawers, and a bed. Students also have free access to the dorm's communal washers and dryers. Undergraduate students are randomly assigned to one of the 11 residential colleges when they matriculate, and this college becomes a part of their Rice identity. This promotes diversity by allowing students to live amongst peers who may not be part of their academic school or degree. The students then remain a part of their residential college for the duration of their undergraduate experience at Rice. The residential colleges are ordered based on inception, and each has a unique culture, chants, traditions, and flag. For graduation and matriculation events, students are organized by their residential colleges. The order of the residential colleges is as follows: Baker, Will Rice, Hanszen, Wiess, Jones, Brown, Lovett, Sid Richardson, Martel, McMurtry, and Duncan. These colleges are divided into South (Baker, Will Rice, Hanszen, Wiess, Lovett, Sid Richardson) and North (Jones, Brown, Martel, McMurtry, Duncan) colleges based on their location on campus. The residential colleges are named after significant figures (and/or donors) to Rice.
Undergraduate students can also choose to live off campus. This typically happens if they decide to move off campus (usually sharing a rented house or apartment in the area with other students) or they get kicked off based on each residential college's lottery system. With the increasing number of admitted students each year and the much lower number of on-campus dorms available, a number of students have to find housing outside of the hedges. Each residential college has a lottery system where students get randomly picked and placed on a “kick” list, which kicks them out of the dorms. At least for my experience at Baker, once you are on the list, you can choose to vote yourself out of the dorms and receive extra points towards your room draw. Dorms are also decided based on this room draw system. The more points you have, the more likely you will get the room you want (the very few cherished single rooms at Baker). I have been on the kick list several times, but each time a person votes themselves off, there is one more spot for me to get placed back in the dorms so that I would not be kicked off. I was lucky to stay on campus for all four years of my undergraduate experience. Baker is the most conveniently located college, especially for the location of my classes.
Graduate: On- or Off-Campus Housing
All graduate students are a part of the Graduate Student Association (GSA), the graduate student equivalent to a residential college. When it comes to Beer Bike and Intermural sports, it acts like a residential college. Yet, GSA does not have on-campus housing like the undergraduate students do. Instead, there is graduate student housing provided by Rice off campus, specifically the Rice Village Apartments (RVA), Rice Graduate Apartments (RGA), and the Rice Village Townhomes. However, similar to the residential colleges, a lottery system determines who can live in these apartments. Graduate students are guaranteed housing in their first year of graduate school in these apartments if they wish to live there. However, they are not guaranteed the specific room (e.g., 1 bed/1 bath) they want, and they may be randomly paired with a roommate. Both RVA and RGA come fully furnished with a desk, closet, drawers, and a bed, similar to the residential college dorms (with the same furniture). This is especially helpful if you do not want to buy furniture or will not be in Houston long enough to merit purchasing furniture. Additionally, these spots have buses that will take students to and from campus.
I personally chose to find an apartment complex rather than stay in one of the Rice apartments since I came with my furniture from Virginia. Additionally, for the apartment I found, the price per square foot was better and more worthwhile than the Rice housing and the location. I had the transportation I needed to get to campus easily, another reason I chose to live off campus. Lastly, after living alone in Virginia, I grew accustomed to it and did not want to have a roommate. I was fortunate enough to be financially able to afford an apartment by myself.
Overall, I believe the on-campus housing as an undergraduate student added significant value to my life. I highly recommend that undergraduate students stay on campus if they are able to do so for the sense of community and family that the residential colleges provide. As a graduate student who already had furniture, it worked out better for me to live by myself in an apartment complex nearby campus rather than in the housing Rice had for graduate students. Additionally, after living on my own, I knew what I wanted in an apartment and the space that I needed for my furniture.
About the author:
Katie Garcia is from Houston, Texas and is a current Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Psychological Sciences studying Human Factors and Human-Computer Interaction. She got her B.S. in psychology and cognitive sciences at Rice University, and her M.S. in psychology from Old Dominion University. Read more.
Further Reading:
Transitioning from Rice to Rice: Undergrad to Grad Experience – Social Events
Transitioning from Rice to Rice: Undergrad to Grad Experience – Orientation
Transitioning from Rice to Rice: Undergrad to Grad Experience – Extra Income