ExcitedOwl18
Heisman
Posts: 7,340
Joined: Dec 2013
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I Root For: Rice
Location: Northern NJ
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RE: Grantland article on CUSA
(06-25-2015 07:42 PM)waltgreenberg Wrote: (06-25-2015 06:10 PM)RiceBull Wrote: I am a father of a current female athlete from Ca. I wouldn't think our case is unique though it may be unusual. For her, academics and div. 1 were the determining factors. She applied at all the schools, with the exception of USC, that you mentioned and did not get accepted to any. She finished with a 3.5+ gpa. in Bio Eng. Not sure why she didn't get accepted other than Bio Eng is an impacted major in Ca. She did get accepted to UCSD. She was devastated though because she wanted div 1. So we did some research into top Bio Eng. schools. You all know where Rice comes in on that list. We contacted the coach and he was able to pull some strings and got her in. She is not on an athletic scholarship. Rice however, is quite generous, at least for us, in regards to discounting tuition based on need. The cost between UCSD and Rice was nearly the same. Once we learned that it was a no brainer.
I don't think you're unique at all. Though not applying as a student-athlete, my situation was similar. Growing up in the suburbs of NY, I had my heart set on Dartmouth, and early decisioned my app...but was put on wait list. I did get into both Brown and Princeton, but was totally turned off by the Providence campus, and thought Princeton was far too provincial and preppy for my taste. I thought I was going to be a math major (ended up switching to Physics, and double majoring in Econ, before heading off to business school), so asked the dean for elite level schools outside of the Northeast, and Rice was identified (along with Reed, Cal-Tech, and several others). I had the opportunity to visit Rice since my dad had an architectural job in the DFW area the winter of my Senior year...and, obviously, thought the campus was beautiful. (It didn't hurt that the Houston weather in January compared quite favorably to the winters in the Northeast!) Consequently, when I never got off the Dartmouth wait list, I decided to come down to Rice...but to be honest, my initial intent was to bust my butt and transfer up to Dartmouth after my Freshman year. However, I was fortunate enough to be placed in Baker one year after Baker and Hanzen went co-ed, and I fell in love with the residential college system....and the rest, as they say, was history.
I couldn't have been happier with my Rice experience, and things could not have worked out better for me...BUT, in reality, I came to Rice from the NY area because I did not get into the school(s) I had wanted. Also, keep in mind, back in the mid-1970 (I matriculated in '74), Texas was still largely democratic politically, though the conservative tide was gaining in prominence. Furthermore, the other lure for me of Rice was that they were in the SWC, and though at the time we were conference bottom-feeder, I wanted to go to a school with big time college sports, where I could see the best players in the country and experience the college football weekend (which was still very much a part of the Rice experience at the time).
Given the political environment in Texas today, coupled with the CUSA conference affiliation, I very much doubt I would have chosen Rice if I had to make the decision today. In fact, I know I wouldn't.
I totally, totally agree with you on conference affiliation part of your argument. Smart, athletic (at the high school level) kids want to go to Duke or Vanderbilt, not Rice. They can be a "Cameron Crazy" or go to Vandy and see SEC teams (Not unlike Rice circa 1974 I'd argue).
There are definitely people who don't apply to Rice because of Texas' perceived conservativeness, but I think that is a bad decision on their part (and not just because I like going to Rice). First of all, Texas' political environment has very little impact on the average student at Rice.. I would characterize West U area as "purple," with other areas of Houston being more blue (Montrose), and others being more red (Piney Point, River Oaks). Secondly, why does the political environment matter so much? One goes to college to learn and make friends. If one cannot do this just because one is living in a red state, I question their overall mindset. As someone who is very conservative, I did not make my college decisions based on the political climate of the state the school was located in... I applied to Rice, University of Washington, Dartmouth, UT, Georgia Tech, UCSD, and a few other schools. There were reliably blue states in there, some swing states, and some red states.
This is actually a topic I find very interesting... I think we've established that it is fact that many students won't apply to Rice simply because of its location. Why is it in your opinion so difficult to attract students from liberal areas to Rice, when the conservative (not at the local level, but state level) politics of the area have little effect on the college experience?
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