The college tour redux

[IndependentlyPoor]

It seems that this year Rice received more than 11,000 applications for 900 places in the freshman class. Congratulations to your daughter for making the cut.

[Leonidas]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nords Then as she tried to defend ND's "family" concept she realized it bothered her that ND was so full of WASP kids making stereotypic jokes about Asians.

This won't be an issue at Rice I don't believe. Houston, if anything, is multicultural to the max, and asians are definitely well represented. As is just about every other ethnic/national group you can think of.

The fusion can get strange at times, and I thought of this thread today when I checked my mail and found a flier for China King Halal Chinese restaurant. No pork or alcohol on the to-go menu, and it advertises "100% Halal (Kosher) meat. All utensils & equipment fulfill Islamic Requirement!"

[IndependentlyPoor]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leonidas This won't be an issue at Rice I don't believe. Houston, if anything, is multicultural to the max, and asians are definitely well represented. As is just about every other ethnic/national group you can think of.

Not a problem at Rice, but there is that cringe inducing ethnic travesty of a cheer that Texas A&M chants at Rice games. Sorry. No way I am going to repeat it here.

[Nords]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leonidas This won't be an issue at Rice I don't believe. Houston, if anything, is multicultural to the max, and asians are definitely well represented. As is just about every other ethnic/national group you can think of.

I think that's one of the things that made the Rice campus resonate so well with us. And when you're in the Heartland or on the East Coast you can spot a Hawaii resident from hundreds of yards.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leonidas The fusion can get strange at times, and I thought of this thread today when I checked my mail and found a flier for China King Halal Chinese restaurant. No pork or alcohol on the to-go menu, and it advertises "100% Halal (Kosher) meat. All utensils & equipment fulfill Islamic Requirement!"

It can get mighty profitable, too. I forget where I read an article about the rapid rise in revenue from Islamic marketing. Another triumph of capitalism over Communism fundamentalism.

Quote:

Originally Posted by IndependentlyPoor Not a problem at Rice, but there is that cringe inducing ethnic travesty of a cheer that Texas A&M chants at Rice games. Sorry. No way I am going to repeat it here.

That couldn't possibly be any worse than the stuff that goes on at Army-Navy games... oh wait... Aggies... never mind.

[LOL!]

NPR reported recently on another college in Houston that is very multicultural:
Houston Community College Has Global Appeal : NPR

[Nords]

Just to cap off this thread and to answer a few PMs: our daughter was accepted "early decision" at Rice on an NROTC scholarship. She still wants to study civil engineering. It's hypothetically possible for her to commission directly into the Navy SeaBees, but it's much more likely that she'll do 3-5 years in the surface fleet before a lateral transfer to the SeaBees.

Yes, she could join the submarine force. After her first five-year obligation she'd be eligible for a retention bonus of at least $25K/year for an additional obligation of 3-5 years, renewable for as long as 20 years. Rumor is that's going to $30K soon. She's sorely tempted (I can understand that), but she'll probably pass up this "opportunity" because they'd never let her leave the sub force for the SeaBees. But she's going to get a few days aboard a sub next summer to help her make up her mind.

NROTC is spending the rest of this week on "indoctrination". That apparently means learning how to put on uniforms, practice marching drill, and do the Navy's physical fitness test. This is a tad different from our parental experience at USNA, but she decided all on her own that she didn't need a service academy to teach her those skills.

Rice starts freshman orientation this Sunday and begins fall semester classes a week later. The week she got her admissions notification she was invited to Rice's Facebook "Class of '14" group and another Rice "Women Engineers" group. These freshman have already gotten to know each other better than I knew my classmates during my first semester, and some of her future classmates are even dating each other. (Talk about ruining the college experience before it starts.) 95% of her admissions admin has been online-- the roommate questionnaire, the freshman English placement exam, the health data form, and even the billing. I've been able to pay Rice directly from the web billpay application linked to our Fidelity 529 account. The only paper she received was the Rice "Welcome to your new dorm" book with photos & bios of her dorm's masters, RAs, and upperclass.

Years ago when our kid started sorting her college search criteria (small schools, engineering, NROTC) she passed right over Rice. It took a few good hard nudges from several members of this board to get me to point her back toward Rice. By the time we visited there we'd already seen USNA, Notre Dame, Carnegie-Mellon, and RPI. The last three were pretty impressive to us parents, but Rice felt much more like home as well as combining the advantages of a big city with the strengths of a small school. Houston summers are no picnic, but they certainly beat the frozen-wasteland winters of the other schools. She felt that Rice blew away the other schools.

I haven't seen any numbers yet, but I've heard that Rice's NROTC unit graduates a disproportionately high number of submariners and civil engineers. The unit has about 30-40 mids but f I understand the admissions & NROTC e-mails correctly, our teen's the only NROTC '14 member who was accepted to Rice. (Other NROTC unit members come from four other local Houston colleges.) She was assigned a sponsor from '13 who did a good job of answering her questions, but that girl resigned from NROTC a few months ago at the end of her freshman year. She would have incurred a service obligation if she'd stayed with NROTC in sophomore year, so she probably decided she'd seen enough. Ironically she and our daughter also decided to be roommates, so our kid should get an earful on both the good & bad of NROTC.

I guess it's also possible that within the next few months our teen could decide that she's also seen enough of NROTC, or civil engineering, and perhaps even Rice. But she's researched the heck out of these topics (as well as taking some high school engineering/construction classes) so we'll see how persistent she's feeling.

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

Quote:

I guess it's also possible that within the next few months our teen could decide that she's also seen enough of NROTC, or civil engineering, and perhaps even Rice.

Or even Houston. Oh, wait. She is acquainted with cockroaches and mosquitoes and living in a steam bath.

Any chance she would get an early start, like John Greaney? 4yrs work in 3 years?

[ronocnikral]

houston ain't so bad! the good thing is it minimizes the need for ironing.

i'm looking at rice from my office window now, looks like a bunch of broccoli.

i'm sure your daughter will get settled in just fine. i think it is wise to learn all the indoctrination during ROTC. i could never get the shoe shining down though...

and jan in houston is no picnic as well, especially for those who are used to one season.

[Nords]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ed_The_Gypsy Any chance she would get an early start, like John Greaney? 4yrs work in 3 years?

That's a good question. The NROTC answer is "no" because they teach one (or possibly two) courses each semester of the four years.

If she dropped NROTC then she'd still be so enamored of electives, studying abroad, and double majors that she'd probably stay until her money ran out. Oddly enough, one of the reasons she's really attracted to NROTC is because they guarantee a job will be waiting for her at the other end of the program. None of that scary resume-writing anxiety and interview angst for her. Plus she's all enthused that the Navy will "let" her live in Japan or Italy for a few years.

I feel that we've supplied enough fuel and launch support for her to achieve orbital parameters. The better she does at conserving the college funds, the more she'll earn as her share. No matter how it all turns out it will be a lifelong learning experience.

[Leonidas]

Congratulations to the young lady, and pass on a howdy and welcome to Houston for me. But she's the last one - Houston is now officially full.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nords The better she does at conserving the college funds, the more she'll earn as her share.

I can't recall if you've explained the details of this deal before. Apologies if you have done so, but I would ask what you worked out with her on her share of the conserved funds.

[Nords]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leonidas Congratulations to the young lady, and pass on a howdy and welcome to Houston for me. But she's the last one - Houston is now officially full.

If it helps, we made her leave the Prius here...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leonidas I can't recall if you've explained the details of this deal before. Apologies if you have done so, but I would ask what you worked out with her on her share of the conserved funds.

It's in this thread: http://www.early-retirement.org/foru...tml#post966644

Quote:

Our kid may decide in four months that she never wants to have anything to do with NROTC or college ever again, but for now the plan is to help her maximize her tax-deferred savings during the first few years out of college. (In the military that's the TSP as well as her Roth IRA.) Most college graduates don't aggressively fund their retirement accounts for the first few years, and a few dollars there will compound for at least 20-30 years to have the biggest impact.

Her reaction so far can best be described as "freaked out by the fiscal responsibility". She probably needs some more time to think through it and get used to it.

[clifp]

I am waiting for the next Nord's book "Emptying the nest for Military Families".

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

Quote:

If it helps, we made her leave the Prius here...

Awww.... You should have let her drive it there.

[Nords]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ed_The_Gypsy Awww.... You should have let her drive it there.

If I really wanted her to suffer, I would've let her keep a car in downtown Houston...

[Nords]

I've been wrapping up some threads over the months, and I'm very happy to do this one: our daughter is officially off the family payroll.

Nearly seven years ago, she was finishing her high-school freshman year and starting the college search. We were planning a two-week Mainland trip to visit three schools that met her criteria. Long-time poster LOL! made a comment on this college-search thread:
http://www.early-retirement.org/foru...tml#post528817

Quote:

Originally Posted by LOL! I didn't see Rice University in Houston mentioned in this thread. I think Rice meets all the criteria in spades. The Rice grads that I know are exceptionally well-rounded, smart, unpretentious and good people. Check it out.

I was apathetic about adding yet another college to our high-schooler's list, but LOL's comment was affirmed by several emphatic PMs and e-mails from other Houston residents and Rice alumni. I dutifully passed it on to our daughter.

In October 2008 we finally visited the Rice campus. By now she'd seen enough universities to recognize what she was seeking, and her first step inside their hedges evoked a "Wow!" reaction. By the end of the day she was sure this was "the place", but we'd already seen that infatuation with the U.S. Naval Academy. She realized that Rice's student demographics were a little bit out of her league but she decided to apply as her stretch college.

In 2009 (after junior year) she did campus programs. One week of USNA's notorious Summer Seminar convinced her that she'd seen enough, and three weeks at Notre Dame assured her that she wanted to study civil engineering. Since she wasn't going to USNA she decided to apply for a Navy ROTC scholarship. Once they covered her tuition she decided to apply "early decision" to Rice-- and she was accepted.

It's been an interesting four years, and now she's a graduate. Frankly Rice's academics blew her doors off (I've read her textbooks and heard about all of her exams) but she stuck with it. She just learned that she passed the FE, so she's officially a civil engineer in training for her PE. She enjoyed NROTC, including summer training with all branches of the Navy and Marine Corps. The submarine service was her top choice, but BUPERS assigned her to surface nuclear power (aircraft carriers) and she's happy with that job. She passed her Naval Reactors interviews and after graduation she'll attend another eight weeks of division officer training. The Navy wants their nukes to learn how to drive & shoot before they disappear into the engineroom, so today she reports aboard the USS ROSS (DDG-71). (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Ross_(DDG-71)) Their homeport is about to change to Rota, Spain, where she's looking forward to two years of Mediterranean deployments and European liberty!

It's been an interesting seven years. Thanks again to everyone who contributed their advice and stories to the search, and mahalo nui loa to all the Rice fans who helped make it happen!

[MBAustin]

Congratulations to her and to your family!

[deserat]

OK - I get the picture with the lei and robe, but what are you doing to her uniform sleeves We in the Air Force pin it on our shoulders - are you pinning a stripe on her sleeve? ( I have my requisite pic of my Dad doing that too many years ago (he also pinned on my eagles a few years ago :-)))

From a fellow armed services member who has done joint duty and yet is still confused about the other services' traditions....

Great pics, by the way and the European tour will be fun....when she has free time - heh - not much of that to go around when on active duty in the military

Like the informal Hawaii clothes styles of Mom and Dad, too....definitely the retired approach and I suspect those clothes are the dressiest you have and have worn in awhile ;-)

[KB]

Congratulations to your DD and her parents.

[eytonxav]

Congrats to your DD. Civil Eng, I bet the Seabees mouths are watering, although a fighting construction unit could be dangerous.

[omni550]

Congratulations to DD and her parents!

(What is that "pile o'stuff" wrapped around her neck? a million lei's?)

omni