A lot of my friends in South Korea and the US ask me why I chose Rice University as an exchange school. At first, I thought that I would choose among the universities in LA or New York. That’s because they are big and popular cities in the US and I thought they would have a lot of merits, such as nice weather, attractions, famous universities etc. To be honest, I’ve never heard of Rice University before until I searched for an application for exchange students. Not just me, but also my close friends have never heard of this university before. So when I told them that I am going to Rice University, they just laughed at me because of its name. (People in South Korea usually eat rice at least once everyday.) However, after searching about Rice University, I felt like I should go to Rice University.
The first reason was the academic excellence of Rice University. Rice University has not only a low acceptance rate, but also great students and faculties. I was searching for graduate school or research opportunities which I can attend after undergraduate graduation. According to the “Niche”, the college ranking system, Rice university is the best college for kinesiology and sports management in America. I thought that this university was the best option for me because I majored in physical education in my home university, and I want to pursue my career in that field.
The second reason was because Rice University is located in Houston. I thought LA or New York were too popular to improve my english.That’s because a lot of international students from Korea tend to go to universities in those regions. I felt like if I go to LA or New York, it would be much easier for me to hang out with Koreans. However, Houston has relatively fewer Korean students compared to those two regions, and Rice University is unfamiliar with most Korean students. In fact, I’m the only exchange student from South Korea this year and so far, I have met a few Korean students, but I usually speak and listen in English everyday.
After about a month in Rice university, I feel like there are more things which make Rice University so special. I’m pretty sure that the most special event in Rice university is the O-week. During the O-week, all freshmen are assigned in each group in their college. It can be hard to follow up every schedule during O-week, but a lot of upperclassmen who are volunteering as advisors provide essential information about college life to freshmen who just came into the college. I’ve got not only important information about college life, but also invaluable memories and friends. For example, there was an activity called “Atlas”. In that activity, every group should solve and pass each station by cooperating with each other. It was really nasty to put syrup in our sweaty arms and to run the whole campus in August. However I think it was the most entertaining activity and the great opportunity to get closer to our O-week group members. Relationships started from O-week tend to be prolonged until the whole college year. Our O-week group is still having regular dinner every week.
In addition, the residential college system in Rice university also makes the school special. Every student is assigned to each residential college from freshman year. Each residential college has their own stories, traditions, chants, and even siblings and rivalries. Every residential college competes with each other at various sports events, for example, flag football and beer bikes. These events make residential colleges gather as one so that students can feel a sense of belonging to their community. For instance, we had an event called “tea trike”, which is a competition between rival colleges. At that time, we were singing our college’s chant, and also we won the game, which improves my sense of belonging to our community. Also residential colleges are run by a student representative body which allows students to get ownership of residential colleges. There are a lot of positions for students who want to get involved in the community. For example, there are several student representatives, and a lot of student committees in each college. I think this is a good opportunity for students to improve their communication skills, responsibility, and personalities.
Rice university has a great peer advisory system which makes students not only competent, but also much connected. In the O-week, there are a lot of O-week group advisors who help freshmen to get used to college life. Also every residential college appoints some students as peer academic advisors who help freshmen to find and register courses in the first semester. A lot of classes have peer advisors in each residential college so that students who need help can reach out to peer advisors much easier. Also I’m pretty shocked during one of the classes, because the TA of the class is an undergraduate student and he also talked about his projects which he had done during the class. In my home university, almost every TA is a graduate student, not undergraduate students. Similar to the peer advisor system, I think this kind of culture can increase the competence of undergraduates.
I would like to conclude that the thing which makes Rice university special is not only the intellectual excellence but also the power of communities in Rice University. I believe that Rice university is a great school because people are connected with each other. I would like to adopt a lot of tools which I learned from Rice University at my home university so that my home university can be more connected to each other and can take care of other students.