Hi Houston s2kers:
I'm currently living in the San Francisco Bay Area, and recently got into Rice for grad school(none of the Cali schools wanted me ). I am considering going to Rice this fall, and had some questions about the area. I've never been to Texas, so please excuse me if anything I say is offensive/stereotypical

1. How much car theft is there in Houston? S2k parts and cars get broken into a lot around the SF area, but I have my car in a covered garage, so its not been a problem for me. I'm probably going to get a car alarm installed either way, just for peace of mind.

2. Is the weather good for s2ks/top down driving? I know Houston is famous for being ridiculously hot and humid, but maybe at night itd be nice to have the top down.

3. Is flooding a real problem for our cars? wikipedia says that there is a year-round threat of flooding around the Houston area. I will probably be on campus/taking public trans most of the time, but I don't want my poor s2k to get drowned!

My other questions are more about Rice and the city itself, if anyone knows anything about it.

4. Is Houston like any big metropolitan city (NYC, SF, LA, etc)? Never having really gone to Texas, I have a constant lingering stereotype that Houston is full of cowboys and/or rednecks (haha sorry, im pretty sure this isnt true) I'm really used to living in or near big cities, so I'm wondering how quickly I would adjust to the culture around there.

5. Anyone who has gone to Rice have any good/bad impressions of the school and area?

6. Is there a big variety of delicious foods? I hate suburbs where all there is to eat are chain stores like applebees and TGIF's. I'm totally into the cheap/ethnic/questionable-looking-but-delicious type foods.

I am a bit apprehensive about leaving Cali, where all of my friends are, to go to a state where I know absolutely no one. Any other opinions would be great. Thanks!

-Alex

 

Alex,

Considering that you live by rice, you are not far from a lot of cheap ethnic food. If you research, Houston is the fourth largest city behind NY, LA, and Chicago. You'll love the night life and cultural events the city has to offer. In terms of car theft, there are places you do not want to park in the street at night. Right now, the weather is really cool and we are going to dip in the thirties tonight. As far as flooding is involved, there are areas of Houston that floods more so then others. With that being said, I've never had any problems with flooding. I hope this helps cover some of the questions you asked. Rice is a great school and definitely looks nice on the resume. Good luck!

Skyler

 

Congrats on getting into Rice! It's a nice school. While it's no Berkeley, it's one of the "ivy leagues" of the south. Out of curiosity, what program are you going into?

1) There's car theft no matter where you go. I would say I have a better chance of driving around in a ITR in Houston than NorCal/SoCal. Car alarm is a good idea.

2) Many drive top-down year-round. You could probably drive this way except Dec and Jan. Just remember, there are occasional downpours (t-storms)

3) There are flash floods here (see downpour comment in #2). But unless you have a CAI that sucks water from the bottom, this shouldn't be a problem

4) Houston is diversified with rednecks, the homeless, the wealthy, Asian, African-American, Latino, soccer-moms, etc... Not too many cowboys, but you'll see a few wearing cowboy boots and an occasional cowboy hat. You're more likely to see the common Porsche 911, BMW, or Ferrari 360 Modena than somebody galloping on a horse (although you'll see that at parks and events).

5) I've had a few undergrad classes there and DJ'd their radio station once as a guest. It's a nice campus adjacent to the Texas Medical Center (largest med ctr in the world, larger than most other cities' downtown). It has a great reputation with all its research there. Forgot the name, but a Nobel Prize winner teaches there at the Nanoresearch center. Since you'll be at Rice, you'll become familiar with "NOD" There's always Baker 13 there if you're the "streaky" type

6) Food: Vietnamese, Cantonese, Japanese, Mexican, Spanish, Ethiopian, Cajun, North Indian, South Indian, Filipino, Thai, Russian, German...I could go on...

Coming from Cali, you will develop allergic rhinitis. You'll hate the humidity and weather. You'll love the roads if you know where to find them You'll love the hospitality. You'll love the food (and its cheap prices). And there's a great S2000 community in Houston (not apparent by looking at this forum here, but we usually get ~15-20 S2000 owners at each of our weekly events.

 

Theft is really only a problem if you aren't careful where you park. Parking on campus and at malls is usually a little more dangerous than other places but Rice is probably much better than U of H for example. If you can afford living in San Francisco then you can probably get a nice house in Houston so theft at night shouldn't be a problem.

I've spent some time in San Francisco because work sends me out to Palo Alto a few times a year. You definitely will be giving up a lot of scenery by moving to Texas since you are spoiled in the bay area in that aspect. If you are ok with that; you gain a lot by living in Houston.

Housing is roughly 4 times cheaper in Houston for a comparable home in Houston unless you are looking inside the loop. We also don't pay a state tax so that is a considerable win financially as well. You might take around a 15% pay cut moving here but this is easily offset by the cheap cost of living.

Regarding food, similar to the bay area we have a very large Asian population and much of that is Vietnamese. That mixed with a large Indian population helps spice up the food choices when you get tired of Mexican food (:

The weather is hit or miss for top down driving. The middle of the summer can be unbearable but the evenings are great. During the winter the temperature fluctuates between 30 and 80. It won't feel as cold because we don't get the winds like you do in the bay area.

Flooding is really only an issue if you are careless. I've had a CAI for 5 years and never had trouble because I go around water that is more than an inch deep.

 

medicalstudent: Its no Berkeley alright, but the Rice Bioengineering program (which I got into) is actually ranked higher than Berkeley in some surveys (sometimes tied, sometimes 1 spot lower). Coincidentally, I did my undergrad in BioE at Berkeley. Too bad Berkeley doesnt like taking their undergrads into their own grad program, unless they are superstars(not me).

Moike: I will definitely be taking more than a 15% pay cut, being that I am working full time right now, and am looking to live off of the phd stipend. its more like... 55% pay cut

I am already sure that I am going to HATE the weather, having been spoiled these last 5 years living in the bay area. However, I will probably LOVE the traffic and roads, having had to suffer the horrible bay area traffic, parking, and lack of nearby fun drives these last 5 years

 

lol you will not like the roads nor the traffic here in houston either.. gl on the decision!

 

What? No nearby fun roads to drive. I'm so jealous you guys have Hwy 1 along the coast. I took my chevy malibu rental car down that one time.

 

There are fun roads to drive on, but it's a good 45-min to 1-hr from Rice, and you have to know where to go.

One thing you'll learn about living in TX, everything is far away from each other. Everything is expressed in time, not mileage. 30 minutes away to somewhere is considered close (~20-30 miles away). There's also many racetracks you can go to for DEs as well (Texas World Speedway, Motorsports Ranch @ Houston, Grand Sport Speedway).

There's much more parking here (no issue). Roads here are pockmarked with potholes and bumps everywhere. The engineers designed the roads here as if we all had SUVs and trucks (which incidentally, you'll see quite often).

BioE sounds like fun! I had thought about biophysics before doing the whole med thing.

 

Doh, bad traffic in Houston too?

Isn't Rice pretty close to downtown Houston? I think theres supposed to be a shuttle from campus straight to downtown or something like that.

 

Yeeeee Haww!!!!!

We all wear boots down here when we roll in our s2k's.It helps me double clutch even better