Online Only: Owl Days

By Kevin S Lin     4/12/12 7:00pm

The prospies are coming! Associate Director of Admission Fitima Jackson said Owl Days will be upon us in little over a week. Owl Days is a two-day event, starting Thursday, April 12.

Owl Days is a time when admitted, prospective Rice students visit Rice to sit in on classes, meet current Rice students and attend academic panels to get a general feeling for the campus. It is a two-day event with an optional but highly recommended overnight stay with a student host at one of the residential colleges.

"For many students, it kind of seals the deal for them when they stay overnight," Jackson said. "We have a 60 percent yield rate during Owl Days."

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Student Admission Council Director and Sid Richardson College senior Graham West said the SAC worked closely with the Office of Admission in coordinating Owl Days. West said planning started as early as last fall and that weekly meetings started at the beginning of January this year.

"There's a lot of coordination that goes into it," West said. "Students tend to come to think of [Owl Days] as prospies coming and staying during the night, but there's a lot of things that are going on during the day."

West said part of the challenges comes from recruiting the necessary number of volunteers, matching students to hosts, organizing people to speak on panels and coordinating tours for more than 400 people.  

According to Jackson, the goal of the Office of Admission this year is to get a minimum of 450 prospective students to come to Owl Days.

West said he believes the most significant aspect of Owl Days for prospective students is the opportunity to meet current Rice students.

"We take Rice's Southern hospitality for granted, but it makes a huge impression on students," West said. "That's what people love about the school - that we're so friendly."

Each residential college has an Owl Days liaison to help coordinate the hosting of prospective students.

Martel College freshman Kay Rodriguez, an Owl Days liaison and former Owl Days guest herself, said that she will be busy organizing a mixer for the prospective students among the north colleges.

"Honestly, [Owl Days] was the reason that I chose Rice," Rodriguez said.

McMurtry junior Noah Lozada also came to Owl Days his senior year of high school but did not stay the night.

"I wasn't sure where I was going yet, but after I came to Rice for Owl Days, I knew I was going to choose Rice," Lozada said.

With Owl Days a week away, West encourages current Rice students to participate in the Owl Days activities.

"Every [Rice student] becomes an ambassador," West said. "It's an excellent chance for the student body to give back in a way that profoundly influences a lot of people's admission decisions."

Link of Owl Days Events: http://admit.rice.edu/Owl_Days_ProgramAtAGlance.pdf

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