Houston - What's it really like?
Life in Houston
If you haven't visited Houston, you might be surprised to learn that it is a vibrant, easy-to-live-in city where museums, places to live and restaurants often occupy the same block. It is a city where graduate students can actually afford to go out for sushi, watch the Astros play baseball, or go to the theatre.
Houston is an exuberant place to live. It has just what you would expect of the 4th largest city in the U.S.; NBA and WBNA championship basketball teams as well as professional baseball and football teams, restaurants that serve everything from Thai food to tapas, a year round array of festivals and many, many parks. But Houston also has features which you might not expect--such as streets lined with decades-old live oak trees, and a level of hospitality and congeniality that you would not expect from a large city. Best of all, it is a place that is both affordable and fun for graduate student life.
Seventeen Blocks of Performing Arts
In the heart of downtown is the 17-block Theatre District, home to a collection of performing arts organizations that fill an amazing number (12,948!) of theater seats. Houston is one of only four cities in the nation with permanent companies in all four performing arts: opera, theatre, symphony and dance, all of which are ranked among the top five in the nation--and yet you can get great seats for $20 to $40/ ticket. Or you can attend a free performance at Miller Outdoor Theatre--a ten minute walk from Baylor--where music, mime and even Shakespeare are presented under the stars all summer long.
If you want a little less culture in your nightlife, downtown also has a dynamic club scene ...or you can take in a game at the new baseball field built on the old Union Station grounds, or just hang out at Bayou place (an open-air plaza bordered by restaurants), or the Wortham Theater, or the Angelika movie house.
...Plus More Museums Than You Can Count
Houston is also a city where you can take a look at a 170-foot-long skeleton of a 140-millionyear-old dinosaur, stroll through the live butterfly exhibit at the Houston Museum of Natural Science, and view famous art exhibits at the Museum of Fine Arts, both just a five minute bike ride from the Medical Center. The jewel of the Houston Museum District is the Menil Collection, the world's finest private collection of art on public display. Wandering through the Menil museum--a gift by Houston's late art patron, Dominique de Menil--is an experience not to be missed.
...But We Do Have A Few Idiosyncracies
Houston has a few features that won't be found in any other city. Every spring, the annual Art Car Parade brings out the funkier side of Houston's artists--more than 200 cars, decorated as giant insects, spaceships or pretty much whatever the imagination can conjure up.
And ice houses still thrive in Houston, something we guarantee you won't find in other major cities. All over Houston are open-air establishments (which date back to pre-refrigeration times, when the beer was kept cold on huge blocks of ice) where you can still grab a beer and often listen to live local music.
Take A Dip In The Gulf Of Mexico
A venture down to the coast--a 45 minute drive from Houston--will take you to Galveston, which has been a thriving port city since the times when Houston was still a sleepy bayou town. Enjoy Mardi Gras, Galveston-style ... or head out on a kayak into nearby Christmas Bay, a huge estuary full of migrating birds. Weekend getaways are plentiful within a few hours drive of the Medical Center and range from camping in New Braunfels and tubing on the Guadalupe River, enjoying nature on the San Padre Islands, to the nightlife of Austin or San Antonio.
But What About The Weather?
Yep, it gets a bit warm in the summer months--our average highs during the summer are in the low 90s, although it cools back down to the 70s each evening. But the flip side is that for fall, winter and spring, temperatures range between 50° to 75°F. This means that you'll never dig your car out after a big snowfall, or bike into the lab through the slush. A lot of students in our program, who were undergrads in the Northeast, find the combination of outstanding science and a temperate climate very appealing.
A City Which Even Graduate Students Can Afford
Houston's cost of living is well below that of every other major city in the U.S. Better yet, we offer a yearly stipend that is equal to--or higher--than other graduate school stipends. This means that even as a graduate student, you'll actually be able to experience what makes living in Houston so great. As Mike Lam, a CMB student in Dr. Jeff Rosen's lab, put it: "it's like a non-stop sale where everything from housing, gas, car insurance and eating out is 30% off." It's a sale so good that students can afford their own one-bedroom apartment. Some even buy their own house or condo.