"I've always been the kind of person who likes to go in and talk to my teachers outside of class time and everything, so I had heard a lot about Rice giving the opportunity to speak with faculty and work with professors that way. And that's held very true, so I think that's been one of my favorite things."

"I actually came in [majoring in] biochemistry, and I kind of tagged on [my current major] Political Science. I was very much under the impression that Rice was a STEM school... but once I got here, the application was all about the intersection between healthcare and administration. So I feel like O-Week was a really good adjustment, where PAAs and advisors said, 'You should totally check out Social Science classes,' and I was like, 'I didn't even know we had those programs here.'"

"I was a little worried…to be frank with you...But we are not talking about cow country here. This is Houston, TX — this is an incredibly large, incredibly diverse city and incredibly welcoming. I was sort of saying, 'Ok, I want to go to Rice, and I guess that means I have to go to Houston too,' versus, 'I get to go to Rice and I get to go to Houston.'"

"I definitely came in as pre-med, and I was very certain about the pre-med path, but I definitely felt relief during O-Week. When I went to the fair with all the academic centers, there were so many different minors that I could do, as well as majors I could do [as a pre-med]. So I don't think I explored enough prior to committing to Rice and coming to Rice, but I think it was during O-Week and talking to other people that opened up my perspectives."

"Coming into O-Week, I was scared of not knowing if I would have any friends here. And now, I have friendships and friend support systems, basically all of that. It’s...everything comes together where you can have a full-on network you can rely on — alumni and associates, RAs, Magisters, Professors, the list goes on and on. So it’s basically having an entire support system behind your back."

"I really didn't think Rice was that good with financial aid, [but] they were actually the school that gave me the most financial aid in terms of scholarships, need-based, whatever it was. And I really didn’t know that during the process."

"I kind of just thought, 'Oh, they have residential colleges, it’s probably just like more involved dorms.' But that’s definitely not what the residential colleges are... I feel like a lot of people are always trying to find their community at college, so they join random clubs or organizations desperate to find some type of community and people they can get to know. But I feel that’s really easy at Rice because you have your residential college — you have your own family. And knowing that when I applied would have made it so much easier, and made me less apprehensive about coming here."

 (Published on 7/16/2025)