During my entire college application process, I wasn’t sure what I was looking for. I applied to 15 schools, each with completely different profiles: small liberal arts colleges, large state schools, and STEM-focused research institutes. My spreadsheet compared the hard facts: class sizes, course offerings, and physical environments. But I couldn’t envision myself on any particular campus without a sense of its community and culture.

After decisions were released, I visited several campuses (from Texas to New York, California and Florida) during admitted student events to get a feel for campus life. Visiting Rice and Texas for the first time during Owl Days, I was a bit overwhelmed. I remember scrambling to find the Shepherd School of Music to drop off our suitcases. After navigating to the baseball stadium, I sat among 2,000 other prospective students and sensed an immediate shift in energy. I could feel a shared eagerness to explore Rice, and a question looming in the air: “What does today have in store?”

Walking around campus on tours and grabbing lunch at what I’d later know as Siebel Servery, I fell in love with my surroundings. From the cascading oak trees shading the walkways between buildings to the range of architectural styles — from the modern glass of Brochstein Pavilion to the Romanesque Sallyport — the campus design left me awestruck. I was astonished to see the towering medical research centers of the Texas Medical Center just beyond campus, enchanted by the fact that clinical opportunities were just a step away. Yet, as impressive as the campus grounds and access to hands-on medical experience were, I still wasn’t fully sold. What ultimately transformed my perspective was the people.

At the club fair later that day, I met a prospective student planning to major in Computer Science while on a pre-medical track. I was shocked. I had never met someone who, like me, (a future major in Mathematics and Neuroscience), wanted to combine seemingly non-linear academic interests while also being pre-med. As I walked through the booths, I quickly realized this shared idiosyncrasy wasn’t a coincidence among Rice’s students, but a commonality. I met students who were intrigued by physics and music theory; architecture and psychology; biomedical engineering and art.

I started up a conversation with another prospective student whose sister was a current Rice Owl. When I asked him how his sister would describe the culture of the student body, he didn’t hesitate.

“Kind.”

And the evidence was right before my eyes. On the official campus tour, my guide could not walk twenty paces without being greeted with warm smiles and friends. Even while chatting with club leaders at the fair, I felt they were genuinely hopeful I would attend Rice despite having just met me. I wasn’t just witnessing politeness; I was experiencing the culture of care that is so central to Rice’s community. Watching a high school friend transfer from Barnard to Rice as a sophomore, I saw this kindness again: she was welcomed as a pre-law student, now calls Sid Rich home, and loves working at Chaus as a barista!

Before coming to Rice, I spent months updating my college spreadsheet, writing and re-writing pros and cons lists, and researching schools on Niche, Princeton Review, and College Confidential. But at Owl Days in April 2025, I realized that what I was seeking all along couldn’t be captured on a spreadsheet or a website. It was a feeling. And somewhere under the oak trees, walking among the club fair booths and hearing the word “kind,” I found what I was searching for. Rice was where I belonged.

-Lucy C., Lovett ‘29 (Published on 10/13/26)