Rice University welcomed more than 1,400 new undergraduate students to campus Sunday for the start of Orientation Week, where they were greeted by cheering students, faculty and staff across the university’s 12 residential colleges. The incoming cohort includes more than 1,350 freshmen — the largest freshman class in Rice history — and more than 50 transfer students.
Move-In Day is a signature Rice tradition with upperclassmen lining campus entrances and college courtyards, chanting students’ names and cheering as families arrive then helping newcomers unload their vehicles and settle into their rooms. For returning students, advisers and coordinators, the day is an opportunity to pass along the traditions and sense of community that shaped their own Rice experiences.
“It’s the best day of the year to see our new students coming in, our existing students making them feel at home, shouting their names and putting our parents at ease,” said Rice President Reginald DesRoches, who with wife Paula visited each college to personally greet students and parents. “We’re growing the university, but we’re maintaining what makes Rice special — the culture of care and the personalization. We’re going to maintain that, even as we grow.”
Rice’s incoming class was selected from more than 38,000 first-year applications, a 5% increase over last year. Students in the class come from 46 states and 54 countries.
A welcome worth the wait
For many students, Move-In Day marked the culmination of years of anticipation.
Luna de la Rosa traveled from Barcelona, Spain, to join Duncan College as an engineering student, fulfilling a goal she has held for years.
“I’ve been in love with this university for like five years already,” she said.
Her long-awaited acceptance arrived with an added surprise: She learned she had been admitted in the early morning hours on her birthday and celebrated with her mother at home in Spain.
“It was the day of my birthday, which was really exciting, and I was screaming with my mom in my room because it was like 2 a.m. by that time in Spain,” she said. “It was amazing, the best day of my life.”
At Duncan, de la Rosa said she was excited to experience the welcome she had previously seen in videos online and to meet students from around the world.
“I’m super excited to actually see it in person right now,” she said.
At Jones College, Josiah Gleeson arrived from Springerville, Arizona, after a three-day road trip with his parents in their motor home. The family’s 15-hour drive stretched into a camping trip that included other stops along the way.
Gleeson plans to study electrical and computer engineering. He said he applied to a number of universities while looking for a combination of academic quality and affordability.
“I was looking for affordability and the best school I could get into, and Rice had the best balance,” Gleeson said. “It was pretty much by far the best school that I applied to.”
Gleeson said Rice’s financial aid package helped make his decision easier, as he turned down a full-ride offer to another university. “I was elated,” he said of his decision.
Once on campus, Gleeson was struck by the personal touches of Move-In Day, including a hand-painted note he received from the Rice community.
“It’s so cool the personalization and the detail that Rice puts into a week,” he said. “They really do care about each and every student.”
Gleeson’s father, William, said he and his family are proud of their son and overjoyed with the welcome he received at Jones.
“We’re super proud of Josiah and happy for him,” William Gleeson said. “He’s been interested in Rice for well over a year or two, and he loves the engineering program here. It feels like home here at Jones College.”
For returning students helping with Move-In Day, the experience offers a chance to return the welcome they once received.
Kyle Marks, a senior at Duncan and the college’s O-Week coordinator, was in the same position three years ago, arriving at Rice with his parents. This year, he is helping welcome a new generation of “Dunkaroos.”
“Three years ago this was me moving in with my parents, and now it’s a full-circle moment, and I get to welcome in a new set of Dunkaroos who will live here for the next four years and call it home,” Marks said.
Marks described the Move-In Day experience — from carrying belongings to rooms to introducing families to residential advisers and magisters — as “a warm hug” from the university’s community.
“The whole process itself — it feels like a hug from everyone here at Rice,” he said.
Rice football players also took part in Move-In Day, returning to their residential colleges to help new students and families. At Brown College, tight end Rhys Phillips helped carry belongings and ease the transition for incoming freshmen.
Phillips, who moved into Rice two years ago, said he remembered how much the help meant to him.
“I know this was helpful back then, so I’m going to come back and help people in,” he said.
Phillips said his own O-Week introduced him to people who have since played an important role in his Rice experience, adding that the immediate welcome new students receive helps make the transition less intimidating.
“Everyone knows your name by the time you get here already, so you kind of feel like you’re wanted already,” Phillips said.
At Wiess College, incoming freshman Maggie Wu of Ontario, Canada, said she had heard about Rice's welcoming community and was eager to begin the school year.
"It was heartwarming, everyone was so excited," Wu said of her welcome. "I really liked the energy."
A Rice tradition comes full circle
Ellison Anderson, who plans to major in bioengineering, arrived at Rice already familiar with some of the traditions awaiting her. Both of her parents are Rice graduates, and she grew up hearing their stories about O-Week.
“I’m so excited for the week,” she said. “I’ve heard so many fun stories from my parents about when they did it. So I’m just excited to be here.”
For her mother, Elle, Move-In Day brought back memories of her own time at Rice nearly three decades earlier.
“It’s a little surreal to be back,” she said. “As I walk through the arches, I reminisced about where Clark lived when we were students here, and when I turned to the left, it all felt like 30 years ago.”
Her husband, Clarke Anderson, also a 2001 Rice graduate, said watching their daughter begin her own experience on campus gave the day added significance.
“It’s surreal, and it feels a little full circle — being here now 30 years later as a parent, and kind of going through the emotions of what my parents went through dropping me off,” he said.
The Andersons were among several families on campus Sunday watching a Rice tradition continue across generations. For many other incoming students, Move-In Day marked the start of an entirely new family story.
At Wiess College, incoming freshman Maggie Wu of Ontario, Canada, said she had heard about Rice’s welcoming community and was eager to begin the school year.
New chapter for Rice’s residential colleges
The Class of 2030 is the first to experience Move-In Day with Rice’s newest residential college, Ting Tsung and Wei Fong Chao College, known as Chao College. Rice’s 12th residential college welcomed its first students Sunday, establishing a new community of more than 400 undergraduates with nearly 300 living on campus in its 10- and five-story towers.
“It’s exciting to see Chao College open its doors for the first time,” DesRoches said. “I can’t wait to see the culture and the new traditions that are going to come out of this new college.
“We’re so grateful to the Chao family for their support. The residential college system is such a core part of the university, and to be able to accommodate our growth with a new college is critical to the future of the university.”
Chao College was built alongside the new home of neighboring Lovett College, which also welcomed students Sunday. Together, the two complexes add 269,000 square feet of modern, sustainable residential space and will house nearly 600 students. The colleges share a next-generation, all-electric servery featuring a robotic cooking station — a first for Rice — as well as elevated outdoor activity spaces. Chao includes a 3,000-square-foot rooftop terrace and an 11,000-square-foot quad, while Lovett’s new 11-story tower features a rooftop pickleball court.
“I think Chao opening and adding another residential college to the Rice community shows Rice’s commitment to growth,” said junior Elijah White, president of Chao College. “We are just incredibly excited to have these new students come in and have the opportunity to welcome them into this new home — but it’s a home we get to build together.”
“With this new building (Lovett College), we want to be amenable to new changes and new cultures and traditions that might come about. But we also want to stay true to everything that existed in the Toaster and made our community so strong,” said Bruce Hurley, senior and president of Lovett College. “I’m really excited to see how we live out the Lovett experience in these new spaces.”
The openings represent a major expansion of Rice’s residential college system as the university continues to grow. For the students arriving across campus, the size of the incoming class means thousands of new connections waiting to be made.
Gleeson sees that as one of the biggest opportunities of being part of the record-setting class.
“I want to meet all the cool people because coming from a small, small little town, it can be hard to meet people,” he said. “I am so excited to see the gigantic world that Rice has to offer.”
Since 2020, Rice’s undergraduate enrollment has grown by approximately 25%. When asked what it means to be part of Rice’s largest-ever incoming class, Gleeson’s answer was simple.
“It’s more friends for me.”