Since the beginning, Rice University has offered both undergraduate and graduate degrees. Rice University (or The Rice Institute back then) opened its arches in 1912 to students seeking higher education. Rice’s first commencement ceremony in 1916 awarded 35 bachelor’s degrees and one master’s degree. In 1916, the first doctoral degree was awarded. Here is a fun fact: typically, schools that have “college” in the name only have undergraduate degrees, while those with “university” in the name have both undergraduate and graduate degrees. Rice continues to be an exceptional university with competitive acceptance rates similar to those in the Ivy League.
All of the history and numbers are good to know, yet they do not describe the Rice “Experience.” In this blog, I will discuss a few differences I have noticed between my undergraduate and graduate experience at Rice. To provide a short backstory of my academic career, I began my time at Rice in 2016 at Baker College (Hell Yeah!) and graduated with my bachelor’s in 2020 (COVID time). I double majored in psychology and cognitive sciences and double minored in neuroscience and engineering design. I joined a doctoral program at Old Dominion University (ODU), where I completed my master’s in psychology in 2022. I then moved with my advisor back to Rice, where I am currently completing my doctoral degree in Human Factors/Human-Computer Interaction psychology.
I know my Rice experiences are not back-to-back as others may have. Yet, when I reentered Rice in 2022, pandemic protocols were relaxing, which allowed me to compare my two experiences better. My discussion will span over multiple blog posts since there are multiple facets of the Rice Experience I can compare. This blog is the third installment and focuses on the orientation differences between undergraduate and graduate school at Rice.
O-Week: Orientation Week for Undergraduate Students
Incoming Rice first-year students have an orientation week called O-Week. O-Week is one whole week of orientation to teach incoming students the Rice culture and traditions and prepare them for life at Rice. Each residential college creates a theme each year, with about a dozen or so “families” to which students are randomly assigned. My O-Week theme was FuegO-Week, and my group was Char Wars. Throughout O-Week, students within a family stick together as a group for lunches, activities, and adventures. O-Week families can form year-long bonds and help new students begin building their network of friends.
O-Week begins on Sunday, a week before the start of classes, so new students are on campus for a full week in the dorms before starting class. On Sunday, students are moved into their dorms with the help of O-Week coordinators and advisors, which consist of upper-level students. O-Week advisors may be from the same residential college or a different one from the O-Week students they advise for that year. For example, I had an O-Week advisor from Wiess when I was at Baker for my O-Week. These people memorize all the first-year students' faces to know everyone’s names. It is very impressive. During move-in, these students help the parents drop off their kids and move all their belongings into their dorm. Once all moved in, the incoming freshmen say goodbye to their families to begin their O-Week and university experiences. From that point forward, the new students are surrounded by their fellow residential college peers and their O-Week family until classes start. Students are introduced to their college’s Magister, Core Team, and Residential Advisors, which consist of professors who live on campus with their families to engage with students and help provide guidance. Then, after that, students learn of Rice’s history with the residential college system before officially matriculating and walking through the Sally Port (Lovett Hall) and into the academic quad.
The rest of O-Week allows the students to meet different academic departments on campus, affinity groups, and the President, plan for classes, learn about the sports on campus, learn campus traditions, and register for classes. For my O-Week, we had a Mock Bike, a smaller version of Beer Bike. This was to prepare us for what Beer Bike would be like (waking up at 5 am to dance on the tables, the water balloon fight, chugging, and biking).
The last day of O-Week is the Saturday right before classes begin, which is when all other students return to campus and move back into the dorms. This day is called Dis-O to mark the end of O-Week. This is also the day that the campus becomes “wet” again, which means alcohol is allowed. O-Week groups typically commemorate Dis-O drinking and playing fun games before parting ways for the day. Usually, O-Week families try to meet up a few times a semester for lunch or dinner to check in with the group.
Graduate Orientation: Hosted by GSA and Individual Departments
Orientation as a graduate student was much smaller and simpler. The orientation is mainly based on your department. There is no university-wide orientation for graduate students unless you are an international student or you need to complete lab training for working with chemicals or hazardous materials in a lab. These orientations typically happen the week before school starts. The Office of International Students and Scholars hosts lunch for international students to meet other international students and learn about the culture of Houston (and Buc-ee’s BBQ). For the Department of Psychological Sciences, we hosted an orientation on the Thursday before classes where faculty and staff introduced themselves, as well as the student groups in the department, such as PsycGSA (Department of Psychological Sciences Graduate Student Association) and Rice HFES (Human Factors and Ergonomics Society). After that, students had lunch with the faculty and staff to finish their orientation day. I can only discuss what my department hosted, and I am unsure what other departments do for orientation if they have any events.
The Graduate Student Association (GSA) also hosts an Orientation Picnic for all incoming students, typically on the Friday before classes. This event allows students to meet other students from other departments, make new friends, and build relationships with each other. There is free beer, cider, sodas, food, snacks, and music to dance to. This event typically lasts 3-4 hours and provides t-shirts to the new students.
Additionally, I know that for my matriculation in 2022, there was a President’s Picnic on the lawn outside of the Sally Port, but I am not sure if that had occurred this previous year (fall 2024).
In summary, O-Week as an undergraduate student was a little overwhelming since there was so much change at once, but it helped acclimate me to life at Rice. Graduate student orientation was a little lackluster and underwhelming, and it depends on your department and advisor to help guide you for course selection. Also, as a graduate student, you have to be the initiator to meet people and form friends, unlike in O-Week, where you were automatically put into a group you saw all the time for an entire week.
About the author:
Katie Garcia is from Houston, Texas and is a current Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Psychological Sciences studying Human Factors and Human-Computer Interaction. She got her B.S. in psychology and cognitive sciences at Rice University, and her M.S. in psychology from Old Dominion University. Read more.
Further Reading:
Preparing for and Giving a Presentation at My First BIG Conference (BMES)