What is O-Week?

O-Week may technically be short for Orientation Week, but in practice, it stands for so much more. While many other schools offer an orientation program, Rice’s O-Week far surpasses just a first introduction to Rice University and Brown College. During the course of the week, you’ll be immersed in a community that can’t wait to help guide you in your explorations in every way possible. Every member of the Advising team has been specifically selected and trained to provide you with the utmost support and guidance. The result: an incredibly fulfilling week that will familiarize you with Rice academics and the Rice community and culture.

Rice is far from an ordinary university, and we are often known as being “unconventional.” Introducing you to all the fun quirks and traditions of Rice and Brown will undoubtedly take time, but don’t worry! We will make sure you have a strong foundation by the end of the week. To get you started, you will hear speeches from the President, the Dean of Undergraduates, and various faculty who will welcome, inspire and encourage you for your years at Rice and beyond. 

You will also learn about all the academic opportunities Rice has to offer and register for your first semester classes, after consulting with experienced peers, professors, and staff from the Office of Academic Advising. This will allow you to create a schedule tailored specifically to your passions and interests; keep in mind, this means we do not expect you to have planned out a schedule beforehand!

However, O-Week is not just about speeches and academics; it is also full of exciting events with fellow Brownies (our incredibly cute name for students from Brown) and students from other residential colleges. Throughout the week, you’ll get to participate in activities like a mini-Olympics between the floors of the dorm, explore Houston, and enjoy many more of our favorite Brown and Rice traditions. Rice students are so passionate about introducing you to Rice’s culture that many dedicated upperclassmen, who are called Advisors, give up weeks of their summers to come back early to help integrate you into our community. You may not know them yet, but they know you and have been waiting to meet you for weeks!

During O-Week, you will meet an abundance of new people. Most of the events and activities you participate in during this week will be with your amazing O-Week group! Each O-Week group has a name, which is a witty pun based on the theme. In addition to spending much of your time together during O-Week, your O-Week group will continue to stay involved with each other throughout the year. For example, groups have weekly O-Week lunches or dinners and often make plans to go to Rice events or explore Houston together. At Brown, there are 11 different O-Week groups, each with about 7-9 New Students. Each group also has a 4-5 person Advising team with at least 2 Advisors and a Co-Advisor. In addition to our wonderful Advisors, our O-Week team is also made up of Affiliates, who hold a variety of positions.

The goal of O-Week is to acclimate you to college life at Rice both socially and academically. While you won’t have all the answers by the end of the week, O-Week’s structure allows for each and every student to meet many people who can act as resources for academics, social life, health, and any other part of college life - before classes even start! O-Week is about making the transition to Rice easier and providing you with plenty of information necessary for you to succeed not only in college but in life in general. No matter where you’re from, what your background is, or who you are, Rice University and Brown College welcome you with open arms. 

Let this be our first chance to formally welcome you to Rice University, Brown College, and DiscO-Week!