An O-Week Group consists of 8-9 New Students and 4-5 Advisors. You’ll be attending most events, activities, and meals throughout O-Week with your group, so you’ll get a lot of time to get to know each other! Your O-Week group will also have a name associated with an Universal StudiO-Week related pun, and you’ll have the chance to come up with inside jokes or traditions for your group throughout the week. O-Week groups play a key role in many of the traditions that take place throughout the week.

O-Week groups are meant to serve as a social framework for your first steps into Will Rice and Rice. Your Advisors and fellow New Students will be a network from which you can begin to branch out and meet new people, though you will still have this family to fall back on if things get rough. Through your O-Week groups, you’ll participate in group competitions, meet people from our sister college, matriculate, and likely make your first connections at Rice!

The Core Team (sometimes referred to as the A-Team is the group of faculty adults that reside at Will Rice. They work at Rice during the day, where they teach classes or direct programs. They are here to act as a support system and make your transition to college life as seamless as possible! Our Core Team is truly the "core" of Will Rice College.

The Core Team consists of our Resident Associates (RAs), who live in the dorms, our Magister, who lives in a house right next to Will Rice, and our College Coordinator, whose office is right inside the Will Rice Commons. Oftentimes, these Core Team members live with their pets, too! They are always a knock or a text away, so reach out to them anytime you want to chat or pet a dog!

The Core Team is not meant to act like your parents or patrol your behavior. Rather, they are here to be your friends and be a source of insight, perspective, and experience. We have one of the best Core Team around — they are encouraging, fun, and kind. They are our supporters, advocates, and friends, and we are incredibly lucky to have them at Will Rice. We can’t wait for you to meet them!