On move-in day, new students receive T-shirts depicting their residential college. Floor meetings help students get acquainted with one another, and residential-college cheer practice builds excitement for Convocation later that evening. These Bear Beginnings: New Student Fall Orientation events, sponsored by the First Year Center, help acclimate new students to the university. Visit the Newsroom for more information, and view more images on Flickr.
On move-in day, special events, such as residential-college cheer practice, build camaraderie and excitement for Convocation later that evening. (James Byard)
Upperclassmen are an integral part of building excitement and helping new students with their transition to college life. More than 400 Washington University Student Associates (WUSAs), residential advisers, residential life staff, and faculty and student volunteers help students find their way. (Joe Angeles)
Incoming freshmen are initiated into the community-building traditions, customs and rituals unique to each residential college. (James Byard)
Incoming freshmen and their families pack the Field House for Freshmen Convocation, a traditional ceremony that welcomes them into the Washington University community. (James Byard)
After spending the day moving in and setting up their rooms, freshmen gather together for their first residential-floor meeting, walk to the Field House and then Freshman Convocation. (James Byard)
Sitting with their new communities and sporting their college-specific T-shirts, students create a patchwork effect at Convocation. The colleges and colors are as follows: Thomas Eliot/Eliot B: purple and gold; Park/Mudd: red and black; William Greenleaf Eliot: forest green; Shanedling/Dauten/Rutledge: turquoise and silver; Wayman Crow: red and white; Lee/Beaumont: yellow and black; Rubelmann/Umrath/South Forty House: light blue and red; Liggett/Koenig: maroon and silver; Hitzeman/Hurd/Myers: orange and brown; Brookings (Lien/Gregg): royal blue and gold. (James Byard)
Selected from a pool of 30,000 applicants, approximately 1,600 freshmen join an undergraduate student body from all 50 states and around 60 countries. Some 100 new transfer students and 40 exchange students also now call Washington University home. (James Byard)
Capping off move-in day and Convocation is a lighted procession from the Field House to Brookings Quadrangle, and then Ted Drewes Frozen Custard! (James Byard)
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