Texas Christian University freshmen Addison Branton and Eileen Mayorga are new to campus, but they are already settling in.
Branton is from Benton, Louisiana, and Mayorga is from El Paso. The two connected over their shared premed major and participation in the Alpha Delta Pi sorority.
“It’s just very easy to find people you connect with because everyone is just so nice,” Branton said.
They are just two of over 13,000 students who began classes at TCU Monday, including over 2,700 first-year students — the university’s largest-ever incoming class.
This growth comes as TCU looks to expand as part of its 10-year strategic plan which includes increasing its enrollment by 5,000 students.
As the university grows gradually, it wants to maintain a sense of community, said Kathy Cavins-Tull, vice chancellor for student affairs.
“It’s still going to feel like a community, and we’ll do all the things that we’re really great at, and that is connecting students with each other, connecting students with faculty and staff, and connecting them with the Fort Worth community, to continue to do that with just a few more students every year,” she said.
The university is also hiring more faculty and staff members — with the goal of netting more than 1,000 total over the next decade. Chancellor Daniel Pullin said the new faces on campus may be a way students directly feel changes from the strategic plan this academic year.
“We’ve been investing in additional teachers and researchers, more academic counselors, more professional development and career coordinators so our students’ access to one-to-one mentoring and counseling will be at an all-time high,” he said.
Chancellor Daniel Pullin chats with students during Texas Christian University’s Welcome Home event Aug. 18, 2025, at Sesquicentennial Plaza in Fort Worth. (Mary Abby Goss | Fort Worth Report)
The university is also expanding its footprint as part of its Campus Master Plan, including development along Berry Street that will feature new student housing and retail shops.
Pullin sees the university’s development as a way for it to grow its place beyond just education in Fort Worth’s community.
“We can see a future where TCU becomes Fort Worth’s place to be, with retail, entertainment, and shopping, and dining options and a variety of things, to not only come here to learn and live, but to work and to play and to build lifelong relationships,” he said.
Psychology sophomore Lily Sturtevant came to the university from Boston. She decided to attend TCU after she had a good experience visiting a family friend who’s a Horned Frog.
“I just was looking for a school that was smaller sized, but also had big sports and a lot of school spirit,” she said. “Coming to TCU, and I saw that here, I was like, this is the dream school that I have been looking for.”
TCU recently earned 11 top-10 national rankings by The Princeton Review, and Pullin is particularly proud of TCU’s placement as No. 1 for happiest students.
“When you’re happy, you can be your best,” Pullin said. “You work a little bit harder, you put a little bit more effort into it, you do it with the right attitude and you get results.”
Neuroscience junior Mia Wolman, who transferred from Collin College this year, said she is most excited to meet new people and take part in the community. She echoed Pullin’s note about the happiness of the student body.
“That’s one of my favorite things about TCU so far, is just how happy everybody is,” she said.
McKinnon Rice is a reporting fellow for the Fort Worth Report. Contact her at mckinnon.rice@fortworthreport.org.
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