The University of Rhode Island

Date: Mar 27 2012
Major: Chemical Engineering (This Major's Salary over time)
I am no longer attending URI, but I spent my freshman year there and it was definitely a positive experience.

1. Academics. I'm putting this first because this is the primary reason for attending college. Social life, extracurricular activities, sports etc. are all secondary. If you are student of engineering, anything ocean related, pharmacy, and apart of CELS (college of environmental and life sciences) any science really, URI is a great place to be, especially if you are instate. Other majors are OK, you can definitely succeed, but that is not where most of the resources are put in. As an Engineering student I satisfied. Freshman year I took basic Calculus, Chemistry and Physics. The professors were hit or miss in my opinion. The one good teacher I had was actually a Grad Student and not an acutal professor. The others were anything between alright and having to teach yourself all the material. Some classes can be a huge waste of time, but are required. I did get a chance to take courses with the Chemical Engineering department, although I was unable to finish them, I really liked all my professors in the department. The material, but definitely worth it for the price. I also suggest if you are an engineering student definitely consider IEP, because you get to study abroad and get a lot of assistance in finding an internship.

2. Internships/Research/Extra-curricular related to major. I think there is ample opportunity for research within the University. All you have to do is ask a professor you've had in freshman/sophomore year and you can pretty much land it, provided you have decent grades. Internships for the engineering department are not allowed for credit, but other majors can complete them. Although the school is always hosting internship and job fairs so you can find internships on your own pretty easily, as well as help from the faculty. There are also a lot of academic related clubs and societies, included Greek. I think these experience help students of certain majors come together and help find resources for internships/research/scholarships.

3. Social-life. I think it isn't hard to have a social life. Just make friends with people in your dorm freshman year, get involved in groups and you'll be all set. There are a fair amount of people that commute, and if you do social life may be lacking, but alright. There are parties often going on in frats, and off-campus, as well as in dorms. People are always getting high. If this isn't your thing, then it shouldn't be a huge problem, there are other things to do on campus during the weekdays…not so much weekends. One thing though, people who live in the area go home on the weekends for the most part, so campus gets pretty empty. Thursdays are definitely the main night for partying in my opinion. There are plenty of clubs to join on campus, range from academic to political to cultural to arts. In the surrounding area there isn't much to do, 'cept the beach but it's cold. There are a few bars nearby and plenty of restaurants in wakefield/south county commons but you need a car. Providence is a bus ride away and there is always something to do there. If you stay shut-in your dorm all the time then no, you will not have a social life.

4. Dorms, food, misc. I think the freshman dorms are OK. they aren't terrible Sophomore dorms are gross and upperclassmen dorms are really nice but seriously not worth the money. I suggest moving off-campus after freshman year, or moving into specialty housing like the women's center, Diversity house, or IEP house. You get sick of the food after a while but the salad bar/deli is nice. One good thing is ram's den where you can get one free meal a day. Otherwise there are a few places to eat in the union or emporium. Some buildings are nice like the biology building (CBLS), Lippitt, swan, Kirk. Engineering buildings are okay, but Chaffee, fogarty, and pastore need help. The new pharmacy building is in progress and there was a recent vote for a new chemistry building. The union is a pretty nice hub for all social activities on campus.

Overall if you are dedicated to success, you can definitely thrive here but you have to work at it. You can come here to party and slack off but really in the end you'll just have debt and a useless education. If in-state and considering science/engineering come here! Honestly if you're out of state don't come here unless you are pharmacy, anything ocean related, or want to do IEP.