A few weekends ago, I had the opportunity to visit the great state of Rhode Island, home of the University of Rhode Island! URI has 13,354 undergraduates. The school offers over 80 different majors, ranging from finance to theatre. A few of the most competitive majors are nursing, pharmacy, and engineering. URI is about two hours and 45 minutes from Montvale.
One of my favorite parts of URI was that they offered something called “University College for Academic Success,” commonly known on campus as UCAS. The UCAS program is available to all new students (freshmen, transfers, etc.). They offer academic advising, career and experiential education (like internships and small jobs around campus), and an academic enhancement center for tutoring. The UCAS program helps students determine what field they want to go into, whether they are undecided or not. This program was implemented because the University of Rhode Island has come across many freshmen or transfer students who think that they want to go into a specific major, but end up changing their mind. The UCAS program allows students to experience different aspects of the academics URI has to offer, so that they can major in what they are truly interested in, and what they truly enjoy.
The campus was beautiful. URI has a mixture of modern and traditional buildings. The campus is not too big or too small, and it’s very private and safe. Visitors need passes, and students need ID’s to enter URI’s campus. This enforces a sense of campus-wide security. URI also has emergency blue lights all around the campus, in case of an emergency. However, my tour guide didn’t hesitate to tell us that she never heard of anyone needing to use any of the emergency systems. “I have never felt unsafe here,” she said. The campus has a beautiful quad where students can read, do homework, play Frisbee, and socialize with their friends.
The library on campus is beautiful, too, and has three floors. The first floor is for people who like to talk while doing their work, and the second and third floors are for quiet and quieter studying, respectively. They also have a 24-hour room, which can be used to do late night homework. As for food, URI has a wide selection to choose from. They have pasta and stir fry, along with the classics like pizza and hot dogs. They have several snack shacks all around campus that you can pay for with your student cards. Some snack shacks even open until 2 a.m., conducive to our late night snack cravings. Additionally, there is a Dunkin Donuts, Starbucks, and convenience store on campus.
When I went on the tour, I was only able to view the inside one of the freshman dorms. The dorm was pretty small, and we were told that students usually don’t just get one roommate; they get two. The dorm building is co-ed, and often, special events are held in the common room for both boys and girls. If you are interested in Greek life, URI has a special section for sororities and fraternities, too!
The campus is approximately 10 minutes from the beach, and rather than living on campus, many juniors and seniors rent out beach houses to live in! Although all URI students are allowed to have their cars, parking seems to be a very big issue. Plus, cars are not even needed to travel around campus! This is why shuttles are usually the preferred method of travel. The shuttles can take you to surrounding towns such as Providence and Newport. There is also an Amtrak station on campus that can take you to places like Boston or New York.
URI offers opportunities for those interested in athletics; they have big indoor pools for swimmers, an indoor track, an indoor gym, and a volleyball court. Although all athletics are big at URI, their two main sports are basketball and football. You can find students at any sporting event, cheering on their beloved Rams. Students have lots of school spirit, especially with help from their mascot, Rhody the Ram.
In addition to many athletic opportunities, URI offers an immense amount of clubs for students to join. Many of the clubs that are available at URI line up with the 80+ majors that they offer. This is helpful because many, if not all students will be able to find a club that fits their interests.
The University of Rhode Island is a school with tons of academic, athletic, and social opportunities. It is well worth a visit.
