University of Rhode Island Top Questions

What is your overall opinion of University of Rhode Island?

Is University of Rhode Island a good school?

What is University of Rhode Island known for?

Casey

URI is a mid-to-large size school, but it has a small school feel. You will become very close with your peers and, if you take the initiative, you can receive individual attention from your professors. There is a lot of partying, but there are also those who take their academics very seriously. The administration's alcohol policy has pushed the burden of dealing with parties and drinking onto the surrounding community, which causes a strain on the relationship between students and local residents. However, there is an effort from both sides to repair that damaged relationship.

Sara

URI has been pretty good to me so far. I have some complaints in th engineering college, but i don't think URI is directly in charge of that. I don't like all the budget cuts lately, and how they had to cut some sports teams. I had freinds directly affected by that, and they're leaving URI because of it. Generally people are impressed when i say i'm in the chemical engineering department at URI, and a german major. I don't think anyone would be that impressed if i was there for liberal arts. It's an average performing school in other regular majors. There really isn't a lot of school pride, probably due to the fact that the football team is so dissapointing. I like URI because it's very close to my home, because i live at home, and i have horses that i can still take care of.

jacquelyn

The location of the campus is perfect. At URI you're only ten minutes from the beach, twenty minutes from Newport and about a half an hour from Providence. There's always something to do and since freshmen can have cars on campus, there's also always somewhere fun to go. The top of campus includes a wide variety of dining options including a coffee shop, chinese food, mexican food, pizza, wraps, subway, quiznos, wings, fries and ice cream. You can find anything you're in the mood for, plus most of the restaurants will deliver right to your dorm. Although some of the buildings are old and need their interiors improved, the exteriors of many buildings are beautiful. The old stone buildings give a very new england college appeal and really make the campus look nice. The quad on campus is always filled with people playing frisbee, football, sunbathing, and even studying when the weather is nice. Slip and slides and moon bounces have also been known to be set up as well. Overall, URI has a very fun and personable atmosphere. There are about 15,000 undergraduates, but the school seems smaller because everyone you walk by will offer up a friendly smile.

Chris

Good people. The food. Just right. Cool. Friends rooms. Lots of school pride. Bad food.

Angry

Music department is a piece of shit. Program requires ridiculous amounts of work for a near useless degree. Quality of music is poor, quality of student musicians is poor. I feel like the quality of all other classes is a crapshoot, sometimes you get a good teacher, sometimes you dont. The quality of education is not consistent, even throughout different sessions of the same class. FOr example: You might take WRT104, and in one class the students may be told that the final assignment is cancelled "because there is not enough time left in the semester", yet in another session, with a different teacher, the students are required to do it. There needs to be consistency.

Leta

It's a nice school because I love the fact that they offer so much help for upcoming freshman and upperclassmen. The environment is pleasant which is something I like. The school is just right, it's not too big or too small. When people heard that I got into URI, they all assume that I'm really smart, but really I just try hard in school. There has been a recent controversy about how the school is cutting out sports because of school budget. The school pride is okay.

Phil

The best thing about URI is the off campus housing. The houses are cheap, big, and in communities composed primarily of students. If I were going to change one thing about URI, it'd be the locals who decide to live year round in the student communites. They screw things up by surrounding themselves in communities where kid's are trying to party on the weekends (and alot of the time the week), and end up calling the cops. This year the locals enacted an ordinance which allowed the police to fine home leasing students large sums of money for having more than 5 kids in a house. This is being challenged by some national lawyer group that defends college students rights, and since the ordinance has been proven unconstitutional, it should be repealed. The college is a perfect size I think at around 14,000. You can walk across campus and see a bunch of friends on the way and in class, and you will never run out of new girls to meet.

Jeffrey

If were to be born again, I would go to URI again. To me URI is perfect, it has changed my life.

Michelle

when i went to orientation, i hated the school. i thought it was huge and the worst school ever. After the first week i found out that uri was perfect. The size was great and most of the professors were really nice. The dorms were nice for freshman and the food was actually good. One thing i would change would be to get ice cream in HOPE

Dawson

URI is awesome - my only regret is not having been more involved on campus or in clubs. Living on campus was cool, and the QUAD is the best part! On a bright sunny day, You see a whole bunch of people doing whatever they want to do-- and thats cool! studying or throwing a frisbee everyone's having fun!

Julie

My favorite thing about URI is the library. It has everything you could possible need and more. I think the size of URI is perfect so you can meet a lot of people but still have the feeling of a community.

Julie

My favorite thing about URI is the library. It has everything you could possible need and more. I think the size of URI is perfect so you can meet a lot of people but still have the feeling of a community.

Mallory

URI is a states school near the beach and close to a big city, Providence. Everything in Rhode Island is so close so there is usually lots of stuff to do. Many students live on campus their first two years and then move off campus to a house in Narragansett that's why most off the parties are off campus and because it is a dry campus (something i did not know before coming). The sports teams are in development, getting better, and this year going to the basketball games were much more popular. There is a pretty good amount of school pride too. One nice thing about URI is that you can have your car on campus as a freshman but at the same time this is the most widley complained about. Commuter parking is sometimes out of the way but there are shuttles and I really don't think it is a big deal. But then again I am a nursing student and the parking is near the nursing building.

Maria

The campus itself is gorgeous especially in the warmer months. The quad is the perfect place to relax between classes. It a fairly large university, but not so huge that you feel absolutely lost in the crowd. When I was living on campus, I spent a lot of my time just walking around the campus as a whole or in my dorm. The administration is very hard to work with. Right from the start, you have to pry for answers as far as what certification tests you need to take and when, which classes you need to take and when, and if you are generally on track with courses. As far as I can see, this is one of the main reasons why people do not graduate on time. They come to find out in their senior year that they have extra classes they need to take and no time to take them.

Chris

Is located in a very beautiful place like Kingston. The campus is really nice and inspires you to work and be productive! Most of the time I spend it at the library and in my department building-Tyler Hall, going to classes and studding!

Michelle

URI is a great school. It has a secluded location which at first might seem bad but is great once you experience it. It really has a small campus feel even though it is actually considered a medium size university. I absolutely love the quad, especially on nice days. The dorm life is great. There's always something to do and they do an awesome job of matching people together. I had amazing roommates.

Emmerson

Its a really good school, academically and socially. Every school has some teachers that aren't the best at what they do but URI is definitely a good place to get an education as well as build a healthy socially life.

Sarah

The best thing about URI: The faculty One thing I would change: The drinking and the slow administration The school size: Just right...not too big, not too small Reaction of others when I tell tham I go to URI: Rhode Island Residents are not impressed. Out of state residents don't seem to care too much. College town: Kingston...not so great. The beach is cool, but it's too cold to go there during the academic year. The emporium is OK with all sorts of food places. Not too many storesor things to do. URI Administration: Not great either. Everythign is slow-paced, and you have to be on the ball with your own stuff because all of the "office work" is done slowly. Recent biggest controversy: There have been a few deaths...Some medically related, some from too mauch partying. There is a good deal fo school pride because of the Division I sports. Anything unusual about URI: Not really... One experience I will always remember: none off the top of my head. Most frequent student complaints: Slow administration. Cost $$$$. Rude dining hall staff. TOO MUCH RAIN AND MUD!

Devin

it is sweet but no booze on campus so anyone living on campus trying to drink is in for a rude awakening. Lately cops have been a bitch off campus though with their party stickers and breaking up parties.

Cameron

URI is a great place for a test run in the real world. There are nothing but options here. It's located in a suburban town (where I was born and raised) but only a half an hour from Providence. So you can choose where you want to spend your time. There is also a big difference between living on and off campus. On campus, to me, seems almost like a boarding school and you have to take a bus to get anywhere off campus. However, if you live off campus, there are a large number of options available since this town is a tourist hotspot in the summer and there are a lot of empty summer houses right on the beach during the school year. Oh, that's another great thing for non-RI kids, our beaches are about 15 minutes from campus (gorgeous beaches, too.) Personally, I didn't get to meet an overabundance of different people, since half the students here are from RI and the other half from somewhere in New England. But, the kids who are here tend to have a lot of school spirit. There are an infinite number of clubs and organizations to join, and URI is very much a community that you can enjoy being a part of.