Community Profile

Welcome to the Rhode Island College community here on LiveJournal.

In a nutshell, anything you want to talk about related to RI College is good to go.

This is a community for anyone attending the college to link up, post, ask for help, and help others who are attending the college, and anything else you can think of. Feel free to ask questions that you have, invite people to performances/events, notify people of meetings, and so on and so forth.

Please attempt to be courteous to others in the community, as we're all here together, and on the same side.

Useful Information/Links:

The RICalendar is a list of events on campus, and is extensive and covers most events and occurences on campus. Support Rhode Island College Performing & Fine Arts!

If you're in need of books, or want to know what you'll be needing before your semester begins, take a look at the RIC Bookstore webpage, and click on the link to see the lists of books. Most teachers order from the RIC Bookstore, but some teachers prefer to order from the Off-Campus Bookstore, located just off the corner of Academy Ave. and Smith St., located only a few minutes from the RIC Campus. Note that it is a common occurence for the bookstore to fail to order books, fail to order the correct books, or run out of books during the semester. In these cases, it is advisable to use sites such as half.com or just do a Google search for the book title that you need. Additionally, ordering books online is usually cheaper.

If you would like to access the Rhode Island College webmail, remember that you can log in to it using the following instructions (researched by soupine): Once you are signed up for classes, you can find out what your login information is on the User Support Services webpage. Log in using the form of ric-acad\username_1234 with your lovely password at the RIC Webmail webpage.

To register for classes, use the RIConnect Web Interface to do so. Your username is the same as above; although you cannot access your webmail from the RIConnect interface. Your username is your first initial, your last name, an underscore, and the last 4 digits of your student ID; your password starts out as the first three letters of your birth month, two digits of the day, and the last four digits of your social security number. You should change this as soon as possible.

Your student ID can usually be found at the top left of your statements from financial aid as a seven-digit number (maybe eight?), and is commonly known by faculty as the "EmplID" (this is short for "Employee ID", because of the type of networking system that is used on campus).

Whenever you are asked on campus for your social security number, you usually can give your student ID number instead; you simply should ask "can I give you my student ID number instead?" If they do not understand, reference the "Emplid" (pronounce it as a single word "emm-plidd"). The only places you may be required to give your SSN is at the bursar's office or in Donovan Dining Center if you forget your card and need them to issue you a temporary points card.

From the web interface, you can access your enrollment appointment if you to to the RIConnect » Student Services » Academics pane and select "View Enrollment Appointment". Since all class registering is handled online, you will need to be familiar with this; we are in the computer age, you know. This particular pane is usually of a lot of use to you, as you can see your grades, add, drop, and swap classes here. Your enrollment appointment is the time you can start to register for classes. Seniors and freshmen are allowed to register first for classes, followed by juniors, then sophomores. Some classes are restricted that only certain faculty members are allowed to override and put you into a class, for various reasons. You must meet prerequisites for a class.

Oftentimes, your advisor is one of the most important people in your college career. If you do not have a major, you generally use the OASIS office for advisement, although if you pick a major you are planning on, you can meet with the advisor for that major instead; (I believe) this information is also available at OASIS. It is a good idea to meet with your advisor at least once a year, and keep in contact with them as necessary.

Nearly all full-time faculty at Rhode Island College use the e-mail interface (although some of them do not) the college provides for them; they get better e-mail addresses than we do. Their e-mail addresses are usually their first initial followed by their last name at ric.edu. For example, Stephen Brown would have the address sbrown@ric.edu. Make sure your advisor or teachers use this e-mail address and that it is alright to reach them regarding specific needs; many part-time faculty do not use the ric.edu addresses, some do not use e-mail at all. However, their contact information is listed on their syllabi; and they must keep office hours on the RIC campus, at minimum "by appointment", if you must meet with them.

Many times, you may encounter classes that are full. There are certain ways through this. Depending on what your advisor or department head can do, they may be able to override and put you into a class, but this is not usually your best bet, as many teachers are under union contracts, and may not have classes beyond a certain number of students, and other classes may not be optimal with a large number of students (such as a workshop meant for 7 students should not have 17 students). Generally, you can walk into the class on the first day of that class, and ask the professor if you are able to add this class and attend even though it was full online. Most classes have students that will drop during the add period, the first two weeks of a semester, and drop other classes; coming on the first day and being put in usually gives you more priority than someone who comes in at the end of two weeks trying to add the class, and usually by then, it is too late to effectively catch up in the class. Some professors may not allow you to add the class, and usually will volunteer an explanation as to why they not. Be aware that doing this means that you may have to retrieve an add slip from the appropriate departments or speak to the head of the department in order to have them confirm with the professor that they do not mind you in their class.

Note that it does not help to get angry at professors and other faculty at the college. This is useful in most other places in your life, too. Keep a level head and try to figure out if there is an alternative way to get what you need. Usually, your advisor is able to give you answers as necessary, and help you to find out how to achieve what you need to do. Additionally, despite what people tell you and what happens, the college is not actively trying to keep you from graduating; the problem is typically that the system is set up in such a way that it may be hard for you to register for classes, make classes available, or such. But you are a student, and part of the test of college is to see if you are motivated enough for the world to actively be engaged for your full college career, to make sure everything is falling into place. Always work to have backup plans, and be ready to search for alternatives on the campus in whatever ways you can.

Our campus newspaper is called The Anchor (anchorweb.org) and is a student-run organization that works to publish a paper that comes out every Wednesday. Archives and other information is all available on the Anchor's web site. Make sure to look for the special April 1st issue each year, a time-honored tradition on the campus.

RateMyProfessor.com is a free site for rating professors after the end of the semester and to look at before the beginning of a semester (given that the teacher is not "Staff"), but has a chance to be inaccurate, so look closely at the reviews, and use your own judgement when you first go into a class. Some students love to write essays only, some students test well, some students have trouble with particular topics, some students may create an attitude with their professor which causes negative reactions in the professor, and some students fail to do the assignments the way the professor deems they should be done. Take all judgements with a grain of salt. Particularly if there are only a few reviews. Also use your peers' knowledge of professors, as well. Many of them can tell you specifics about certain professors.

This space under perpetual construction. If you have information, ideas, links, and such, please feel free to offer them up!

This community managed by lorele.

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