Rhode Island College

RIC is a good school. Like others have mentioned, it’s nothing fancy, but the teachers seem to be great so far and I feel like I am actually learning, not just memorizing. The campus is practical. The whole admissions thing can be a nightmare, specially since they use ‘the common app’. You might end up having to hi to the admissions department a few times, but they are helpful. Once all of that us taken care of, it’s smooth sailing. The tuition is a bargain for instate. They also have regional tuition for folks living in neighboring states. They have a very solid film department, so it’s definitely worth a check out!

RIC is decent state school. Nothing fancy or outstanding (well, many instructors are) but does its job. It is known for its teaching and social work programs. It is also good way to get BS/​BA for low tuition and move on to graduate studies.
Campus is ok, some buildings are ugly but others are new and cute. It is also not very social or party school and if those features are really important to you don’t go here. This school has more cozy and quite environment and yes, many people like it. People are in general friendly. Student body is very diverse– have seen adults in their 50s, weird students, cool students, some are motivated and smart and some are behaving like they are in high school.
The reason I gave four stars is instructors in this school. I have had many great and even outstanding professors here. With such faculty, RIC in my opinion has great potential to become much more than your average school.
Unfortunately, here is no social life. It is very important for school to have parties, social events etc, it brings students together, builds community and rises student spirit. RIC is lacking that and administration does very little to make situation better. RIC would be great school if it had more social involvement.
School in general is evolving and progressing and depending on what to study here it can be good or not so good experience.

Well, it’s RIC. What else can I say. I studied Psychology and Mental Health Counseling here and I can’t complain about the program or the education I received. The professors were all experienced and knowledgable, the classroom sizes were reasonable and varied from 11 to lecture halls, and I felt I was able to balance work, personal, and school life. The admin kinda has their head up their ass when it comes to tracking credits, managing your finances, etc, so just keep a copy of everything in case they misplace credits you’ve already taken or drop you from all your classes because somewhere it didn’t record your payment.
Parking is absolutely ridiculous. For a commuter school it’s a battle every single day to find a spot even remotely near your class, and I’ve had to walk across campus in snow and rain to get to a class, run in some cases in order to not be late.
I never lived here so I’m not sure about student life on campus, but friends of mine lived here and the dorms are standard issue and there does seem to be activities to keep students occupied.
The food is pretty decent at the cafeteria, with vegan and gluten-​free options which is very cool.
There’s a café with decent coffee and pastries, good pizza, so-​so sandwiches.
Can’t think of much else to say. For the money (tuition is amazingly inexpensive compared to URI or other colleges) you get a hell of an education. Headaches and hassles with systems and parking.

I had a great time at this school. It took me a while and some going part-​time to finish up, but I have to say I was satisfied overall.
My major was HR and there were only two faculty. This can sound like a setup for disaster, but these two faculty members deserve every accolade they receive. Dr. Shani Carter and Dr. Randy DeSimone are two professors I remember fondly, even all these years later.
I minored in Mathematics and the faculty there were hit-​or-​miss. I specifically recall Dr. Humphreys being adept at illustrating complicated math problems graphically, which was very helpful.
I was a highly involved student and in general, my experience with being involved with student organizations was a positive one.
The food was mediocre, but I don’t care. It was college. I didn’t expect gourmet meals from a school with no culinary program.
My on-​campus job was great.
Scheduling of classes always worked out favorably, because even in the few times they didn’t fit, the school made accommodations to help my class graduate. It was just a matter of asking!
It’s a little too easy for students to ascend to power in the student organization scene, which leads to a lot of in-​fighting and politicking. It’s about what you’d expect, but it’s sitcom-​levels of anxiety just to run a club. Very little actually gets done in this regard. You’d expect a high turnover in student leaders, but financial incentives are attached to managing some clubs. If you’re popular and conniving enough, you can leverage enough positions to squat in college while financially accruing enough money to justify it.

For it’s price, RIC does what it needs to do. I transferred in after 2 years of design school and decided to jump into the management program. I demanded an adviser before they were mandatory and relied on her to help me pick out some courses.
Took 3 years of my nose to the grindstone but I got out with my BS on the Dean’s list and Magna Cum Laude. I now work at a fantastic company who didn’t blink an eye that I went to the cheapest option available. Many co workers look down on me for not having a name brand education, but hey, I have the same job/​career as them, so why does it matter?

Hey look, I’m still here! I will finally be graduating in May after 2 years full-​time and 5 years part-​time. I’ve seen a lot since I’ve been here so long.
My previous review still stands, but I’ve also uncovered a lot more awful things about this place, hence the demotion to two stars.
The food is horrendous. Awful. Inedible. They force every student to pay a fee for the dining center every semester. On top of that, you either have to buy a meal plan or pay for the food. Both options are severely overpriced. The dining center has way too many administrators and state employees to pay, so they seriously cut corners with the food.
Buildings are falling apart. They did just get some state money to do renovations, but because this is a state institution it’s going to take years before anything actually happens. Yeah, and you look down the road at PC and watch an entire building go up in less than 6 months…
The state unions here do nothing but protect the people who suck at their jobs. If you’re ever trying to get anything important done with your academic records, expect it to be a huge project because nobody cares about you and nobody wants to do any work.
SO MANY professors here need to retire, especially in computer science. They’re teaching outdated software and skills that you will never ever use.
This college gears toward working-​class families, yet offers hardly any night classes. Balancing work and school is a major struggle as it is, and this place makes it harder. That ONE class you NEED will always be offered in one section at 2pm on Monday and Wednesday so you’ll never be able to have a normal 9 – 5 day job and get a degree from here. If you can manage to get a decent job on campus, you may have better luck with the work/​school balance, but they’re not easy to come across since everybody wants one.
New Hall is beautiful, but the rest of the dorms are gross. The two years that I lived on campus were awful and I was sick all the time from the mold and dust buildup.
Nice things: BEAUTIFUL, awesome new rec center with free aerobics classes and a pool. Active, involved student media orgs that put out a great newspaper, radio broadcast, and TV station. Student Government that tries really hard to fix stuff, even though they are small in numbers. Lots of free help on campus such as tutoring, counseling, and career advisement. Some really awesome professors that go out of their way to see you succeed.

When you have been here as long as I have, you feel like you might need to write a review. I am finishing up after first arriving in 2007. I am leaving after one more summer course with my Master of Arts in psychology.
People have criticized the leaking roof, terrible food and lack of «campus life» due to it being a commuter school. I would agree with all of those things, and I would include I failed to ever get my club idea off the ground because anybody who was interested worked too much or couldn’t sign up in conscience knowing they would miss all of the meetings. So with all of these problems, why I am not giving it one star? I am giving it a solid +1 for good people, and another for academic quality. I have met some truly wonderful people here, and due to being a regular fixture in the psych department for more than half a decade, I have become quite friendly with all of the professors. I was a teaching assistant as a graduate student, and my lab students were truly great.
In terms of what I learned, I couldn’t have asked for more. When applying for PhD programs, I have had a lot of difficulty. I think it is because the people judging apps haven’t heard of RIC, or probably think we graduate a bunch of dunces. This elitist mindset is troubling to me. I have come out of RIC prepared to deal with the rigor and intensity of any graduate program. I know this because I have friends in doctoral programs at Brown and Yale that would validate my claim. I’m not just gloating here, I am saying that Rhode Island College, on a purely academic level, has some of the best professors that actually care about you, that any other school could boast. Just stay away from the cafeteria.

Woohooo go Anchormen!

Great concert by Frederic Chiu. The selected Chopin Etudes demonstrated «groundbreaking» (for Chopin’s time) uses of the piano, and the Liszt arrangement of Beethoven’s Symphony no. 5 was breathtaking.
Can’t wait for him to appear at the Newport Music Festival this July

Rhode Island College is fantastic!

Wow, where do I start? This is the worst university I’ve ever attended. (Because I’ve moved around the country a lot I’ve been through five colleges).
There is no life on campus whatsoever. The place feels completely dead. Very closed off feeling. The professors are hit or miss. I’ve encountered amazing professors here right along complete shitheads who need to retire.
The school is falling apart building wise. I’ve been in class and sections of ceiling tile have fallen onto desks leaking roof water everywhere.
Rhode Island College is also fairly homophobic as it goes. Inside the restrooms hate writings can be seen in the stalls, walls, etc. The pride flag was ripped down. A lot of RI trash can be heard spouting off hate. Administration does little to stop these problems.
The food here? Oh boy don’t even get me started. If you’re a vegetarian you better bring your own food here. Or you’ll fatten up on cheese pizza (nasty cheese pizza BTW).
A lot of petty academic work, even in the higher level classes. So many professors are just not engaging enough.
The student population is here because they have to. Or have nothing else to do. That feeling oozes from just about everyone who attends this school.