<p>current student, Brain and Cognitive Sciences Major, involved in music and Greek life. ask away </p>
<p>MODERATOR'S NOTE: Anyone is welcome to ask or answer questions in this thread. Note that the OP disappeared after August 9. That is why "Ask Me" threads are renamed.</p>
<p>Do you know anything about the physics dept?</p>
<p>Have you tried to get involved in ug research?</p>
<p>How’s dorm life?</p>
<p>DS is a physics major at Rochester. He’s very happy there. Lots of ug research opportunities. As he was told by the dept chair before he started there “If you don’t find research to pursue for yourself by the time you are a sophomore, you will have some profs tapping you on the shoulder to join their team.” Last semester, DS did an independent study and pulled in some other students to work on the project. DS has done REUs at other institutions the last 2 summers.</p>
<p>If you have specific questions, perhaps I can answer those.</p>
<p>the dorms are better than the average college dorms. huge rooms and halls become really close. overall the dorm environment is very encouraging. theres usually people hanging out in the lounge and most halls find that they get along really well with each other</p>
<p>i have yet to get involved with research on campus but i plan to this upcoming semester. i have many friends that have gotten involved and often find that they get so into their research that they choose to stay over the summer. PIs really value people who are eager to learn and if you display that it will open many doors. i dont know much about the physics department, but since the school is so big on engineering i imagine it is very good. the physics library is a popular study spot, and i know there are constantly physics majors there helping each other out and it is a very welcoming environment</p>
<p>Sorry I’m going to have a lot of questions, I hope you don’t mind!
<p>If I come up with more questions I’ll let you know. Sorry if I asked too many!!</p>
<p>Can help with 1, 2 and 4. You can cook. Don’t know about the Quad freshman dorms, but most dorms have kitchens, though not always on every floor. It can get very cold but it’s more that winter is longer and snowier than in Maryland. You notice the difference in February: as it’s getting warmer in Maryland, it isn’t in the North. And sports are not big at all. </p>
<p>1) Students are required to live in on campus housing for their first 2 years. Anyone who lives in the campus housing is required to take a meal plan. Which meal plan depends of which dorm you live in. Even students who have full kitchens in their on-campus apartment are required to take a meal plan.</p>
<p>See meal plan costs/options here:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.campusdish.com/en-US/CSNE/Rochester/MealPlans/MealPlans.htm”>http://www.campusdish.com/en-US/CSNE/Rochester/MealPlans/MealPlans.htm</a></p>
<p>Freshmen Quad dorms have a communal kitchen on each floor. </p>
<p>2) Winters can be grim in Rochester. Cold, wet, snowy and overcast. D2 hailed from the sunny Southwest. She said the gray skies bothered her more than the cold or snow.</p>
<p>4) Big time rah-rah sports–not Rochester’s thing. Students do support their campus sport teams, but you’ll find the atmosphere quite different from UMaryland’s football/basketball intensity.</p>
<p>Is the campus spread out or compact? Are dorms integrated into campus or remote? Are there many busy, commercial roads going through campus? How has travel been into and out if campus for breaks? Is there an affordable Indian restaurant near campus? How politically </p>
<p>Re physics in particular @ChowdyCat, is there an active physics club?
I appreciate the info… at this moment I feel overwhelmed and my son even moreso. We are unlikely to be able to visit prior to him sending out applications.</p>
<p>Also, how crowded are the dining halls at lunch? Do students pile in 12-1 or is it more spread out? Are the dining halls open off hours or only specific meal times?
Thank you for the info!</p>
<p>MidwestSalmon–I can tackle some of your questions:</p>
<p>Campus is pretty compact. Freshmen live either on the res quad, or in Sue B which is just behind the library, but both very central. Graduate student housing can be a little bit further away.</p>
<p>No busy roads going through the campus, just campus roads. It is a true campus, roughly triangular, with the sides being made up by a huge cemetery, the hospital complex, and the Genesee river.</p>
<p>The airport is less than five miles from campus. There are shuttles running before and after breaks, but many take cabs, since it’s a short ride.</p>
<p>Dining halls are not overcrowded at lunch mostly because the students don’t have common lunch period. Lunch is spread over several hours. Also there are 2 large cafeterias and a number of other dining options on campus. Students have the option of using their meal plan $$ at both on campus venues as well as some off campus ones. (D liked to eat lunch in the Strong Hospital cafeteria since it was closer to her lab than Danforth or Douglass.)</p>
<p>Main cafeterias are open more or less from 8 am to 7 pm. Other dining venues have other hours. IIRC, there is a on campus mini mart w/ prepared salads and reheatable meals open until 11pm or midnight daily. The mini mart takes declining $$–which are part of the meal plan.</p>
<p>There is a physics club on campus. It’s active and sponsors a monthly lectures series.</p>
<p>Indian House Express is about 2 miles east of the med center on Clinton Ave. Can’t say how good the food is. Never eaten there.</p>
<p>Yes, there is an active physics club. The physics library is also a big hangout place for physics students and it is not just for studying! If your son in interested in the astro side of physics, there is a very active local astronomy group, ASRAS, that pulls in profs and students from a number of area colleges along with interested people from the area.</p>
<p>Every spring Rochester hosts a physics symposium where students from many colleges in the northeast do paper and poster presentations. Presentations at this symposium can be cited on resumes. Links to past symposia can be found at <a href=“Rochester Symposium for Physics Students : News & Events : Department of Physics and Astronomy : University of Rochester”>https://www.pas.rochester.edu/news-events/rsps/index.html</a>. </p>
<p>The admissions website has good maps of campus, some of them interactive IIRC. </p>
<p>The Amtrak station is only about a 10 minute taxi ride to campus if train is a possibility for you. A number of student take the train.</p>
<p>If you can’t visit, you should check to see if there will be an adcom coming to your area. Check the admissions website. Our first encounter with UR was at an event local to us in the Chicago area.</p>
<p>I spprecaite the comment everyone. Very helpful!</p>
<p>On a break, depending on where you’re going, there’s a bus service called “My bus home” that runs a bus to NYC and Boston (and more?) during the various breaks. And there is MegaBus to NYC. </p>
<p>How are the natural and health sciences programs at UR (eg. bio, chem, epidemiology)? How reputable is their quality and rigor? What are the most popular majors at UR, and what are the strongest programs there? How strong is their pre-med program? Thanks so much for your input :)</p>
<p>How many hours on average do you allocate to studying ? What made you pick this major ?</p>
<p>Also, how is the financial/merit aid? Any full ride scholarships? </p>
<p>There is no long the required two years on campus. They’ve so over enrolled that if anyone is willing to leave they let them.</p>
<p>And yes, it’s as cold as you’ve heard. Below zero. If tunnels exist at a school it’s usually for a reason. But first semester is usually fine, it’s Jan/Feb that can be brutal.</p>
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<p>Bio, chem, BCS, physics/optics depts are very good. </p>
<p>There are lots of pre meds at UR so there is a lot of competition with heavy weeding going on during the freshman and sophomore required pre-med classes (gen chem, ochem, intro bio). About 35-40% of each year’s incoming class self-identifies as “pre med” but only 100-120 students/year actually end up applying. (This sounds bad, but this is actually on par with national statistics.)</p>
<p>UR is one of the few colleges nationally that requires its pre-meds to take 2 semesters of calculus and 2 semesters of calc-based physics. (Which speaks to the rigor of the program.)</p>
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<p>According to the Provost’s Fact Book for 2013, the most popular majors are (in order):
psychology, biology, undeclared, business, economics, neuroscience, BME, finance, mathematics & poli sci (tied), mechanical engineering.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.rochester.edu/provost/assets/ir/Factbook%2013-14/UR12%20majors%20UG%20-%20fall%2013.pdf”>http://www.rochester.edu/provost/assets/ir/Factbook%2013-14/UR12%20majors%20UG%20-%20fall%2013.pdf</a></p>