<p>Does anyone have experience with this program? Our D got a letter about it and it does sound interesting....coming to UR four days early....limited to 100 students.... but since she attended boarding school we are wondering if this is a program that is more oriented toward the "transition from home" and therefore wouldn't be as applicable to her. Input anyone?</p>
<p>My son participated in this program last year and enjoyed it. I don’t think it’s aimed at transitioning from home. It’s part expanded orientation for the student and part classroom interaction with some fun activities thrown it. The program has been expanded. Last year there were only 4 short course selections. It is important to note that your short course professor will become your academic advisor. You can probably change advisors later if your interests change, although it worked out well for my son.</p>
<p>A side benefit is being able to move your son or daughter in when it’s far less crowded and being able to arrive on a weekend rather than midweek. The parents get a shorter version of the orientation info than attending the regular orientation.</p>
<p>I would love to hear any other input on this program. We would be interested in hearing from anyone else who attended…We are not sure we understand the benefits of coming to an early orientation … and then, does she participate in the orientation all over again starting on the 19th?</p>
<p>Hi Investor,
A couple of my good friends did the program last year. They really enjoyed it and everyone who did it is glad they did. It’s not so much “orientation” as it is a whole separate program in itself. Orientation is filled with introductions to different campus facilities, activities to get to know your class, etc. while Roadmap involves things like a tour of the city of Richmond, mini-courses on a special topic of your choosing, etc. Roadmap is not about acclimation from home or about getting “orientated” with campus - it is about figuring out what you want from college before you start. </p>
<p>So, yes, your daughter would have to go to Orientation starting on the 19th, but I don’t see why she wouldn’t want to. It’s completely different from Roadmap.</p>
<p>Is your daughter your first college student? If so, you may not understand the benefits of moving in early NOW, but when move-in day rolls around… you will understand! Believe me… shew. Your daughter be less overwhelmed when orientation starts because she will already have moved in and made some friends while everyone else is just arriving on campus, overwhelmed and doesn’t know a soul. She also will already be semi-familiar with campus and this will help make her feel more confident in her first days there I’m sure.</p>
<p>thanks, kellie, that was so helpful. I wonder why UR offers this…what is the benefit or goal of implementing this program? It sounds good and D signed up for it today!</p>
<p>I think UR is really into the idea of having students be close with their professors and this program helps implement that by starting off the student-professor interaction right away and furthering that relationship by having that specific professor be their advisor for future years. Not to mention they also want students to delve into the city of Richmond, get to know their fellow classmates, etc. all things the program does that orientation simply cannot do because of the sheer number of students.</p>
<p>I’m glad to hear your daughter signed up - I’m sure she will enjoy herself and maybe even meet the girls she will call her best friends at the end of the year. I can think of a group of friends in my year who all met during the Roadmap program and have been inseparable ever since, although they all lived on different floors & halls.</p>
<p>Our daughter rec’d confirmation that she is in Roadmap. The orientation schedule is very short (one and one half hours vs. Wed PM and Thurs AM for the regular one) and the schedule for her looks interesting. She is excited. Any other new spiders going to participate in this?</p>
<p>Roadmap to Success on YouTube:</p>
<p>Youtube has some four short Roadmap to Success videos featuring faculty and administrators who are involved with the program. Search for: Richmond Roadmap to Success</p>
<p>We dropped our daughter at UR yesterday, as she is attending Roadmap program. On the positive side, we met with her advisor and he was wonderful. Had a fabulous one hour meeting with him and it really confirmed everything we love about the school (small classes, close relationships with professors, one on one attention). On the other hand, there was no welcoming signs nor people to welcome us to the dorm, and she was alone on her floor in the dorm. Her RA came in and said hello and she didn’t see her again. Last night was a little lonely being the only one on her floor. Last night’s scavenger hunt got a mild/low review by her. She was back in the dorm at 8:30. Long night. The library, the bookstore, and the little store were all closed yesterday…odd for a big move in day (internationals and roadmaps both moved in). We expected a little more in terms of welcoming, but still overall couldn’t be happier with her choice of UR. Campus is beautiful. Everything will get better as the week progresses, we’re sure. She’s there for the education, and it couldn’t be better, we’re convinced of that. But, the jury is out on whether or not the early program was worthwhile. We do hope so.</p>
<p>bigeast, I’m a bit surprised they didn’t have more people around, but I know that Wednesday is the big day when the rest of campus arrives. I’m positive things will pick up then, especially with 925 classmates…</p>
<p>925? That’s the first I heard that number! Last year was 738, according to the website. I hope they can deal with the rapid growth. We are still very pleased, just disappointed in the first day. Believe me when I say there was NO ONE around. She is in Lora Robins, and when we moved in, we saw MAYBE two or three international families, and no one over the freshman level to say hello or welcome. Good feedback for them to hear. On the other hand, she called today and had a great class in Roadmap and enjoyed her day. It will be better on Wed. I know!</p>
<p>bigeastfan–</p>
<p>I think the issue with the RA welcome is that the RAs and the OAs are still in training, or so I’ve heard. Definitely a flaw with the program’s timing, but hopefully they’ll be able to work it out in later years. Tell your daughter to hang in there. Once everyone else on her hall moves in, she’ll be so busy she won’t know what to do with herself!</p>
<p>bigeast, they’ve put one hall renovation on hold to accommodate the increased number of students and have hired faculty to make sure that there will be enough sections of classes and keep the student/faculty ratio at the same low level. I don’t think that the size of this class will be seen as “growth,” as they want to stay around 3,000 students, so the next three classes will be smaller than normal, and as such, will likely be very difficult to be admitted.</p>
<p>We dropped off our daughter at UR on Sunday and had the same experience Bigeast describes. We’ve talked to her a few times and she loves the program and the class she is taking. She says the program is good/worthwhile. On the school issue, URAdmissions always made it clear they were seeking a larger class, and it was our impression that that size (900) was the new class size. Why would they seek a substantially larger class and then pull back to 750? makes no sense…any insights, spiders05?</p>
<p>The target was 805, which is a larger class than normal, as they were replacing a larger class. I think a few things happened to cause the 926 number. </p>
<p>First, I think UR’s 100% aid and need blind admissions policy made it more attractive in the current economy. We’re one of 40 some odd schools that have both policies in place. Our commitment to this policy and the four buildings being currently constructed on campus, along with our ability to hire new faculty to maintain our student/faculty ratio speaks volumes about our financial condition.</p>
<p>Second, I think our national reputation continues to catch up to our quality of education. The school has received a lot of positive press regarding the quality professors, the b-school continues to climb the charts, and we were America’s “Hottest” school for international studies. </p>
<p>Third, it was our enrollment manager’s first year on the job combined with all of the above. I’m not sure 30 years at UR could have prepared you for the above factors, but I can’t imagine that it would be easy to predict how much the above two factors would play in our admissions numbers. Since our stated desired size is ~3,000 students, the next few classes will be very difficult to gain admission into, as they will all have to be smaller classes (my unofficial guess is ~700-725, which could lead to roughly 400 or so fewer acceptances – and let me be clear, this is just my guess and I do not work for the University or the admissions department).</p>