Christian's Declassified RIT Survival Guide

11/15/16
Section 3
Christian Ling

Table of Contents
Scope

3
How to survive college

Introduction

First year, first year life, first year opportunities

Majors, minors and extracurriculars
Need help surviving?
Facilities
Creating your schedule

Definitions

Costs
Workload

Body

4
4
5
6
7
8

8
8
9

9
Benefits of wellness courses
Workout times
Social life-balancing friends, hobbies, family, school work and a job
11

Conclusion

Balance is possible
What comes next (After Graduation)
Follow the tips and youll graduate

9
10

11
11
12
12

Appendix

15

Bibliography

16

Scope
How to survive college
In a collegiate school full of homework, insane tests, and questionable meal options,
Christian Lingthat's meand the information from the USDENCES website, try to do the
impossible: create a guide that will help you survive school.
Many students drop out of college for various reasons. According to USDENCES, in
2013, the graduation rates for 4 year colleges was 59 percent and the graduation rates for
two-year colleges was 29 percent.1 This is a significant percentage of people who did not
graduate, so this guide is meant to help increase the graduation rate.
The initial impression of college is that college is overwhelming and too large of a shift in
workload. College may seem like a large task and may seem like it is not worth the time, or
money invested, but the payoff is well worth the investment. This guide can help minimize
expenses and maximize opportunities taken to help you feel more comfortable with your
investment.

https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/datacenter/Data.aspx

Introduction
First year, first year life, first year opportunities
Your freshman year is the introduction to your college career. Your first year should be
an opportunity to find your role in campus life and forming a plan to graduate. Your first year is
important to create friends with students and faculty to improve your college career. These
friends will likely be lifelong friends and are likely to share one or more classes with you.

During your first year, you will need to pass a class called Year One. This class does not
add credits towards your transcript, but this class is a graduation requirement. Thus you will
need to pass the class. The class provides helpful information for your college career such as
signing up for classes, requesting housing, tutoring centers, an introduction to American Sign
Language (ASL) and an introduction to deaf culture.
During your first year, you will be assigned a housing location and during your first
semester, a schedule will be assigned to you. You can change both of these but it is
recommended that you follow the given schedule. Your academic adviser creates your first
schedule based on your major and is the first step to succeeding. This also follows the course
schedule for your major and is the backbone for the remainder of college. The classes will often
be prerequisites for other classes in your department and general education classes for
graduation.
A large part of your college lifestyle is housing and location. Your dorm is acting as a
second home so you should pick a house that is both affordable, furnished, accessible, and has
a decent community. You should not pick a housing option well above your price range if other
cheaper alternatives can provide the same experience. In addition, it would also save money if
your dorm was furnished with a kitchen and a couch. The kitchen would help if you need to
make a snack or a meal and the couch is a comfortable place to relax and unwind. The dorm
should also be easy to access since it would not make sense to reside far away from campus if
you do not have a car. The community is also the people who you will interact with and should
be friendly enough to interact with.

The final part to understanding RIT is learning and understanding deaf culture. RIT has
many students in the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID). Many people here are
deaf or hard of hearing. This is a large change since most schools do not have as large of a
deaf and hard of hearing population. It is a common occurrence to see sign language on and
around campus. It is easy to learn sign language from observing, learning from friends, and
even being taught by integrating into deaf culture. It is recommended that you learn to sign the
alphabet and universal signs in your first year.
In addition to the opportunities of learning about deaf culture, it is less problematic of a
decision to switch majors in the first 2 years than any other point. It is easier and cheaper to
take classes in different fields than to waste money and credits switching majors.

Majors, minors, opportunities, and extracurriculars

RIT offers a wide variety of majors such as Computer Science, Marketing, Philosophy,
University Studies, Accounting, Applied Mathematics and Ceramics. RIT also offers a wide
variety of minors such as Accounting, Art history, Bioinformatics Analysis, Communication,
Ethics, Film Studies and Museum Studies. Many overlaps can be created so that you can major
or double major in a field and complete the requirements for many other minors.
Some of the majors and minors offered by RIT are intertwined and this unity between
courses makes it easy to double major in some areas or hold multiple minors. For example, it is
easy to double major in Computer Science and Software Engineering, or Electrical Engineering
with Chemical Engineering. It is also possible to minor in many courses as many classes in your
flowchart will be prerequisites for a minor. For example, in the Computer Science major, you will
need to take Introduction to Software Engineering (SWEN 261). This is a prerequisite for
Software Engineering as well as a requirement for the Software Engineering minor. In addition,
many mathematical classes as well as science courses are prerequisites for other minors. For
example, the Chemical Engineering major will require Physics and Multivariable Calculus. The
Software Engineering major will require Project based Calculus, Discrete Math for Computing,
Applied Statistics, and Physics. The Computer Science major requires Statistics, Project based
Calculus, Discrete Mathematics for Computing, and two lab sciences of choice. As you can see,

there are many overlaps between these majors and minoring would also be an easy
accomplishment.
RIT offers a weekly opportunities bulletin for Co-op and internships, as well as summer
research opportunities. These are often job opportunities so they can help increase job
experience or locate job options in the future. Most majors require 2 or more co-ops throughout
your college experience so you should take full advantage of the work experience.
RIT offers over 200 clubs and activities for all interests. Some of RITs clubs include
Electronics Gaming Society, Pokemon club, Anime club, Rochester Wargamer Association and
Guild, and Intramural Sports teams. RIT has many clubs from imagination to science fiction to
card and board games to athletics and more. With over 200 clubs, you are bound to find at least
one mutual interest to attend or try.

Need help surviving?

Each department has tutors willing to help you understand a subject. Any teacher of the
subject can help but sometimes it is more helpful to get a students perspective since they can
possibly explain it better. Do not be afraid to ask a question or have a teacher repeat a subject.
They are paid regardless so they are willing to help you succeed. Even if you are only slightly
unsure of a topic, going to a review session can still benefit you.

Facilities
There are many facilities open to like the counseling center, writing commons, disability
service office, and student health center. The counseling center is open from 8:30 am to 4:00
pm from Monday to Fridays. Evening appointments would need to be scheduled individually.
The counseling center is located in room 2100 in the August Center and is open for therapy,
prescriptions and psychological help. In addition to mental help, there is also the Student Health
Center open 8:30 am to 4:30 pm Mondays to Fridays, with limited services from 4:30pm to 6:30
pm on Mondays to Thursdays. The Student Health Center is also located in the August Center.
This center can also help you with psychiatry, prescriptions, general medical care, sexual
assault and sexually transmitted infections.

For academics, there are multiple tutoring centers as well as the writing commons. The
tutoring centers are each located within its respective department building. The writing
commons is located within the Wallace Library, right next to Javas. The writing commons can
help you with text based work such as essays, resumes, reports, job applications, and more.
The tutoring centers tend to only tutor its field. The tutoring centers stay open until 11 pm while
the main tutoring office is open from 8:30 am to 4:30 pm on Mondays through Fridays. The
writing commons are also helpful for assignments from First year writing. First year writing is a
course required by most majors and is a writing intensive course.
Lastly, the disabilities services office is dedicated to providing equal opportunities for
each student. The office hours are Mondays to Fridays from 8:00 am to 4:30 pm. The office also
offers a test center for students who require such. The office is located in the Student Alumni
Union in room 1150. The office can allot accommodations based on request and
documentation. The building offers everything to assistance animals to housing modification to
services upon request.

Creating your schedule

It is recommended that you schedule your classes built around your sleep schedule. Most
people do not take 8am classes since they would prefer the extra hour of sleep. This can also
be applied to you. More classes will be open at 8am but the cost of sleep is also a
consideration. You should not force yourself to wake up since you can end up burning out and
expending too much energy. In addition, you should also consider the time required to wake up
and travel to class. You make go through the process of waking up but if you are not alert, then
the lessons will not truly stick.

Definitions
Costs
For this manual, costs will be defined as any sorts of exchanges made. Anything from
time, energy, money, food, sleep, stress, social activity, traveling, and even going to class will
be a cost. Some examples of exchanges made are money for food, time for traveling, sleep for
studying and energy for stress. Not all exchanges are made willingly nor consciously but most
are necessary. For example, time will be needed for traveling to classes, sleep will need to be
sacrificed for completing schoolwork and money will be needed to be used for food. However,
the proper balance of these costs can be achieved and can lead to an overall better experience.
For example, money is a large expense and a large exchange made. Thus, the best
value should be obtained for this trade. Most students only require 2 meals from campus per
week, or 14 meals per week. As a freshman, you should try to find the best meal selection from
the options you are given at RIT. As a reminder, unused dining dollars will be transferred to the
spring semester, but meal options are reset each week. This will help you determine the best
meal plan for your remainder in school. Using 14 meals required as a reference point, the Tiger
14 plan would cost $2669 and would yield a dining dollar total of $3949.6. Many students often
have too much debit or dining dollars left in excess with this plan so this plan is often wasteful.
The undergraduate dining dollar plans yield less dining dollar totals but are more feasible to be
used in a semester. The plan selected should be the one that best suits your needs without
excess. The Orange plan is the best plan for flexibility in dining selection under the 14 meal
guideline but the Tiger 14 plan offers the better value.
Similar costs should be evaluated similarly. For example, while sleep is necessary to
function, 4 to 5 hours of sleep can give you the same amount of functionality as the full 8 hour

sleep. Time is also a large constraint as sleep, work, school and social interactivity have to
constantly be balanced to give you the highest productivity.

Workload
Workload would refer to the physical amount of tasks that need to be done throughout
the day. This would encompass schoolwork, homework, studying, and working. Your workload
would refer to daily tasks to prepare for a class, finish work for the class and maintaining a high
standing in the class. It is also important to remember that your workload will almost never be
constant as homework, tests and projects might all be due at one time or could be spread
evenly throughout a week.

Body
Benefits of wellness courses
During your career as a RIT student, stress often gets high due to work and too large
expectations being placed on you. Wellness classes are a good stress reliever and are often
required. Working out naturally causes your body to release endorphins and dopamine which
causes a pleasant feeling. The fact that this class is required only acts as a benefit rather than a
detriment.
There are many wellness courses offered ranging from Tennis, Table tennis, Dodgeball,
Badminton, Pilates, Swimming, Horseback (English or Western), Curling, Aikido, Kung Fu, Tai
Chi and Pickleball. With this large of a variety, you will naturally find an interest. For example,
Tai Chi is a natural meditation form and can relax you from stress, Spinning, Dodgeball and
Horseback riding offer both aerobic and anaerobic training and Pilates and Aikido offer full body
workouts. With the natural benefit of better health and mood, in addition to the stress relief to
get you through the semester, more than the required amount of wellness courses does not
even seem like a detriment.

Wellness courses count as a class and need to be passed but it is not a challenge to
pass these classes. These courses add no credit to your transcript but the fact that they do not
add credits means that you can add wellness courses to any schedule to decrease stress. Most
Wellness Classes are in the Wellness center of the Gordon Field House unless otherwise
specified. These classes are easy to pass as long as you show up and put some effort into the
class. Skill is not a requirement, nor is testing a major grade influence.

Workout times

In addition to wellness courses, it is important to work out at least twice a week. This is
to maintain your health, attitude, and decrease stress. The workout room is always used as long
as it is open and has 2 levels if space is a concern. The wellness center has treadmills,
Televisions, ellipticals, Dumbbells and other machines to exercise different muscle groups. The
treadmills, Cycling machines, and ellipticals all have a USB outlet and headphone jack so that
you can either listen to the program on the television, or listen to your own workout music while
your phone charges. The addition of the USB port also sometimes allows the workout summary
to be downloaded onto your phone. This is helpful when you want to track your progress or if
you do not want your phone to die. Lastly, sight of others workout naturally influences you to
work harder to compete with another workout partner. This is important for strength building,
cardio and stamina training or fitness trends. The best workout times would either be before
lunch, large gaps between classes, or close to dinner. The wellness center is almost never fully
occupied but the times allotted above seem to be the most optimal time for working out.

social life-balancing friends, hobbies, family, school work and a job

With multiple tasks required throughout the day, energy sometimes feels insufficient and
sometimes sleep seems not worth the cost. It is impossible to go through college without
interacting with a single student. It is very likely that you will make at least one friend throughout
college. Thus, at some point, you will feel the desire to spend time performing a leisure activity
with the friend, like going to marketplace mall, going to a club or organization, play video games
or just chat for hours on end. However, this is often hard to do with schoolwork piling up and
important tasks on the way. This gets even more strenuous when you have a job on top of all
this. Time management becomes extremely strained as 24 hours does not seem like enough
time in the day to manage sleep, school, work and being social. Sacrifices are usually made
when costs get too high and morale gets too low. The will to succeed may still exist but the time
allotted may not always reflect this.

Is this true or merely a hyperbolized outcome that many students face?

Conclusion
Balance is possible
The value gained from college can be balanced out through consideration for costs and
smart micro investments that maximize potential return value. For example, minimizing cost of
attendance means more money can be allocated towards other resources such as books, food,
or repaying loans. Each cost that is reduced equates to more value received. The balance
would be different for everyone but experience and preparation for the future is well worth the
costs of college.

What comes next (After Graduation)

For most people, work is the next step after college. With financial needs for the future,
and the necessity to repay student loans, a job is often the next step after college. As a
reminder, after 6 months of not being a student, you are expected to start repaying student
loans. The interest will accumulate and seem monstrous so it is important to repay these loans
as soon as possible. It is recommended that one works as a teacher after school due to the fact
that cost of education is severely reduced for prospective teachers. In addition, if you work as a
teacher during the summer or winter breaks, then you can both gain valuable work experience
while reviewing material for your major. You tend to learn more when you need to explain a
concept than reading and memorizing the textbook definition.

Follow the tips and youll graduate

This plan appears to be the most intuitive plan for success and earning a job. Your experience
in college leads to getting a job which can help pay off student loans. Risks are unnecessary for
college and according to Murphys Law and T
he Art of War by Sun Tzu, no plan succeeds the
first encounter and knowledge is only half of the battle. Taking unnecessary risks is not worth
the investment since the plan is unlikely to succeed. The knowledge gained from college is only
half of success. The other half is the application of knowledge in a work environment.

NOTES

NOTES

Appendix
RIT fall 2016 dining plans

https://www.rit.edu/fa/diningservices/sites/rit.edu.fa.diningservices/files/2016-2017%20RI
T%20INN%20Meal%20Plan.pdf

https://www.rit.edu/fa/diningservices/sites/rit.edu.fa.diningservices/files/2016-2017%20Fr
eshman%20Meal%20Plan.pdf

Print reference:

Sun-tzu, and Samuel B. Griffith. The Art of War. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1964. Print.
16 Nov. 2016

Flowcharts:

https://www.cs.rit.edu/sites/default/files/docs/Semester%20Flow%20Chart.pdf
https://www.se.rit.edu/sites/default/files/documents/VSEN%20Flowchart.pdf
https://www.rit.edu/kgcoe/chemical/sites/rit.edu.kgcoe.chemical/files/images/Visio-BS%2
0Chem%20E-MS%20SSTP%20Flow%20Charts%20%28April%2019%2C%202016%29.
png

Bibliography
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Rit Tiger Statue. Digital image. Java Coffee. Flickr.com, n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2016.
<https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/32/56579606_c5575058d7.jpg>.
Mission statement scroll. Digital image. My Startup Ceo. mystartupceo.com, n.d. Web.
15 Nov. 2016.
<http://www.mystartupceo.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/mission-statement.gif>.
Marble composition notebooks. Digital image. WHOLESALE COMPOSITION BOOKS.
Dollardays.com, n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2016.
<http://dm61q01mhxuli.cloudfront.net/images/t30/image2/uc1923.jpg>.
School, sleep and social life. Digital image. How do sports affect your life?
http://cswansonenglish10.blogspot.com, n.d. Web. 15 Nov. 2016.
<https://thelifeofamandasmith.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/screen-shot-2012-02-02-at-8
-33-32-am.png>.

Websites:

"IPEDS Data Center." I PEDS Data Center. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2016.
Undergraduate Major Finder. RIT my campus. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Nov. 2016.