University of Rhode Island Top Questions

The common stereotypes at the University of Rhode Island fraternity amd sorority kids. I feel this is accurate because greek life is a large part of URI. Although I am not in a frat you can definitely notice the amount of frat and sorority kids.

Although there are many stereotypes of URI students, the most popular would have to be that they are stoners. I would consider this an appropriate stereotype, people don't call it URHigh for nothing! Of course not everyone is a stoner, and those that are usually excel just as often as the straightedge students as far as I noticed. If you don't want to be around stoners, avoiding them should not be a problem.

The typical stereotype of URI students falls along the lines of stoners. This is more or less true as there are even shirts sold near campus with the phrase, "U.R. High" with the image of a marijuana leaf.

URI has made quite the effort recently to get rid of its reputation as a "party school," with varying degrees of success. It's still somewhat known for this locally, and so plenty of people from local schools come to URI for this reason--self-fulfilling prophecies and all that. The Greek societies (fraternities and sororities) are pretty prolific as a result. Jokes about "URHigh" are also pretty widespread among students. If any of that sounds like your thing, you will definitely not find URI lacking. If any of that sounds like something you want nothing to do with, you will not find yourself surrounded by it against your will. The Greek system is large and occasionally does have recruiting drives and other events to keep themselves active and generally full of members, but they also occupy their own little world for the most part. They are very concerned about their reputation and will not go out of their way to pressure you into doing anything if you have no interest in it (aside from fundraising, but this is a universal thing among student organizations). And I hesitate to suggest that the people who attend URHigh are organized enough to do any of those things. In short, there is certainly a lot of truth in these stereotypes, and though you will occasionally see and meet walking examples of them, you will rarely find yourself surrounded by them unless you choose to be.

URI has made quite the effort recently to get rid of its reputation as a "party school," with varying degrees of success. It's still somewhat known for this locally, and so plenty of people from local schools come to URI for this reason--self-fulfilling prophecies and all that. The Greek societies (fraternities and sororities) are pretty prolific as a result. Jokes about "URHigh" are also pretty widespread among students. If any of that sounds like your thing, you will definitely not find URI lacking. If any of that sounds like something you want nothing to do with, you will not find yourself surrounded by it against your will. The Greek system is large and occasionally does have recruiting drives and other events to keep themselves active and generally full of members, but they also occupy their own little world for the most part. They are very concerned about their reputation and will not go out of their way to pressure you into doing anything if you have no interest in it (aside from fundraising, but this is a universal thing among student organizations). And I hesitate to suggest that the people who attend URHigh are organized enough to do any of those things. In short, there is certainly a lot of truth in these stereotypes, and though you will occasionally see and meet walking examples of them, you will rarely find yourself surrounded by them unless you choose to be.

At the University of Rhode Island you have the chance to meet many new people as you begin your college experience. While most assume that URI is just a school for partying and academic negligence they are very wrong. Just about everyone here is as concentrated on their schoolwork as they are with their social activities and if they aren't, they can be easily put on academic probation which if you are apart of for more than two semester you can be thrown out of school. At the same time URI knows how to have a good time. Just about everyone you meet is up for new experiences whether that includes partaking in drinking or just going to Providence or New York City for a weekend trip. Overall, there is no stereotype because there is such a great diversity of people looking to meet friends and have fun.

Stoners and Frat Kids

The stereotypical reference made about URI or rather I should say URHIGH is that our students are stoners. We have Hempfest and tapestry sales that our scholars crave. Our school used to be top rated for parties but a dry campus forced us to re-connect with our roots, marijuana roots that is. Now our school is known for smart stoners and creative thinking.

At this University, the most common type of student you will see is one engaged in tons of partying and drinking...that is the straight truth. But that doesn't mean the students here are corrupted by any means. As a matter of fact, some of the most intelligent and innovative students and professors are the University of Rhode Island. There is not a lot of ethnic diversity, but being Indian myself, it does not make it uncomfortable. Many times, students are also stereotyped into Greek life, which include fraternities and sororities. Greek life is major component of this University, as many activities and programs are assisted by students participating in Greek life.