PAA Blog
I recently sent you all an email about several on-campus resources available to you, and an opportunity to meet and mingle with me, other PAAs and first-year students, and the staff of the Academic Advising Resource Center.
The “Meet Your PAA” chocolate festival will be held on Monday, September 29th in the forum from 12:00 p.m.-2:00 p.m. (The forum is the general area in front of Gottwald Science Center.)
I hope to see a lot of you there!
Now that registration is well underway you are probably thinking about what books and supplies you will need to buy. You should already have your summer Core reading, but you can also buy your other books in advance from the bookstore online. Starting next week the bookstore will post the book lists on their website. You can either purchase them online and have them shipped to your house, or to the bookstore to be held until you come to campus. You can also look at the lists and buy the books that you need elsewhere like on Amazon or even eBay, but if you purchase them elsewhere try to get the same edition that the professor is going to be using so that you can reference the same page numbers. Another option is waiting, like I usually do, to buy your books until the weekend before school starts and during the first two days of classes. I prefer to do it this way so that I don’t have to transport a lot of books to campus when I move back in, and also because professors will sometimes remove a book from their required reading list. There is a catch to doing this, however, because sometimes if you wait to buy books until you get to campus the bookstore may run out of the books that you need and you will have to wait until they order more. This has happened to me before, and it can be a hassle if you have to wait for the books to arrive especially if you receive assignments in the meantime from your professors.
This year I am going to order my books ahead of time, and I would recommend that you do the same if it is possible. It will take a little stress off of you during your first week of classes since you won’t have to worry about missing assignments or lost study time. You can find the bookstore website under the UR links section of my blog.
As far as supplies go, unless you know how you like to organize notes and work for your classes already you can wait until the first two days of classes to decide what you need to buy. For some classes I like to use a binder and loose-leaf paper, and for others I prefer to use a spiral notebook and folder. I don’t know until I go to the class and read over the syllabus, so I usually just bring a spiral notebook to the first two days of class. If you are in a math or business class next semester you’ll probably want to bring a calculator. Other than that I recommend having plenty of pens and highlighters. The school provides free agenda books, which should be in your dorm room when you move-in, and also has just about any school supplies that you might need available in the bookstore.
The Housing office says housing and roommate information will be available on BannerWeb beginning July 23rd. You should consider contacting your future roommate before getting to campus this August so that you can get to know each other a little better. Also, don’t forget to talk about who’s going to bring what when it comes to a fridge, microwave, t.v., etc. (see “What to Pack” for more about this).
Starting today bannerweb will allow you to look-up classes that are offered next semester. I strongly recommend that you look at what is available and select several classes in addition to what you intend on taking next semester. Popular and intro courses tend to fill up very quickly so you should have alternate schedules prepared in case the classes that you want aren’t available on registration day. You don’t want to be scrambling to scrape together an alternate schedule last minute during your registration slot. Also, don’t freak out if you don’t get into the classes that you planned on for Fall semester! Chances are that you will get into the class for Spring semester, or another term.
Happy Hunting!
I am just sitting at my desk at my internship, (in my own office!), and wondering what you guys are up to this summer…I have heard from some of you that you have gotten internships for this summer, too. I am in the middle of my first week working at the U.S. Naval Academy Foundation for Corporate & Foundation Relations and Communications, and I am really excited for next week. I-Day is this coming Wednesday and I am going to be working at the plebes’ check-in. I-Day is the first day of an intensive, summer-long boot camp for the incoming class of midshipmen, or plebes as we call them. They report for check-in at the Academy, shave their heads, get their first uniforms, and say good-bye to their families for the summer.
I think that it would be cool, and pretty interesting, if you posted what you were doing this summer on my blog. So whether you are working at some big time corporation, or working at the mall, I want to know about it!
Picture of the U.S. Naval Academy Base in Annapolis, MD.
It is very important that you regularly check your spidermail account because important e-mails from the Registrar’s Office and other UR programs will be sent only to your Richmond account. Please make sure you keep checking your UR e-mail.
You can do several things on BannerWeb such as view your transcripts, view your student account, and register for classes. Another thing that you can do is make student selections like changing your meal plan. Every new student is automatically enrolled in the Spider Premuim meal plan. Later in the summer (by the end of July) you will be able to select a different plan through bannerweb.
Also, just in case you are having trouble accessing your bannerweb account here is what you do:
Go to BannerWeb at https://bannerweb.richmond.edu/
Click Regular Login, Use University ID (not netID)
First-time password=your birthdate: MMDDYY (6 numbers)
It will say “re-enter your old PIN”-so again enter your birthdate
Then you will be prompted to create your new PIN and create a recovery question. Any issues contact the HelpDesk at helpdesk@richmond.edu or (804) 287-6400.
My summer before starting college seems just like yesterday. Graduation, lazy days by the pool, trips to the beach, work, traveling, packing for school, and saying goodbye to friends. Now I am an intern at the U.S. Naval Academy Foundation and Alumni Association. Time flew by, but in the short span of two years I have learned tremendously about the world, myself, and where I am going. The advice that I was given, and philosophy which I not follow, has helped me along the way.
“You don’t have that kind of time.”
(A woman dying of cancer said this to her best friend when she asked if the pants she was trying on made her look fat.)
After I graduated from high school in June of 2006, I traveled out of the country for the first time. I went on a family vacation to the Dominican Republic, and was able to experience the culture and lifestyle of this Hispanic country. This trip was the first in many to still come, and increased my thirst for a global experience, one in which I continue to pursue in college. When I returned from vacation I continued working at my retail job at Old Navy. I also made sure to spend plenty of time with my family and friends, some of whom I have grown closer to and others more distant.
Everyone says it to you because it’s true: your years in college will fly by! So believe in what they say, and don’t take any of your time for granted. Your college years are a unique time in your life, for most it is the last time that you will have “summer vacation,” and they will undeniably shape who you are and what you will become.
As far as your laptop goes it is a personal decision based on what operating system you are most comfortable using and the specific uses that you will have for it. For example, I personally have a dell laptop and it works great for me because I know how to use windows inside and out. It is pretty heavy, though, and can be a bit of a hassle if I want to carry it to class or the library. I do not have a mac because I have very little operating experience with it and can’t get the hang of using it (quite sad, I know). Several of my friends do use macs, however. So when deciding which laptop to buy, consider the operating system you are most comfortable using and if you are going to carry your laptop around campus with you. The University does recommend minimum standards for computer systems and this information can be found on their website here.
Now that the housing deadline has passed it is important to remember another deadline that can sneak up on you. The mandatory health history record must be completed and returned by July 15. Since doctor appointments are usually made far in advance, make an appointment for a physical with your doctor today! If you fail to submit this on time you will be blocked from fall class registration and denied access to your residence hall on move-in day. More information about this requirement is available on the New Spiders website.
Most of the buildings and places on campus are referred to using abbreviations, especially by students. PAA Kathleen Lietzau provides a useful list on her blog, and I have also included several abbreviations of my own that I have found useful.
8:15: This is the coffee shop located on the first-floor entrance of the library. Its full name is 8:15 at Boatwright and it serves Starbuck’s coffee.
The Lodges: These are the fraternity row houses located on-campus behind the Robins center and the lake. If you hear someone say that they are going to party at the lodges this weekend this is where they are going, because some fraternities host parties with music and dancing on the weekends.
The Commons: Its formal name is Tyler Hanes Commons. On the bottom floor it houses the Tyler Hanes Grill, Alice Haynes Room, Gameroom, and The Cellar. The second floor has the Center for Civic Engagement, Thinktank room, Bookstore, Student Activities Board, and Westhampton Hanging Lounge. On the third floor there is the Office of Multicultural Affairs, One Card Services, and office of The Collegian.
The Pier: Also called the Tyler Hanes Grill, is located on the first floor of the Commons. Dining service that serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner a-la-carte.
D-Hall: Formally called the Heilman Dining Center. It is the main dining hall on campus.
Latest Comments