Bryan Williams

Five Things Not To Do

Rookie mistakes — these are the things you do that automatically point you out as a freshman. Here are RIT's most obvious:

Sculpture Uncertainty

There are three sculptures along the Quarter Mile, none of which look like their respective names. The Sundial is in front of Grace Watson Hall — it looks somewhat like a radar dish. The Sentinel is in front of the SAU and the Eastman building, about halfway down the Quarter Mile. It has a big bronze base and doesn’t really look like anything at all. Five years after it was erected, the campus still does not agree on what it resembles, although the theme is usually a man and/or a horse. Finally, there’s the Infinity sculpture, “Construction #105,” in the middle of the Infinity Quad. This one is a weird looking oval unless you’re standing at just the right angle and squinting and standing on one foot. Then it looks like ∞, the mathematical symbol for an infinite value. If you stand still long enough, you’ll see this one rotating on its axis.

Crossed Wires

Don’t confuse the Commons and Crossroads. The Commons (technically the Shumway Dining Commons, but calling it that is also a rookie mistake) is on the dorm side. The food it offers is a little better than Gracie’s. Crossroads is a different building on the academic side, next to the Golisano College of Computing and Information Sciences (GCCIS or Building 70). Crossroads is a cross between a fast food place and a convenience store.

Calendar Chaos

Your classes are at different times on different days. The first few times you show up in the wrong building for a class, it’s chalked up as a rookie mistake. (After that, you’re just a noob.) Fix the problem by printing out your schedule. The RIT Schedule Maker, maintained by John Resig of Computer Science House, is located at http://schedule.csh.rit.edu.

Go Find Me...

The following items do not exist: an RIT football team, Building 100, the RIT brick factory, a tunnel from the dorm side to the academic side, a Computer Science major who has never played Counterstrike, or a secret CIA facility under the Eastman Building.

Balance is Best

Most things are fine in moderation, but some things don’t lend themselves to “just a little bit.” World of Warcraft is the perfect example. Keep gaming within sane limits. Leave time for schoolwork and interacting with real people. Don’t, however, lock yourself in your room and do nothing but calculus. Leave time for goofing off. After all, you’re in college. You’re never going to have another chance to duct tape a friend’s chair to the ceiling. (Hint: The chairs in the dorms take a roll and a half.)

Reporter hopes your freshman year is more like the first half of Animal House than the first half of Revenge of the Nerds.