The University of Rhode Island received a record number of first-year applications in the University’s undergraduate business and nursing programs for the fall 2024 semester.
URI received 26,800 first-year undergraduate applications — a “notable increase” of 6%, according to a URI article . This number includes an increase in both in-state and out-of-state students.
URI’s top majors are registered nursing, which makes up 8.1% of all undergraduates, and engineering, which is 8.3%, according to the Rhode Island Department of Education. The College of Engineering offers a variety of bachelor’s degrees, with mechanical engineering being the largest.
Mechanical engineering is the most popular area of engineering for a reason, Anthony Marchese, dean of the College of Engineering, said. Children grow up fixing robots and building cars, and are not exposed to the other realms of engineering such as civil or electrical.
“Everywhere you look, there’s a mechanical engineer,” Marchese said. “You look around this room and see the chair, a mechanical engineer was involved in designing this chair. You see the guitar. Everything has a mechanical component to it, even your computer.”
Students applying from in-state view URI as the cheaper state option, but out-of-state students come for the research opportunities, Marchese said.
As the state of Rhode Island’s flagship public research institution, URI receives a majority of its funding from federal agencies.
States specifically invest in engineering programs in order to benefit their economy and infrastructure, Marchese said. The money is then used to facilitate research particular to the ocean state, including offshore wind and marine plastic pollution.
Half of the College of Engineering’s faculty member’s job is to do research, Marchese said. Ranging from the development of wind turbines to undersea vehicles, working on these projects with their professors is a goal of some students.
Although there is a growing interest in URI’s engineering program, Marchese said that the influx of undergraduate applications will not impact the amount accepted. With more students mass-applying to schools through the Common Application, he believes that the amount of students that apply, and then are accepted, to URI will go down.
Every year, the College of Engineering aims to admit 400 students, Marchese said. This number allows for professors to work with students, provide students with internships and ensure they have jobs post-graduation. With a bigger pool of applicants, the competition for these opportunities increases.
The amount of accepted applicants at URI did not go down despite nationwide Free Application for Federal Student Aid form complications, according to a CNN article . The release of this new FAFSA form had inaccuracies and difficulties, which created “major delays” in getting applicants’ accurate financial information.
Unlike URI’s engineering program, URI’s registered nursing program is willing to accept more students as they apply, Jessica Skaltsis, acting undergraduate program coordinator for the College of Nursing said.
The College of Nursing tries to accept around 120 applicants, but the registered nursing graduating class of 2024 is made up of 144, she said.
The pandemic has intensified burnout and stress among nurses, and has contributed to staffing shortages, according to the National Institutes of Health .
“We have a really involved group of staff, students and faculty that support them,” Skaltsis said. “Especially with the nursing shortage, we need all hands on deck.”
By giving students internship and clinical experience, as well as hands-on laboratory classes, Skaltsis believes that URI’s nursing program prepares students for the impacts of this shortage.
Learning about how the University can support clinical agencies and educational programs, while also having a contemporary curriculum, is a way that the program hopes to combat the nursing shortage, she said.
“We are really determined to identify the issues that are going on right now and find creative solutions to them,” Skaltsis said.
Up until two semesters ago, URI had no pediatric placements in immersion courses, she said. Now, there are 13.
Opportunities and growth within the major is beneficial for both students and their future patients. The rigor and work ethic of URI’s nursing students separates them from other students post-graduation, Skaltsis said.
“Our clinical agency says [they] can tell URI students when they come to work for them,” she said. “Students are prepared and confident.”
The College of Nursing also gains applicants by adapting to changes in technology with virtual and augmented reality training, she said. Skaltsis believes that the college will continue to support nursing students in becoming “change agents” of the future.
“We’re not too big, not too small,” Skaltsis said. “We’re just the right size for students not to be invisible.”