Key Information for New Students

Textbooks

There are a few locations you may look for your course's textbooks including:

• MyUW 

• UW Email or syllabus sent by the instructor listing course materials 

• UW Bookstore 

You are welcome to procure your textbooks through the UW bookstore or a private vendor. Make sure your ISBN numbers are correct! Multiple editions of a book may be published and you need to ensure you procure the edition that you need for your class. 

Some folks prefer e-books and others prefer physical textbooks. Some books will only be available online and others may only be available in print. If you are struggling to locate a text that you need for a class, connect with RC Scholars staff or a Peer Mentor. 

What to Bring on Your First Day of the Quarter

UW is definitely a bit different than Middle School or High School. Here are some important things to bring with you on your first day. 

• A bag (backpack, satchel, or tote) 

• Something to take notes with (notebook and something to write with or a laptop/tablet and charger) 

• Something to navigate campus with (your phone and charger should suffice) 

• Husky Card (you will need this to scan into buildings, purchase things on campus, and access public transportation)

• Water bottle and a snack

• Comfortable shoes (the UW campus is quite large and you may have a bit of walking to do)

• Rain jacket or umbrella (it is important to pay attention to the weather forecast) 

Navigating Campus

You can look up most campus buildings on Google Maps, but the UW also has a great, interactive campus map that can help you get wherever you need to go! 

RC Scholars Bridge Programming

PACK Mentorship 

All incoming first year students will be grouped into PACKs (Peers Advancing Community & Knowledge), led by two Peer Mentors, who you will get to know during A&O Part 3. Your PACK will coordinate and arrange a required meeting time once per month during the autumn quarter, followed by optional, but highly encouraged, PACK gatherings in the winter and spring quarters. Your Peer Mentors will also be able to meet with you individually or in small groups throughout the school year and are there for you to seek peer guidance or advice. 

Northern Lights

The first week of school, Peer Mentors can be found around the RC wearing PURPLE Peer Mentor shirts; they are your Northern Lights. If you have a question about campus or need any support, reach out to them to ensure you know how to navigate your first days on campus. These folks will also arrange to go with you to some fun Dawg Daze Events so you don't have to go alone: 

• Student Activities Fair  

• CELE Center VIP (Volunteer, Internship, and Paid Opportunities) Fair 

• Undergraduate Research at the UW 

RC Scholars Quarterly Bridge Classes: 

We have curated a series of 3, 1-credit classes to support your full transition to the UW. Check them out! 

Fall: GEN ST 297: First Year Seminar 

This is a mandatory course for all first year students. 

Description: As a first year RC student, you have many choices and opportunities ahead of you. This seminar will focus on meeting the unique needs of younger students transitioning into the university system without the benefit of a complete high school experience. Students will get to experience lectures from faculty from different disciplines to expand their knowledge of the academic areas of study available to them. They will also learn about and set goals to seek out the many academic support resources on campus. They will spend time getting to know one another and developing smaller groups within their cohort focused on shared identities and areas of academic interest. Finally, we will use some of our class time to further educate our students on the advising tools available to them to support their time at UW.

Winter: GEN ST 297: BeREAL 

This is an optional course for all first year students and open to all years. 

Description: Be REAL (Resilient Attitudes and Living) is an initiative that promotes mental health and well-being by equipping participants with cognitive behavioral skills to manage emotions and cope with stressful situations, mindfulness skills to strengthen self-awareness, and practices to encourage compassion for themselves and others. Be REAL was developed and evaluated by the UW’s Center for Child & Family Well-Being. The RC Scholars program offers a dedicated section of this course that is open only to RC Scholars students and intended to assist with managing their transition to University life. 

Spring: GEN ST 220: Experiential Learning 

This is an optional course for all first year students and open to all years. 

Description: The Robinson Center Experiential Learning Program seeks to increase the early engagement of our students with a focus on pre-major activities.  In doing this work, we will partner with campus programs such as URP, Study Abroad, CELE, and the Career & Internship Center. The focus of the experiences students pursue will be development of academic-related interests and skills, career exploration, and resume building. By providing funding for these experiences we believe we can increase access by relieving students of the need to have a job while doing unfunded work, and to encourage them to engage in these opportunities which have been shown to affect student success in college.