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Nervous about starting at Michigan State? Worried about your class schedule, living away from home, or where to even start? The Spartan Orientation Station (SOS) is a podcast hosted by New Student Orientation staff and was created by students for students. This podcast will launch twice a week throughout the summer, and each episode will feature a unique interview with campus departments discussing their services, common misconceptions, and fun Spartan engagement opportunities. When you need help at Michigan State, it is okay to signal SOS! Don’t worry – MSU is there for you.
Speaker 1 0:08
You're listening to the Spartan Orientation Station on Impact 89 FM, the podcasts by students for students. Now, this week's episode.
Emily Hill 0:17
Welcome back everyone. Today we'll be discussing MSU acronyms and abbreviations. Walk around campus and you'll hear students say they just finished their IM game or they just took their CS exam. It's more than just common. With countless departments, positions and locations. Michigan State University is full of acronyms. From the well known ones like MSU itself to the more obscure ones that may leave you scratching your head. We'll dig deep to uncover their origins, contexts and roles within the MSU community. Today, we are hoping to get you ready by explaining major acronyms, giving us a common language for this podcast series and when you arrive on campus this fall. My name is Emily Hill and I am a rising sophomore majoring in ESS or better known as environmental studies and sustainability.
Faith Arnott 1:04
All right, hello. Hello everyone. My name is Faith. I just recently graduated which is super exciting. And I majored in Business Management with a minor in International Business.
Sav Hamed 1:15
Hi, everyone. My name is Sav. I also just graduated this spring and I majored in genetics and genomics and I had two minors, one in HPS, history, philosophy, sociology of science, and the other one in bioethics.
Abigail 1:28
Hello, I'm Abigail. My major is in social work with a minor in justice, law and public policy. And I will be a senior this fall.
Johana Zamora 1:37
Hello, hello, my name is Johana. My story is a little bit different. I graduated from my first degree and I'm currently doing my second degree in nursing through CON that it's known as the College of Nursing.
Faith Arnott 1:50
All right, so now we're gonna get into some of the acronyms. And I know now that y'all are enrolled at Michigan State and are starting your new student orientation process, there are a lot of acronyms that are kind of popping up as you get further along. And so we're gonna start off with some of the basic ones that you're hearing throughout this NSO process. And Abby's gonna kind of lead us off with that.
Abigail 2:11
So yeah, just like Faith had mentioned, these are some of the first stages of you being a new student here at Michigan State. So kinda to start out, we have the NSO, and that stands for the new student orientation. And essentially, it's to help students make a successful transition to MSU. And essentially, in that office, basically, all of us we are SC student coordinators. And also within that there are SL's, which are student leaders, and they are going to be in the in person orientation in August. And so they will be helping you, essentially showing you around campus and other resources that they will be showing you. And also we have OI's, which are orientation interns, and they are running help rooms right now. And essentially, you can find some of those updated times on social media and newsletter. And I guess the next thing you'll be seeing a lot of and you'd probably just finished your NSO modules on D2L, which is essentially desire to learn. And throughout the next years here on campus, you'll be using that for a majority of your classes. Essentially, you could have quizzes, tests. And for a lot of professors here, the email is very, very important on D2L. So that's kind of their main source of communication on D2L right there. And so each class is essentially different how much they use D2L, but you will have a main chunk of your classes on D2L. And next, essentially, you will have your SIS which is your Student Information System. And this is essentially a hub for all your academic records, your academic progress, student accounts, classes and other resources that you can access through your SIS. And next, I'm just going to give it to Johana for some college specifics.
Johana Zamora 4:14
Yes, so all colleges are going to have different acronyms, different abbreviations. So for example, for me, as I mentioned before, CON is one of them, College of Nursing. And also for me like NatSci was really important, which is Natural Science College. I don't know, Sav do you have any? Any acronyms?
Sav Hamed 4:35
Yeah, so I'm actually was a student in Lyman Briggs College. Although you might hear the term Briggsy thrown around a lot. The acronym you might see around campus referring to Lyman Briggs is LBC. So that's something that you'll kind of see a lot I know there's also JMC for James Madison. And there's a couple other acronyms, I know Emily has an acronym college.
Emily Hill 4:54
Yes, I am in CANR or CANR, which is the College of Ag and Natural Resources. That is what MSU was founded on. So I'm really proud to be in that college. And we're a really diverse group, from interior to design to my major to veterinary medicine, and horticulture. It's a very fun college to be in.
Faith Arnott 5:17
All right, I mean, my college is just you hear it referred to as Broad. It's just the College of Business here at Michigan State. There's really not an acronym for it. I mean, you'll hear like BCC, like the Business College complex if you're a business major. So that is one acronym we have.
Johana Zamora 5:30
Yeah. Awesome. Since now that we talk about NSO D2L, after that part of your orientation, you're going to get to meet with your academic advisor. So it's really important that you get used to this acronyms related to advising. So Emily, can you can you talk about?
Emily Hill 5:49
Yeah, there are a couple of things as a new student that you're going to need to remember or listen to. And a couple of those things. One is your APID or your APID. That is a unique identifier that's assigned to each person and you're gonna have a, it's about an eight digit code, I believe. And it might, it will start with a one. You might start, or you might see around campus things that say, "a". Those are for students who have started in previous years. But don't worry about that. If something is asking for your APID, then it will specify what it's looking for. Sometimes you have to put in a nine, sometimes you put in a one, don't worry about it, just remember it and maybe even memorize it, because it'll come up on tests or exams that you're taking. And you'll need to know that. Next is another important thing that differs from your APID, which is your Net ID. Your Net ID is the first part of your MSU email. And that will be asked of you to log into various things as well. And so that's just your personal identifier that serves as your login for many of our websites. And just make sure you're remembering that because if you're logging in to your SIS, like Abby mentioned, you're going to need that. One thing that also might come up during advising is RCPD. RCPD is the Resources Center for Persons with Disabilities. If you have special accommodations, you should go there and connect with a specialist that can provide you with a learning visa or any type of visa. And that will help you along with your academic advising and in the future with classes.
Johana Zamora 7:33
Okay, is that it? Awesome. Perfect. So after your advising appointment, the most exciting part of your orientation comes, which is the Fall Welcome Week. So for Welcome Week, one of the acronyms you're gonna get to hear the most is RSO, which are the registered student organizations. A lot of students are part of RSOs. So for example, me during my sophomore to senior year, I was part of the MSU Italian club. So yeah, those were some of the RSOs that I was part of, I don't know, does anyone want to add anything to
Emily Hill 8:14
I mean, my RSO that I'm involved in right now is another acronym ESSU, environmental studies in sustainability united. You'll find that a lot of RSOs are also known as acronyms. So just keep that in mind when researching and looking for them.
Sav Hamed 8:28
Yes, and at Michigan State University we have over like 1000 RSOs, and those span from more fun ones to sports and like intramural sports, or even Student Government, like ASMSU are Associated Students of Michigan State University. That's our one of our student governments. So yeah, if you're looking to join a fun club, definitely go to Sparticipation. You'll hear that all throughout the summer from all of our podcasts from all of our student coordinators and orientation interns for sure.
Emily Hill 8:59
Another thing that might happen during Welcome Week is a meeting with your RA. Your RA is a resident assistant. Because you're living on campus for around a two year period. There will be one maybe two RAS on your floor. And your RAs can help you out with any conflicts that you might have with roommates, people on your floor, or just issues. They're a good resource to go to they might be hosting events or posting about events throughout the year. They'll definitely set you up with a roommate agreement or suitemate agreement if you're living with suitemates and they're just a great resource to go to. Also there could be an ICA on your floor and ICA is an intercultural aid and they just help with DEI and inclusion. DEI is diversity equity inclusion here at MSU. And they'll help with other programs within your hall and whatnot. And they're also a great resource to go to if you have any questions.
Johana Zamora 10:08
Yeah, that same way. MSU has a lot of resources for people that come from diverse backgrounds. So one of my favorites and that you're going to hear a lot from me at least is OISS, which is stands for Office of International Students and Scholars. Which, if you're an international student, you get in contact with them pretty much all your life here at MSU. And then there's also OCAT which stands for Office of Cultural and Academic Transitions. They just help to create really supportive, cultural, social and educational communities which honor them. We have the Council of Racial and Ethnic students, which is CORES and under here, you're going to find different cultural communities such as APASO, BSA and CRU. APASO stands for Asian Pacific American Student Organizations. BSA stands for Black Students Alliance, and CRU stands for Cultura de las Razas Unidas.
Faith Arnott 11:11
All right, and following Welcome Week, you're gonna start getting to your classes and doing all of that really fun, major specific stuff. And so you're gonna hear a lot of acronyms that are associated with your major, and really just classes in general. So now I'm gonna go over a few of those. So the first two are kind of similar, the related. The first is a TA, the second is a ULA. And so basically the main difference is a TA is typically a graduate student and a ULA is an undergraduate learning assistant. TAs could be undergraduate, just depends on the class. But really what their main goal is for students is just to help them. A lot of times professors, if it's a bigger class will have a TA or ULA. And I know for me, you know, for example, like my econ class had 600 people in the main lecture. And we also had what you call a recitation, which is like a smaller group of students that have like a TA or ULA is kind of their instructor and you do a lot of your quizzes, your exams, small group work and those recitations with that TA or ULA. And it's just really nice, because you're able to form you know, a closer bond, you're able to ask questions directly. And they're just a really good resource to use while you're in, you know, some of your bigger classes where it might be harder to speak directly with the professor and to talk with your ULA and also just meet other students in your classes since it is that smaller class size. I know for me, that was really helpful for study groups and anything like that. And I know staff has a couple other class related acronyms.
Sav Hamed 12:34
Yes. So as you're finishing your first semester, at Michigan State University, you're gonna start getting these emails right around finals week, whether they're talking about SIRS, or SIRS, which is the Student Information Rating System, or you're getting emails about the SOCT, the student opinions of courses and teachings, or alternatively, I know through the College of Lyman Briggs, they do SARBS. That's like the same concept of SIRS, where you're giving a rating about the class or the instructor themselves. And those feedback surveys are really important as we reflect on the class that you just had, and how that class might change moving forward. I know that SIRS is something that is mandatory for all students to complete, whether you add in your thoughts and opinions about the class, or you scroll all the way down to the bottom, and you opt out of the survey, that is also fine. But ensure that you're doing those because those are very important for professor feedback. But also, if you want to access your grades right after you're done with the semester, that is the only way to be able to do that. Otherwise, they're going to put a hold on your grades, and then they'll be released a little bit later.
Emily Hill 13:36
Other acronyms that you might see in your classes would be help in writing centers. So one is WC, which is the Writing Center, that they can help with anything that you might need related wise, you can take your essays to them, and they'll help look over them. You can start from the very beginning, and they can give you ideas or they can help you edit at the very end. Whatever you need, they're very grateful to help. I know people who have worked there and went there and they love it there. Another great resource would be MLC, which is the Math Learning Center. Those as long as well as the writing centers are located all around campus. And those are there to provide you with any help that you have in math related classes. There's also the SLC, which is the Stats Learning Center. But yeah, so if you need anything, all of these resources out there to help you and make you succeed as a student.
Johana Zamora 14:34
All right, well, this is the end of our podcast. Just a reminder, these are just some of the acronyms and abbreviations you're going to need to deal with. But if you have any questions, don't forget to contact us. You can reach out to us through our social media or emails, and we hope to see you next on our MSUPD podcast.
Speaker 1 14:53
Thank you for listening to this episode of The Spartan Orientation Station on impact 89 FM. Let us know what you think by connecting with us on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram at MSU_NSO