page_title: University of Rochester
section_title: Student life
hierarchical_section_title: University of Rochester / Student life
caption_attribution_description: English: Meliora: motto of the University of Rochester appears on the gates of the Rush Rhees Library.
context_page_description: The University of Rochester is a private research university in Rochester, New York. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees.
  The University of Rochester enrolls approximately 6,800 undergraduates and 5,000 graduate students. Its 158 buildings house over 200 academic majors. According to the National Science Foundation, Rochester spent $370 million on research and development in 2018, ranking it 68th in the nation. The university is the 7th largest employer in the Finger lakes region of New York.
  The College of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering is home to departments and divisions of note. The Institute of Optics was founded in 1929 through a grant from Eastman Kodak and Bausch and Lomb as the first educational program in the US devoted exclusively to optics, awards approximately half of all optics degrees nationwide, and is widely regarded as the premier optics program in the nation. The Departments of Political Science and Economics have made a significant and consistent impact on positivist social science since the 1960s, and historically rank in the top 5 in their fields.
context_section_description: UR's official symbol is the seal of the university, which features a book, representing arts and sciences, a lyre symbolizing music, and a modified symbol of medicine. The official flower of the university is the dandelion, purportedly prolific on the cow pasture that became the university's second campus.
  The official mascot of the university is a predatory wasp found throughout Rochester, the Yellowjacket. From 1983 to 2008, the yellowjacket mascot was named "URBee." However, when the university re-designed the mascot during the 2007–2008 academic year, a new name was chosen and as of February 1, 2008, the school's mascot is now known as "Rocky".
  The university uses Dandelion Yellow and Rochester Blue as its official colors, which are the prominent colors on the official regalia.
  The motto of UR is Meliora, which loosely translates to "better" with the connotation of "ever better," the meaning adopted by the university.
  The image of Rush Rhees Library's main dome serves as an additional icon for the University of Rochester. Rush Rhees Library at The University of Rochester was featured on the cover of the "Princeton Review 373 Best Colleges 2011 Edition".
  The song most often sung at college events, led often by the school's many a cappella groups, is The Genesee, written by former Rochester student Thomas Thackeray Swinburne (Class of 1892). Although less frequently used, the university also has an official Alma Mater, The Dandelion Yellow.
caption: This decorative rendering of the University seal appears on Rush Rhees Library
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