Any RPI graduates here?

[JoeFahey]

I am currently a Junior, and as I should be, I am looking into colleges. I am looking for a college that is based around math/engineering. I found RPI, and my school counselor also recommended that I look more into, and tour it.
Has anyone here gone to RPI? IT seems like a colege that could really fit my needs and wants. Anything else you guys might be able to tell me about it?
Thanks!

 

[deadlyapp]

Not sure where you live, but also look into california polytechnic in san luis obispo. that's where I go and I must say the engineering/math/computer majors are all very strong here. Rated 3rd best public undergrad engineering school in the nation or something like that.

 

[richardycc]

my brother graduated from there, from what I've heard, its in the armpit of NY, boring a$$ place, guys and girls ratio sucks. A typical pure engineering school. This was 20yrs ago, so things might be diff nowaday. He is some director at a fortune100 company making over 6figures now.

 

[JoeFahey]

Yeah, I live near RPI. I am in NH. I wouldn't let location be something that would deter me away from a school. I would prefer to keep it in the New England area, but again, I wouldn't see getting to the west coast as an obstacle.

 

[GagHalfrunt]

Originally posted by: richardycc
my brother graduated from there, from what I've heard, its in the armpit of NY, boring a$$ place, guys and girls ratio sucks. A typical pure engineering school. This was 20yrs ago, so things might be diff nowaday. He is some director at a fortune100 company making over 6figures now.

I have a friend that graduated from there. Definitely true about the location, Troy is a sewer. That *might* be a benefit. As there's nothing else to do you might pay more attention to your studies. If you go to an engineering school in a party town like Wooster Mass you could have trouble concentrating.

 

[techs]

Originally posted by: richardycc
my brother graduated from there, from what I've heard, its in the armpit of NY, boring a$$ place, guys and girls ratio sucks. A typical pure engineering school. This was 20yrs ago, so things might be diff nowaday. He is some director at a fortune100 company making over 6figures now.

I lived in Albany, NY which is like 3 miles from RPI and it is the armpit of NY. But it still has a fair sized city next door, along with Schenectady 10 miles away.
So all in all, it isn't the worst place to go to school.

 

[JoeFahey]

Originally posted by: techs

Originally posted by: richardycc
my brother graduated from there, from what I've heard, its in the armpit of NY, boring a$$ place, guys and girls ratio sucks. A typical pure engineering school. This was 20yrs ago, so things might be diff nowaday. He is some director at a fortune100 company making over 6figures now.

I lived in Albany, NY which is like 3 miles from RPI and it is the armpit of NY. But it still has a fair sized city next door, along with Schenectady 10 miles away.
So all in all, it isn't the worst place to go to school.

he he, my mom was brought up in Schenectady

 

[PowerEngineer]

Originally posted by: techs

Originally posted by: richardycc
my brother graduated from there, from what I've heard, its in the armpit of NY, boring a$$ place, guys and girls ratio sucks. A typical pure engineering school. This was 20yrs ago, so things might be diff nowaday. He is some director at a fortune100 company making over 6figures now.

I lived in Albany, NY which is like 3 miles from RPI and it is the armpit of NY. But it still has a fair sized city next door, along with Schenectady 10 miles away.
So all in all, it isn't the worst place to go to school.

Well, I did graduate from RPI quite a few years ago.

Yes, Troy is unarguably the armpit of New York State (and Schenectady and Albany are little better). That's why I'm amazed the my brother who graduated from RPI in architecture is still living in the area.

It's a fairly well respected engineering school although it's been slipping in the rankings lately. I went there because their financial aid was better than other schools (making cost equivalent to in-state college), but that may no longer be the case either. They had the top ranked power engineering school back when I was there.

Good luck...

 

[Yossarian]

Yep I got a B.S. in mechanical engineering there 12 years ago. Troy is awful, guy: girl ratio is 5:1 but at least Russell Sage is just down the hill

 

[CarlKillerMiller]

I'm just going to echo what everyone else has said in that RPI, according to my cousin that goes there, is a great school, but it's show socially and the location is terrible. The campus isn't anything special, either. Maybe look into the school in san luis obispo, or maybe even UIUC. Their engineering dept. is top-notch.

 

[drinkmorejava]

I'm a freshman there right now for Aero/Mech. As for the rankings, I've only seen them been go up, so I'm not sure what PowerEngineer is referring to. Okay, um stuff about the school, guy/girl ration sucks ass, I don't really care though because the girl I love is at home. The school gets craploads more money every year and is improving programs constantly. Even from 5 years ago the campus is significantly improved. They started a teacher evaluation system a few years ago, and it has obviously paid off in terms of improving teachers. They have a thing called the NRB program which all freshmen do before school starts; it's essentially a week long group/team building/random activity/orientation program. It was in response to them having only a 70% retention rate after the first year. Speaking of first year, it will probably be rather easy if you're good enough to get in, but after that, they like to burn you into the ground. The business school is also gaining attention if that interests you.

Everyone says Troy is a mess, it's not the best place, but it's okay; there are some nice places to walk around if you know where to go. The campus is nice anyway, so having to venture into Troy once in a while is more of a "learning experience" lol, than something miserable.

FYI, a notable portion of the freshman population likes to get completely trashed on the weekends; most of them are gone or figure it out by sophomore year though.

If you have more questions feel free to PM me

 

[JoeFahey]

Originally posted by: drinkmorejava
I'm a freshman there right now for Aero/Mech. As for the rankings, I've only seen them been go up, so I'm not sure what PowerEngineer is referring to. Okay, um stuff about the school, guy/girl ration sucks ass, I don't really care though because the girl I love is at home. The school gets craploads more money every year and is improving programs constantly. Even from 5 years ago the campus is significantly improved. They started a teacher evaluation system a few years ago, and it has obviously paid off in terms of improving teachers. They have a thing called the NRB program which all freshmen do before school starts; it's essentially a week long group/team building/random activity/orientation program. It was in response to them having only a 70% retention rate after the first year. Speaking of first year, it will probably be rather easy if you're good enough to get in, but after that, they like to burn you into the ground. The business school is also gaining attention if that interests you.

Everyone says Troy is a mess, it's not the best place, but it's okay; there are some nice places to walk around if you know where to go. The campus is nice anyway, so having to venture into Troy once in a while is more of a "learning experience" lol, than something miserable.

FYI, a notable portion of the freshman population likes to get completely trashed on the weekends; most of them are gone or figure it out by sophomore year though.

If you have more questions feel free to PM me

Thanks. Did you go to it from a local area? Are you from around here?

 

[drinkmorejava]

Originally posted by: JoeFahey

Thanks. Did you go to it from a local area? Are you from around here?

haha, I'm from MN

 

[JasonE4]

My friend goes there. He grew up in Connecticut. He's a physics nut and he absolutely loves his classes, but that's about all he loves about RPI. He constantly complains about the social scene and about Troy. Please don't go there if you like girls.

 

[shuttleboi]

Originally posted by: CarlKillerMiller
Maybe look into the school in san luis obispo, or maybe even UIUC. Their engineering dept. is top-notch.

Are you kidding me? Comparing a Cal State school to UIUC is like comparing a Honda Civic to a Mercedes.

 

[ghart999]

Check out Worcester Polytech in Mass. I went there. Top notch engineering. Better women and better city. I was on the fence between Worcester and RPI. After visiting both schools for football recruiting weekends I wholeheartedly chose Worcester.

Troy was a dump as was the campus of RPI. Worcester was pretty decent with a great campus. Plus you are only 45 minutes from Boston which is the 2nd greatest city in America IMO.

 

[jiggahertz]

Something you may want to think about is how sure you are that math/engineering is for you. A good portion of students don't graduate in the program they started out in. I'm from the midwest, so was pretty much looking at the big ten engineering schools (Purdue, UofM, UIUC), but chose UofM because of the quality and reputation of the school as a whole (not just math/engineering depts). Just something to be careful of if you're considering the polytechs.

 

[drinkmorejava]

After reading ghart999's post, if you want girls, go to WPI, their campus is great, the ratio is decent and they pretty much the same in education. Then again, if you really like girls and are thinking of Aero, there's always Embry Riddle in FL. I'm not really sure why I chose RPI over WPI, but w/e, just visit both if you can.

 

[PowerEngineer]

Well, it is possible that RPI's ranking is up recently; still lower than it was "way back" when I was there.

Also, "way back" we'd never have equated RPI and WPI as far as educational value went. Have things changed that much?

But I wouldn't settle for either of these unless I was sure that MIT was out of the question. Go for the gusto!

:beer: <-- gusto

 

[beemercer]

Originally posted by: GagHalfrunt

Originally posted by: richardycc
my brother graduated from there, from what I've heard, its in the armpit of NY, boring a$$ place, guys and girls ratio sucks. A typical pure engineering school. This was 20yrs ago, so things might be diff nowaday. He is some director at a fortune100 company making over 6figures now.

I have a friend that graduated from there. Definitely true about the location, Troy is a sewer. That *might* be a benefit. As there's nothing else to do you might pay more attention to your studies. If you go to an engineering school in a party town like Wooster Mass you could have trouble concentrating.

WPI and Worcester FTW!!

 

[Brainonska511]

Originally posted by: techs

Originally posted by: richardycc
my brother graduated from there, from what I've heard, its in the armpit of NY, boring a$$ place, guys and girls ratio sucks. A typical pure engineering school. This was 20yrs ago, so things might be diff nowaday. He is some director at a fortune100 company making over 6figures now.

I lived in Albany, NY which is like 3 miles from RPI and it is the armpit of NY. But it still has a fair sized city next door, along with Schenectady 10 miles away.
So all in all, it isn't the worst place to go to school.

My friends that go to Union College say that Schenectady is a boring town.

 

[JoeFahey]

Originally posted by: PowerEngineer
Well, it is possible that RPI's ranking is up recently; still lower than it was "way back" when I was there.

Also, "way back" we'd never have equated RPI and WPI as far as educational value went. Have things changed that much?

But I wouldn't settle for either of these unless I was sure that MIT was out of the question. Go for the gusto!

:beer: <-- gusto

As confident as I am, I don't think I will get a perfect score on the SAT for MIT. I would still consider giving it a shot though.

 

[Al Neri]

tell you one thing, the TKE's there are such losers.


<< (was) a tke in binghamton

 

[JW310]

Originally posted by: Don Rodriguez
tell you one thing, the TKE's there are such losers.


<< (was) a tke in binghamton

So much so, in fact, that they managed to get themselves something like a 10-year suspension, apparently stemming from hazing and underage drinking allegations.

 

[drinkmorejava]

lol, RSE was just suspended for the rest of the year on alcohol violations. Apparently RPI offered then 14 million for the land too...obviously it was rejected out of spite.