taxguy

This was a post by an RIT student that I thought I would add to the thread:

Hi,
I'm a second year Applied Networking/Systems Administration (IT-GCCIS) student at RIT, and I figured I'd respond to some of the comments in this thread.

-Every year RIT's averages for SATs and high school ranks increase. In case you are wondering, I received a 650 verbal/670 math and had a high school GPA of 4.0, ranked in the top 10% of my school. I applied to RIT and no other schools. These scores earned me the second highest Presidential scholarship (there are 8 levels) but not a place in RIT's honor program. I was accepted to that after my first year with a 3.85 GPA, 4.0 PFOS GPA. Enough about scores. RIT seems pretty flexible with admissions. If you are passionate about your major and career goals, lower than average scores won't kill you. RIT is not interested in students who have no goals. The coop system pretty much requires you to begin work in your major right away so you will be ready. The only exception I've seen is the undeclared engineering program, but even that requires a decision fairly early in the program.

-The quarter system forces students to work consistently throughout the quarter. It is easy to fall behind in a class when it is condensed into ten weeks. I believe this is one of the main reasons for low retention (second only to the cold).

-4-5s are required on many of the APs. 3s in sciences, for example, usually won't count. Expect 5 requirements for in-major APs and even then you often have to take a different class, instead of a free slot. (For example, in IT, a passing AP Computer Science test allows you to take Java for Programmers instead of Java Programming.)

-RIT has some of the best facilities around. Our computer labs are current and numerous. Software is usually current or one version old. Hardware is updated every few years. Aside from some basic hardware computer courses where freshman tear down and rebuild machines on a daily basis, I have never sat down at an RIT provided PC and thought it unreasonably old.

-For a large school, RIT has very small classes with kind and friendly professors. The largest class I have ever been in was 60 people. Typically classes start with no more than 30 and by the second or third week they stabilize around 22. I have never had a professor who purposely tried to fail students; most are quite accommodating. The college of computing professors seem especially nice.

-Dorms, like all other facilities, are cleaned on weekdays. Sundays can prove a bit messy, especially when salt and snow is tracked in.

-There is a large international population at RIT. My roommate was from India and he recently met someone from the same block of his small hometown here as well.

-Parking is much better than it seems. While students might disagree on colder days, there are plenty of lots around campus. Freshman are allowed to bring cars. The campus is small enough that you could walk to any building from any other within 20 minutes (except the astronomy lab, that would take about 30 from the other side). On colder days the furthest apartments are unpleasantly far, but busses run regularly and are commissioned from the Rochester metro system. There are routes to the mall as well as between buildings. There are two routes on campus: clockwise and counter clockwise. This ensures you never have to travel more than 50% around campus. Parking passes are free, but the lazy can pay about $25 per year to get special passes to park in the closest lots. These special passes go quick and are held for off campus students, mostly.

-The drinking policy is not as you say. RIT is the most liquid "dry campus" I know of. Any on-campus apartment (RIT has many, many on-campus apartments) with all residents over the age of 21 can have alcohol in them as long as it isn't in bulk containers. Alcohol is banned in the dorms no matter the age of the residents. This applies to the frat houses on the dorm side, but not the new ones on the academic side (as far as I know; I try to avoid frats, so I don't know all of their rules). Also, there is a bar in the RIT Ritz, an eatery in the basement of the SAU. Budweiser trucks are not uncommon.

-The social life is the biggest drawback. The National Science Foundation recently sponsored a grant to determine why IT in particular has no female students. For IT students (the largest major on campus) 10:1 is common, if not optimistic. Also, Rochester is no NYC or DC. There aren't too many places I'd care to visit in the city. Our over 100 clubs help, but membership falls during the Winter quarter for most clubs, skiing and snowboarding groups excluded.

I guess that's all for now. Let me know if you have questions. I'll try to remember to check this board.

*Note: all opinions expressed above are from my own personal experiences and do not reflect the opinion of RIT. I am not employed by the RIT admission office and do not speak for the school.