Chardo

Just visited the RPI booth at a local college fair. We have RIT high on our list, but RPI is on the radar. RIT is a 5 year co-op program, where all students do at least 1 year of paid co-op and internship work. This often leads to permanent jobs with these firms, or at least builds a great resume. We asked the RPI rep about co-ops and internships. He said some students choose to apply for co-ops, which require a 3.0 gpa so many don't even qualify. He then said they are a little disappointed with their recent recruitment and latest job placement numbers due to the economy. Their latest figures show about 60% of last year's grads have jobs or grad school enrollment. He said when the 6-month figures come out, it should be around 70%. Just then a woman standing there mentioned her son who graduated RPI in May and still has no job.

I have to say I'm concerned about these numbers. I know the economy sucks everywhere, but this placement rate seems low for a reputed top school. Anyone care to comment?

sandpit

It probably is not useful to generalize for a whole institution because there's different economic pressures on different majors. Instead, look at the hiring/grad school ratios for the majors your child is interested in at the various colleges you are considering.

JoshuaGuit

Also keep in mind that different students want different things. I am at RPI doing BME, but anticipate applying to medical school. Doing a co-op seems pointless to me as it serves only to delay what I want in the end.

Being a student from RPI and getting very good grades definitely helped me attain a very good internship for the summer at a bio-pharmaceutical company; I do not believe that I would have stood out had I been from a state university.

mamabear1234

My S is looking at both RIT and RPI also; only some programs at RIT are 5 year co-op programs, many are not. Have you compared RIT's placement this year with RPI's? I would love to hear the numbers.

I participated in a co-op program 30 years ago, and while it didn't lead directly to a permanent job, it let me see what types of jobs I didn't like, and paid well enough to finance my tuition. I think summer jobs and internships can at least partially fulfill the same purpose.

dadinator

My S is at RPI, but he looked at RIT when he was considering schools.

The best I could find for RIT was the salary data that the school posts:

Browse Programs

RPI gives some more detail:

Career Development Center (CDC) for Students :: Recruiting Stats

For my S's major, Information Technology, the starting salary is about $10K higher at RPI than RIT.

Unfortunately, I could not find any detail at RIT's website regarding percent of the graduating class that was hired and the percent of the class that was still looking, and I could not find detail by major at RPI (other than average salaries).

Maybe someone else has had better luck.

apple17

My son is a CS major at RPI who recently graduated. The job opportunities throughout his four years at RPI and upon graduation have been strong. He did not use the career center at RPI for whatever reason (which seemed to me to have good opportunities). He found summer jobs at local companies easily, these jobs gave him a sense of what he wanted and did not want in a job. The program has a great reputation and, upon posting his resume on national job boards, he had calls immediately from local and west-coast companies. Others in his class were specifically recruited by companies that came looking for the students.

I think that RPI has a much stronger rep in the science / engineering / CS fields and would recommend it over RIT in those areas. I think you do need to consider the field and the school together, not just the school.

kgrmom

Does anyone else find that a very odd thing for a person at a college fair to be saying? That they are "disappointed in their placement numbers?" Yikes. At the very least there are many other ways to explain those numbers. Something seems strange about that.

Something else to keep in mind. Co-ops sounds great - and can be. But they are job searches in and of themselves. Just as the job market is getting tougher- finding Co-op placements are as well. Because the school requires one does not mean they guarantee they will find you one