@NJFather Great schools to be admitted to! You should be proud. Would agree that the website is terrible, they’re planning on having the entire thing redone by the fall. And I wouldn’t say that’s true, RPI has built a supercomputing center (the most powerful private university system, and top 20 most powerful in the world), upgraded the particle accelerator, built the largest centrifuge facility in the world, built the new biotechnology building, and built EMPAC - which is actually being used for art and music. More has also been done, but it’s a pain to look through everything. They’ve also completely renovated Quad, E-Complex, and North Hall. The freshman five are all being renovated over the next few years and will have AC installed at no extra cost. It’s pretty difficult, as you said, since RPI is very old. Even 30 years ago, there were structures that have been torn down and replaced simply because they became structurally unstable due to age. RPI actually had a castle as its original academy hall (at the current location of the library) and the old gym was slightly below. There was also an old science building and observatory. They all have been torn down over the past 30-60 years. Warren, the ugly lab on the bottom of the hill, is the world’s oldest chemical laboratory and it’s over 150 years old. Carnegie is also roughly the same age. Sorry for the rant and it really has no relevance, but I always find these things interesting. Many of Harvard’s buildings are well over 200 years old.
Also, RPI (1824) is older than Cornell (1865). The only school on that list that is older is Rutgers, which is one of the oldest colleges in the country. Cornell is ununsual in that it was founded closer to the end of the 19th century, while the other Ivies were founded 300 or more years ago (Yale, Harvard, Darthmouth, Brown).