RPI- UP for S27, Dad is not so sure.
This tour was an example of how I have no idea sometimes what goes on in my son’s head. Summer Saturday info session and tour. We were a few minutes late to the info session so at the back of a packed auditorium where it was a little hard to hear what was going on. Info session didn’t seem to offer any new information.
My son is interested in business. RPI isn’t as known for business as it is for engineering but it has a business school and I thought it would be interesting to check out because it is a business school with a unique technology/innovation perspective. I looked at the kids on the tour and thought to myself- this is not my son’s crowd, to which he muttered something similar to me. The tour guide was great which was no small feat considering the teeming rain and how she managed to keep us as dry as possible in the middle of a downpour. The overall campus look was just ok to me but there were some nice views of the downtown area and the Hudson River. I was surprised at how old and worn some of the buildings looked inside- for a state of the art campus it certainly didn’t show off that way and I thought some of the hallways looked depressing. We had just come from Skidmore and it was amazing to me how I thought the science building there looked a lot more impressive than the buildings at RPI (or at least more modern and esthetically pleasing). I am not a tech person and so a lot was lost on me. We saw the only IBM quantum one computer on a university campus- it was on display behind glass and it felt like we were visiting the Mona Lisa. Later the tour guide was excited as she exclaimed “if you’re into polymers- this is the polymer and biopolymer building!”. I’m sure some people would be excited about it- just not me, and I couldn’t imagine my son being interested. He kept asking me how much longer the tour was and I offered to leave early, sensing that these weren’t his people and this wasn’t the campus for him. He wanted to finish the tour.
We went to a fantastic nearby BBQ restaurant to debrief. If only you could see my jaw hit the floor when my son said he loved RPI and it was in his top two schools now! I thought it was completely off the list after the visit! He said he never considered going to a tech school but he loved the thought of being with classmates who were researching things and creating things and who were studying things on the cutting edge of technology. He also really liked the extracurricular activities and was excited to hear about the clubs that work on formula one cars, develop rockets, and explore the adirondacks with the latest technical gadgets. He doesn’t want to major in tech but he likes to be surrounded by it and he likes having tech savvy peers and the thought of studying business at a tech school was really exciting to him.
I’m glad he found something to get excited about. We will apply and investigate further. I think he’s romanticizing it a little too much and I’m concerned about the social scene for him- I’m not yet convinced a tech school is the way for him to go but I’m open to the possibility.