It is looking more and more likely my '25 kid will be attending RIT (engineering). On paper this is best choice due to major, curriculum, philosophy and available ECs. We are going to admitted students day, and kid (though not me) visited last year and really liked it. He enjoys hands on learning vs theory and is self-taught in a lot of CS/IT/engineering areas. not surprising, I am sure:)
Is there anything that surprised you once enrolled?
Are any ECs /clubs competitive?
I have heard their disability office is great - is that your experience (if you have one!)?
Will they be only one that didn’t take AP calc in HS (did take honors calc - but not AP)
Hi. Parent of a CS sophomore here. I can’t say anything surprised us about RIT but I think we did a pretty good job of familiarizing ourselves with it the year my son applied. We really enjoyed our campus visits. Hope you have a great admitted students day. If you mean are ECs/Clubs competitive to join I’d say no, they are all very welcoming and open. There are some special interest housing options that I know are hard to get into as they have a more interested student than spots. There are lots of cool clubs and group for engineering focused students - you should be able to meet some of the kids in them at admitted student day (if I remember they had times you could chat with members). We have had a very positive experience with the DSO office. It did take a little time freshman year to get the swing of how they work but I think in comparison to other schools RIT is really strong, caring and impressive in this area. Your student definitely wont be the only one who didn’t take ap calc (although lots of kids do). All incoming freshman take online placement tests in math over the summer so they’ll place him where he needs to be. Hope that helps!
I’m a parent of a rising 4th year Software Engineering student. If your child has committed to RIT, I recommend searching facebook for the “unofficial RIT parents group” and requesting to join. It’s been incredibly helpful for everything from advice and photos of dorms to what hotel to book for graduation and when to book it. I agree with all of the previous answered - no surprises, clubs are great and not competitive, we haven’t used the DSO but my son is hard of hearing so gets services through the NTID which has been great. One of the great things about RIT is how accepting and accomodating all of the students and faculty are of all kinds of differently abled people. It’s a very welcoming place!
Kid did commit after accepted students day:) Officially a Tiger - soon thereafter I found the facebook group…SUPER helpful and seems like such a nice group.
We are all excited for kid to start their journey there. It really seems like a great spot for them, and they really loved if from initial visit.
Late to this thread, but echoing the others. Super open, welcoming and accepting student body. It for sure leans “quirky” - so, if your kid is in that camp, they’ll feel right at home. If they’re not in that camp (mine isn’t), they will become very comfortable embracing their latent inner quirkiness
Clubs all seem to be open to all. My rising sophomore daughter rushed a sorority, and the experience was nothing like what her friends at other schools experienced --in a good way! Just a supportive group of people and new friends and a place to call “home” on campus.
West Henrietta is kind of depressing, but there are some really neat pockets of neighborhoods in Rochester that are fun for the kids to explore. My D really only started doing this in the last month or two of this year. There is also plenty to do on campus all the time.
oh thanks for this feedback:) I really appreciate it!
Kid has some “non-quirky” interests like video games, but rest of hobbies are pretty unusual and generally very geeky. As an example, they have a server rack (of cheap, bought-on-ebay) servers in their room to run their own cable network in the house and multiple antennas and satellite dishes in the back yard
There were so many clubs and interests that align (more than almost any school) that this made RIT a clear top choice:) They felt comfortable from first visit, which is pretty rare for them, vibe-wise.
And I know co-ops may be a pain to get, but I think the break from academia will be really good for them. They like real-world projects so much more than homework:)
Your kid sounds exactly like the RIT type. Wishing them an incredible experience!
My D vacillated a bit when deciding, as she kind of knew she was a bit of an outlier, but ultimately felt it was going to be the right place for her to get the experience (coursework and co-op) that she wanted. She has found her people. There truly is something for everyone there.
