<p>marymac,</p>
<p>WPI and Northeastern are also great schools. I tend to agree that academically, RPI is probably the best, but I’m sure some would argue otherwise.</p>
<p>Yes, I started as a CS major and stuck with it to the end.</p>
<p>I don’t know a ton about the engineering curriculum, but I think it’s probably more or less the same for all freshman engineering majors. She’ll probably have either Physics or Chemistry, then Intro to Engineering Analysis, Calc I or II, and a free elective. So if she’s not really sure about what field of engineering she wants to enter, I think it will be no problem to enter undecided and decide during freshman year. She would probably also be fine if she makes a decision now and then decides she wants to change to a different engineering major in freshman year.</p>
<p>I thought the support for freshman students was pretty good both socially and academically. Your daughter will have the option of attending a Navigating Rensselaer and Beyond session right before the start of the semester. These sessions include options such as camping, service projects (like habitat for humanity), and some art-related options if I remember correctly. It’s a very easy way to meet people and then when the semester starts you already have some friends right out of the gate. I went to the Camp Sloan session. It was basically a three or four day long summer camp with RPI students. It ended up raining most of the weekend, but huddling together in a cold tent playing cards with other freshman was a great way to build some friendships anyways 
Once the semester actually starts, there are some further school-sponsored events like barbeques and parties. After the first month or so of the first semester of freshman year, there are no longer very many such events.</p>
<p>When students are doing poorly in their classes, professors send an alert to the Advising and Learning Assistance Center (ALAC, [Advising</a> & Learning Assistance Center, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute](<a href=“Advising & Learning Assistance Center | RPI INFO”>Advising & Learning Assistance Center | RPI INFO)). ALAC then contacts the student and invites him or her to take advantage of its services which include tutoring as well as advising (regarding time management, note-taking skills, and such). I never used these services personally, but I know a lot of people did, even people who were doing fine in their classes, because the tutoring is supposedly very helpful for homework assignments and such, often times better than the help you can get at a professor’s office hours (which are sometimes crowded). ALAC has plenty of tutoring resources for the major freshman classes. And according to their site, a student who is struggling can also be assigned a faculty mentor to keep a closer eye on their progress and help them overcome their difficulties. I haven’t heard any reviews on that service, however.</p>
<p>Every student also has an advisor (whom they share with a few dozen other students). The advisor is mostly there to help the student create a course schedule that will let them achieve their goals and graduate on time. Since graduation requirements are so complicated, that’s pretty helpful.</p>