Medal winners--how did you get recommended?

originaloog
Sun, 05 Feb 2006 16:09:24 +0000

While my son was near the top of his class in science and math, he certainly was not tops. But he knew that he would be applying to RPI, so he met with his counselor, advised him of this and asked if he would put in a good word on his behalf.

His GC came through and he was awarded the Medal. He did apply, was accepted and eventually enrolled. He does not know of any others in his class that even applied to RPI, so it was nice that he was able to take full advantage of the scholarship offer.

BTW, he really enjoys attending RPI, manages the tough academics, loves his dual CompSci-CogSci AI major and has managed a 3.67gpa through 3 semesters.

The one downside of asking a GC or teacher to put in a good word for you is the likelihood that you will feel some obligation to accept RPI’s admission offer, particularly if other non-Medal candidates applied to RPI. If you student is using RPI as a backup to other more selective colleges I think it would be unethical to “lobby” for the Medal. In my son’s case the only other comparable college he applied to was Case(accepted and offered a $17,500k President’s Scholarship) but RPI was his first choice for various reasons.