Overview of our visit to RIT (Rochester Institute of Tech)

Colleges & Universities Rochester Institute of Technology
41

<p>I just wanted to know what my chances are of getting accepted into RIT with the following grades/info:
I am currently a Junior in a fairly competitive public school in NYC (no ranks though), interested in Electrical Engineering @ RIT</p>

<p>GPA 3.6 unweighted … no AP classes yet, BUT I am currently taking an Electrical and Mechanical major in the school - doing fairly well in these classes (perhaps this would give me an advantage?)</p>

<p>SAT: Didn’t take them yet, probably in May and June. Expecting [math] mid600s, and [verbal] mid500s. </p>

<p>EC: Volunteer at American Red Cross Youth Group, did some volunteer events for hours, took swimming classes and Tae Kwon Do for the past year, planning to volunteer the entire summer07.</p>

<p>If I plan to go to this school with a friend, is it possible I can dorm with him, since we plan to choose the same major?</p>

<p>Lastly, would my grades qualify me for any scholarships? $33000 per year is a lot … and I doubt I could qualify for any financial aid.</p>

42

<p>Wait till you get your SATs. High SATs will get you some good scholarship money.</p>

43

<p>If I remember my son’s RIT housing application correctly, you can ask to room with a friend.</p>

44

<p>Those are very similar to my grades and SATS, and I was accepted without applying, so I would say that you have a good chance. The caveat in that is that I was not offered any scholarship money.</p>

<p>However, if you complete the application process early, then you should have a good chance for both acceptance and scholarship money.</p>

<p>And yes, as far as I know, you can choose a firend to room with the first year, I know that you can in following years.</p>

<hr>

<p>TabletCorry
2nd Year Computer Science Major
Computer Science House Member</p>

45

<p>It’s been a while but I attended RIT and graduated from the photo program. </p>

<p>I was accepted without application and recd a scholarship after my first semester. I graduated with a 3.6 while working a full time job evenings and holding down a part-time student job as well.</p>

<p>RIT is a funny place… The programs are well suited for those students who have a good idea of where they want to go, what they want to study and are self motivated. The classes are generaly medium-small and most (But not all!) of the instructors are well qualified BUT (And its a big but!) RIT is a place that its easy to get lost in. It’s a bit spread out, the students in different programs don’t have reason to mix very much and the campus environment doesnt encourage social interaction.</p>

<p>In the photo program, support for students was spotty at best. Instructors are left to themselves as to how available they are to students and at least some keep no office hours what-so-ever. Assignments are handed out and results critiqued but there isnt that much real instruction that takes place. Talented students rise to the top. The rest simply get degrees and dissapear.</p>

<p>Secondly, the first and second year instructors are generaly the weakest and least experienced staff members and competition for places in the advanced courses is very high. Many important/popular classes, studios and equipment are essentialy reserved for senior or graduate students. I got around these restrictions by getting a part-time job working within the photo school. That moved me right to the front of many lines and I was allowed to use the facilities during off hours, weekends and holidays. I also got a regular check.</p>

<p>Whatever you do, do not discount RIT’s absolutely lousy location, several miles from anywhere or the awfull weather. Summers are hot and humid, while Winters are brutal with temps as low as -20 or less, high winds and frequent blizzard conditions. If you go to RIT, you’ll just have to get used to this part of the scene and being trapped on a campus where there is little or nothing to do for entertainment. I remember it snowing in May two years is a row!</p>

<p>When I was there, there wernt that many minority students and those kids definately had a more difficult time than other students. The profile for RIT students is definately white/male/upper middle class and the staff is similar, so if you are a student-of-color, I’d suggest that you visite the campus and talk to some students before you sign up. It can be real lonely… </p>

<p>When I was there there was a substantial amount of recreational drinking and drug use by students both on and off campus. Sex is a given if you can find a partner. Did I say that the M/F ratio sucks? Good looking females are in great demand. Single guys have a tendancy to remain single or transfer. If guys want to be assured of female companionship BYO. Experienced upper class guys have the cute freshman girls swooped-up before orientation week is over. Happens every year.</p>

<p>By-the-way, the counseling center is of absolutely no use to a student with social/emotional issues. Better to see an independent doctor or counselor off-campus. The C. Center staff tends to be less that qualified or interested in actually doing the jobs that they were hired to do. Be forwarned.</p>

<p>Lastly… When I was there, the CIA maintained a recruiting office on campus and posted interview hours several times per year. Want a spy job? Just drop in and sign up!</p>

<p>Whats good about RIT? </p>

<p>1) While the school is competitive, most good students will have no trouble getting into the school, at least partialy because the drop out rate is relatively high.
2) Many of the technical and business programs are really first rate and are supported by a wealth of good equipment, great instructors and industry support.
3) While there are holes in the programs, a motivated and savy student can work the system to his/her advantage. I never took ‘no’ for an answer and RIT kept saying yes.
4) Comparatively speaking, the schools a financial bargain and scholarships are both pretty easy to get and a snap to retain if you know how to work the system.
5) The degree is well respected.
6) Theres a solid alumnai network.
7) The area has some of the best Lime Stone Streams for Trout fishing you’ll ever find and Upstate NY is arguably the most beautiful area in the N.E…
8) If youre a bit agressive, independent, creative and have a few bucks, you can have a great time. </p>

<p>Would I attend RIT again? Definately not. While RIT does supply a good technical education, it fails to deliver an entirely worthwhile “College Experience”. Most state schools deliver a competetive education while possessing far better social and cultural resources (And weather!) than does RIT.</p>

<p>For those of you wanting real value, earn you undergraduate degree elsewhere and attend RIT for your Masters program. That way you’ll get everything thats worth while about the place, packed into a two year program, with only two dreary, cold Winters to survive. You’ll also save a bundle!</p>

<p>Good Luck!</p>

<p>Mymindsok</p>

46

<p>As the first to reply I would like to make a few additional comments.</p>

<p>As evidenced by the timing of this post, finding things to do, any time of the day, is simply a matter of making the right friends. I DO NOT mean this in any form of partying/gaming/drinking/drugging way. Rather, I live on one of the Special Interest Houses and find things to do any time of day.</p>

<p>Second, the CIA thing is long gone. While it did in fact exist, it ended in a fiasco, ultimately involving a departing University President. RIT is no longer clearly associated with the CIA.</p>

<p>The drop out rate, as noted, is unreal. The dorms on campus (housing 3500) literally go from overfull in the first week to 10-20% empty by the end of winter quarter. As he notes, the weather, Social situation, and geographical location, Combined with the educational rigour is a killer.</p>

<p>Might post more later.</p>

<p>TabletCorry</p>

47

<p>mymindsock and tabletcorry-
I am from the Rochester area and have known several kids who went to RIT.</p>

<p>My understanding is that less than 60% of freshmen graduate from RIT and that the vast majority of the drop-outs are actually transfers to other colleges. Most of the students who transfer out of RIT, I hear, go to state schools and many OOS transfer south or closer to home. This tells me RIT is probably not worth the money or the travel.</p>

<p>I have also heard that RIT is not really run like a college, it is run like a business. The atmosphere is more corporate than academic. This climate comes through to students as a cold, uncaring place. People I know say RIT is a huge machine without heart or soul.</p>

<p>Do you concur? If not, why are students flying out the door?</p>

48

<p>collegehelp, I have done a lot of investigation of RIT. The beginning of this thread echoes my findings.</p>

<p>RIT tries to be very cuting edge as to jobs and as to equipment. I didn’t find the people or the administration cold at all. In fact, they were very helpful and friendly.</p>

<p>They do not, however, have the graduation rate that they should have. There are a lot of reasons for this.</p>

<p>1.First, they are in Rochester. Enough said.
2. The location of the school isn’t near anything that is student friendly. There aren’t many restaurants, movies etc. right near the school. Yes, with a car, and some travel, you can find many things in Rochester.However, there isn’t much right near the school unlike that of other colleges or college towns.
3. RIT is very hard. Quarters go quickly, and the school doesn’t water down their curriculum. I am not sure that kids that apply there realize this.As one administrator noted, “they try to provide a challenging curriculum equivilant to Carnegie Mellon or MIT.” However, they don’t normally get the same caliber of kids that CMU and MIT gets.
4. RIT doesn’t have a great male/female ratio. This is probably true for most tech schools but is particularly true for RIT. This is a real problem for the school and for the students. The school, however, is really trying to remedy this.
5. RIT is a very focused school. Kids really need to know what they want when they go there. If they don’t , they will waste some valuable time and courses and take longer to graduate. The same can probably be said about other schools such as MIT.</p>

<ol>
<li>Rochester weather really is horrible especially this year. It is snowy and VERY cold for about 6 or even 7 months a year. This gives a lot of kids cabin fever.</li>
</ol>

<p>Notice,however, I didn’t knock the academics. Most of the kids that we met felt that RIT’s academics were top notch and well-suited to their careers.They also felt that most of the teachers had office hours and did care about the kids.They also liked the facilities and equipment at the school.</p>

<p>If you couple the strong academics, good coop for many majors with a good reputation among employers, not to mentioned very good cost, as private schools go, it becomes a real deal for the kids that want what RIT has to offer.</p>

49

<p>Hmm, so many things to reply to. But all the better I suppose.</p>

<p>Most important is probably that the retention rate here is truely horrible. However, it has always been my opinion that the student should have known better than to come to a high-end technical school expecting anything to be easy. As evidenced by this discussion, there is no lack of warning as to the downsides of RIT.</p>

<p>Second, while I would not, ever, say that RIT has a warm and friendly Administration, it does have a fairly helpful and friendly layer between the student and buerocracy. As an example, while the registrar’s office can be difficult to deal with, the student’s college advisor is often more than willing to push the rules to help out.</p>

<p>Otherwise most of what taxguy is saying is correct. As far as I have seen, there are two paths that a new student can take:

  1. Be the “kid in the dark room.” This is quite difficult, but a truely motivated, independent student might be able to pull it off. More often, this is the student that leaves in the first year.
    2)Find as many friends as quickly as possible. RIT can be very difficult if you do not have something to do with friends.</p>

<p>Frankly, if you want to come to RIT, make sure that you are doing it because you believe that RIT is your best choice. If it is simply because it is a free ride due to scholarship money, or it is “just because” you will likely leave.</p>

50

<p>taxguy and tabletcorry-
Thanks for the thoughtful and insightful replies. I think readers of this thread will be much better informed about RIT thanks to you.</p>

51

<p>Sorry, I have to disagree a little that RIT’s drop out rate can somehow be attributed to being in Rochester. Believe me - it is better than Troy NY (Rensselaer) or Worcester MA (Worcester polytech) or Terre Haute IN (Rose Hulman)…</p>

<p>Really, RIT’s big problem is a failure to create a cohesive community. I believe that is 99% due to poor housing and poor campus lay out. </p>

<p>Design matters, and they ought to know that!</p>

52

<p>Weenie, Worcester Poly also doens’t have the best retention rate. As I noted on my post numbered 48 and post numbered 1, Rochester isn’t the best college town. It certainly isn’t akin to Boston and NYC. However, you are right in noting that the reasons for the large attrition isn’t only because they are in Rochester. I have noted the other factors in post numbered 48.</p>

<p>Yes, maybe they need a more cohesive community but many technical schools, such as Carnegie Mellon , isn’t that cohesive either. In fact, there is very little mixing of students of different schools at CMU. </p>

<p>Poor housing or, more to the point, a lack of quality appartment housing is a major factor. I find it hard to believe that RIT will build new buildings and NOT build more appartments when they have plenty of land to build appartments and buildings.</p>

<p>I honestly believe that their main problems are the weather and their location. It isn’t just that they are in Rochester. It is that there is nothing to do for the kids near the school. </p>

<p>As I mentioned, RIT is a great education for a bargain price. Kids just need to understand the pros and cons of the school before they enroll there.</p>

53

<p>I guess I just don’t see graduation rates (which is what we’re talking about here actually, right?) as correlated very well with location. I just looked up Northeastern’s and it’s only 62%.</p>

<p>Weather? Cripe, with over half the kids from NY state, you’d think they’d know about winter. And U of Rochester manages an 83% graduation rate (same weather).</p>

<p>I’d be the first to admit that Henrietta is NOT a good place to go to college. But I just don’t see it as that much worse than many other college areas. </p>

<p>I do believe housing (or lack thereof) has led to a generally unhappy student body. And not so much that kids don’t have housing - but rather there is no central quad or whatever for kids to relate to. Do you know what I mean by that? So many kids are from this area - lots go home on weekends just to make matters worse.</p>

<p>Oddly, they’re breaking ground on a new RIT village – but RIT isn’t going to own it. When it was originally conceived, it was going to be a retirement community. Now it sounds like they have no idea what it will be. (And it makes me sick that the developer got big fat tax breaks for it. RIT should never have moved out of the city int he first place. Subsidized SPRAWL is all it is.)</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>I also think that for engineering schools on the lower end of the selectivity scale – well, they are just in a tough spot. They’ve got to put less qualified kids through the same curriculum as MIT or any other engineering program. </p>

<p>Alas, a lot of my son’s friends are heading off to RIT this fall. I wish them well. I think there’s a lot of good stuff going on educationally at RIT, I just think it’s time for them to focus a little closer on their kids’ overall well being.</p>

54

<p>From someone I know who transferred to RIT from CMU and now can’t wait to get out…
In some areas, faculty seem more interested in consulting than research or teaching. The faculty are not very scholarly. Most of the leadership at RIT are not scholars or former scholars. They are not deep thinkers. A lot of flash but not much substance. Lots of talk about how to package RIT but little insight into what makes a school great. </p>

<p>…this is one student’s perspective who transferred from a great school, CMU. Does it really apply?</p>

55

<p>I’m not sure the images of profs as “scholarly” or “deep thinkers” are ones I would apply to any of the “tech” schools we’ve been to. LOL</p>

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<p>With a new president taking over in July, do you think any of these problems will change? It seems to me that the school should be more selective in its acceptance policies, because the academics are tough. I have a feeling that a big part of the drop-out rate is due to the fact that many of the students are just not qualified for the tough academics.</p>

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<p>Collegehelp, I am surprised that your friend said that. People that I met at CMU have complained that CMU is much TOO research oriented, and faculty is much more concerned with research and writing articles than in teaching the subject well or in helping students.</p>

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<p>I always thought RIT’s engineering program was geared to get kids into the workplace fast ( co-ops). It’s hard to have a cohesive school when kids are there for ten weeks and then co-op for ten weeks etc.
Husb and I both went to RIT as commuters. We saw it as a job…not the 4 yr. typical college experience. It seems to be set up for this type of student.</p>

<p>Lived in Rochester for 23 years. I had no idea until I got out what a dismal, gloomy place it was. There is some great weather…just very little of it.</p>

59

<p>I see your point, taxguy. When it comes right down to it, you want a good experience in the classroom and professors who are available outside the classroom. Having active scholars and cutting-edge researchers in the classroom and administration might have only marginal benefits. It is hard to sort out what really makes a school “great”.</p>

60

<p>Diane73-
Colleges are complex social systems and change very, very slowly, even for Presidents.</p>