This is the official thread for those applying EA/ED to Rochester Institute of Technology.
List your unweighted GPA, any SAT /ACT scores, and ECs. What majors are you going into?
Ask your questions, the CC community is here to help!
Hello! D26 really loved RIT when we visited in February (despite the cold and the snow that she’s totally not used to, lol). She considered ED but will most likely just do EA.
Unweighted GPA is 95.84 out of 100. Weighted GPA is 99.19.
SAT is 1560.
AP classes – US History, Calc AB, Calc BC, Physics 1, Bio, Literature (her schools limits to six total). Most everything else honors level.
Other:
–National Merit Semifinalist (anticipated, she got a 1510 and has an index of 27)
–Marching band from 7th through 12th grade, band president this year, woodwind section captain last two years
–Lead and supporting roles in several spring plays
–Costume lead in winter musical last year, costume assistant in previous years. Includes sewing costumes from scratch and creating spreadsheet to plan and track complicated quick changes
–Symphonic band all four years, first chair clarinet this year, several concerts and LGPE, district honor band auditions (she made it in 10th)
–Founder of Foundation for Hospital Art club (painting multi-panel canvases to donate to hospitals)
–Other clubs: Jazz club, Chess club, Service club that tutors kids and offers homework help in underprivileged communities
–Lots of creative hobbies such as crochet, sewing, etc. Entered Duck Brand’s Stuck on Prom duct tape prom dress scholarship contest
–Honor societies: NHS, Latin, Math, Science, English, Music
–Two gold and two silver medals on National Latin Exam
–Other awards such as Overall Outstanding Sophomore Girl and Woodwind Player of the Year (11th)
–Year-long project in STEM Seminar this year to create a mobile app that gamifies various self-care and mental health wellness tasks
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D26 is interested in the New Media Design major and also Humanities, Computing and Design. She would like to do UX/UI stuff and game design – but she’s not really a studio artist and doesn’t have a traditional portfolio (the New Media Design major is the only BFA that doesn’t require one), and she’s not a coder, either. The Game Design and Development major seems too coding-heavy. She likes the idea of digital storytelling and narrative design. She’s not set on game design, though, and thinks she’d like UX/UI for other industries. I think New Media Design is the closest match to her interests.
RIT is supposed to be in our area for interviews soon, but she isn’t available those times because of band. Question is, should she book an online interview? How important is this? Her stats are pretty solid but not over the top – how likely is she to be admitted to her first-choice major?
She did get the Women in STEM $24K a year scholarship they offer to juniors – but of course, she still has to get in.
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I would say that your daughter is an absolute shoe-in for acceptance to any major she wants at RIT. Her stats are fantastic and they would be incredibly lucky to have her. My son had similar stats and was given all kinds of goodies to attend. He wound up going somewhere else instead, but the offer was excellent. I think she can consider RIT an absolute “yes”!
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Thanks for your perspective – so glad to hear this! 
So should she try to get the online interview, or it doesn’t matter too much?
She is friendly and reasonably attractive and engaging in an interview, but she talks very fast – a million thoughts in that brain all trying to get out at once – so I’m a tiny bit concerned that it might hurt her.
RIT is a safety with those Stats. I wouldn’t worry about acceptance at all.
I wouldn’t bother with interview if it’s going to cause stress.
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I’m not aware of the interview opportunity they offer (my son toured and loved it but did not do an interview). I think they will roll out the red carpet for her regardless of the interview, so I think she should absolutely feel comfortable skipping it if that is more convenient OR if you think the interview may actually raise any flags to RIT. How exciting for your family!
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Interest is very important to them! It is one of the very few schools I know that says interest is “important” on CDS though.
also agree it is a safety especially as you visited— doing a touch more DI would seek the deal, even for yield protection risk. I’d not be surprised if they got honors college too
(Note I edited this after I realized they had visited!)
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Oh, I didn’t think about yield protection. My D22 ran into that with Tulane and Davidson – her stats were a good bit higher than her sister’s – and it was NOT cool. I’ll talk to D26 about the interview, then – she is genuinely very interested in RIT (it’s in her top three), and I think she’d be able to convey that in an interview.
I didn’t realize RIT had an honors college. We’ll have to go see what the benefits are – I feel like it’s worth it at some schools, but definitely not everywhere.
Hope your kiddo has settled in and is having a better experience!
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I don’t know a huge amount about honors program, but it does have dedicated floors in dorms and some special events and such!
We were just going through the Common App tonight, and RIT asks for 150 words about why you’re interested in the honors program, if you want to be considered.
D26 decided she may as well indicate that she wants to be considered – if she gets it, she can always decline or drop out if it’s not working for her (there’s no penalty). But now she needs to write 150 words about it, lol.
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I hate all the “why us” questions - it’s rare a school Is soooo unique that this is needed IMO - I guess it proves you read marketing materials?
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My kiddo is very interested in RIT for Game design, computer science. We visited in March and he loved it.
4.0 weighted, 3.8 UW
33 ACT
Does not have a lot of activities:
Band/marching band since 5th grade
Esports throughout college
Works a PT job
Plans to apply Early action