You guys, if you know an RIT alum who would be willing to fill out a referral form for your kid, you’ll get a scholarship worth $1,000 per year. ($500 for NTID) Only caveat is it must be received by the deadline that you’re applying under – so by Nov. 1 for EA, etc.
Worth crowd sourcing on social media! I’m sorry I didn’t think to post this here earlier.
This is the form –
I suggest going to LinkedIn to see if you can find anyone willing to do this. They do require I think name and DOB and also has to write a small essay about your student. Maybe try searching for someone in your students field of interest as well.
I found somebody, and it’s done! Friend of mine lives in Rochester, and her stepson just graduated with his masters this past May, and he was willing to refer my daughter. I emailed him her stats and a little bit about her. It’s not a whole essay thankfully, lol, just a couple sentences about why this student would be a good candidate for RIT.
Just sharing for anyone else who wanted to pursue it.
Hi everyone! My daughter and I are very excited to report ALL our early action application materials are in for RIT, her top choice!!! She’s likely a bit different from others on the thread as her intended major is ASL interpreting. Just checked the portal today and all materials and letters are in so now we’re in the waiting period and curious if they ever release any sooner than that late January time frame I see on the site–we are SO eager!!! 
Good luck to all applying!! crossing fingers all our future tigers will be meeting soon 
I believe that this is only the second year of them having an EA application. So unfortunately- there is no history to go off of to determine when EA decisions ‘usually’ come in. (last year they came in later than expected)
Good luck to your daughter!!!
Later than expected?! Gah!! haha Her program is SO small (like 40 students or something) and has separate application process like submitting a video of you signing (you have to showcase that you can begin at at least ASL level 2) so with little data to go on AND her program being pretty different than other majors there, I guess we’ll just have to try to be patient
Best wishes for a great season of acceptances!
That’s right. My older son had to wait until March – it was the last place he heard from. It was annoying! So glad they finally decided to implement an EA option.
My son surprised me and applied EA, I thought he was just doing RD. We received a notice that he has an Alumni Nomination which is a $1k/year scholarship if he is accepted and also received an email that his application we received. I was surprised that these emails also came to me, perhaps because I went to open house with him?
My notes show that EA decisions should be received by 1/15. I’m not sure if it’s possible they come earlier.
horray! welcome to the EA waiting group My daughter also got the Alum Scholarship though hers is the prorated amount since her major is part of NTID. Very exciting for all these kiddos–can’t wait to hear results and hopefully celebrate with you all
My D26 is applying for Computer Engineering- but falls under the NTID umbrella due to a hearing disorder.
(I am not sure what this is called by the ‘cool kids’ yet- I have heard NTID supported- NTID adjacent- NTID cross registered…? …)
The reduced tuition rate is very enticing 
. (puts RIT at the same price point as the other 2 top choices she is currently considering)
I know this is a small group still-
But is anyone (or their child) on here at this time applying ED instead of EA?
D26 is doing EA. We have yet to visit the campus and she has yet to be able to break her current three-way tie!!
We are going to the open house next weekend- so hopefully that helps. Also, the other 2 schools will have their decisions out before the holidays so she will be able to decide before the ED2 application date on whether she wants to stay EA or move to ED2 (not sure if that buys her much?!) if RIT becomes the front runner!
For those who attended the open house- how was it? We had a great time today.
My son applied EA in Sept. Physics/astrophysics. Weighted gpa 104, class rank 1, 1590 SAT, national merit semifinalist. 13 APs/dual enrollment. Participates in robotics (coding lead), math team, math honor society, academic league, volunteers at the animal shelter. Finishing a three year research class focusing on exoplanets. Received science award from University of Rochester but RIT is first choice. He did an in person interview, alum recommendation, visited campus twice. Not worried at all about getting in as his stats are at the top but we need every possible merit dollar we can get…..
Please share the details! 
Did your kiddo apply for game design? What did he like about the open house?
Looking forward to hearing the experience @co2mom had as well, and what her daughter thought! (Hoping flights went smoothly – I know it’s a mess everywhere.)
You certainly have a kid that RIT will want! May I ask what makes this his top choice school?
I’m going to watch the zoom info session they’re offering on financial aid and scholarships tomorrow night to see if I can glean any more tips on getting merit aid.
But I hear you. I also have a high-stats kid (not quite as high as yours, lol!) who has RIT near the very top of her list, and we’ve been assessing the merit aid situation as well. She has the $24K per year Women in Stem scholarship that was awarded her junior year – hoping that will get trumped for the max $27K they award. She’ll get $2K for National Merit, plus $1K for the alum referral.
And then she’s going to submit the application for the performing arts scholarship – I’m not sure how much that is, but I’ll again be watching the zoom info session (this Wed) to see, lol. Maybe another $1K per year? I’m hoping it’s a little more – my kid will want to join pep band, concert band and the game symphony orchestra, plus do theatre.
We won’t get any need-based aid, but with the merit I mentioned, we’re estimating the cost might get down to the low $50K range.
Is that what you’re calculating as well? If you have any other Intel, please share!
D26 really enjoyed the Open House this weekend. Luckily the flight in was very uneventful so we got to enjoy the experience to its fullest.
The flight out- I need time to recover from that experience!!! 
Made it home- but a day late.
Not related to the shutdown but related to flying into/out of ROC
Did you know that ROC apparently only has one De-Icer?!?! I really hope that I misheard that. The pilot seemed to be humored by this also. So it took over 45 minutes sitting out there on the plane waiting for the one and only de-icer guy to come around a get to us. And it was a single person who appeared to be standing in a utility workers bucket / truck holding a hose to de- ice the plane as someone drove the truck around the planes?!?!
Surely with the weather in this area- there has to be more personnel and bit higher tech type of equipment.
The airport overall was very nice, though small (which is nice). We are now very familiar with it after sitting there on Sunday for over 8 hours. Nice restaurants and lots of comfortable places to sit. My only complaint was that a lot of the shops and food places shut down early- so get snacks ahead of time if scheduled for a later flight!
Just random- not ROC specific (I hope 
): The pilot had to abort our takeoff- while actually taking off (wheels leaving the runway). Possible engine problems. But after taxiing back around- decided that it was a non-issue and that they were going to go again. 
I think the feelings from the passengers was a mixture of wanting to get the heck off that plane and mad we were not given the choice but that being overridden with the desperation to be finally leaving the airport regardless of how that had to happen 
Moving on to the Open House.
Very well ran. Would recommend to those in the future that can make one of these. It was a one stop shop for everything you could think of. The one negative- to much in one day- we missed 1-2 things that we were hoping to learn about because we just couldn’t get it all in.
I would assume the acceptant students days would be similar- so worth going to those if had not had the chance to make one these open house days already.
~She at first was not interested in the special interest housing communities- so we were not going to go to that info area- but stumbled across it by accident (got lost 
) and since we were there decided to look at all the booths they had set up, she found one that she was potentially interested in. So that was a happy accident.
~They extended the ED1 and EA deadline to those who attended the event- so that was nice.
~The campus is very nice- I have no idea how it gets a bad reputation for being ‘ugly’. The brick city vibe was very nice and D26 loved it!!
~Apparently the food is known to be good? We did not like what we ate- but not going to judge it on a one-time experience.
~The tunnels were a selling point for D26.
~Hockey game was worth going to if they have one whenever you get a chance to visit. It was our first hockey game, and we had a blast. Though D26s maniacal laugh every time someone got body checked against the glass worried me a bit.
RIT is locked in as a top choice on her list.
I am letting her recover from out trip back home before I overly pester her with what her current thoughts are on RIT. Though she has said that she has now narrowed down her top choices from 3 to now 2. RIT and the University of Limerick.
And here is Ballon Ritchie for those who have yet to see this awsomeness- lol
Okay, this is the review I’ve been waiting for, lol!
But OMG OMG on the flight woes – I was totally expecting travel delays, but not ice/mechanical/nah-we-good-let’s-take-off-anyway issues! Good gravy. I was telling DH and D26 your story at dinner, and my daughter was like, “What?? They took off anyway? Like that’s not terrifying!”
If it makes you feel better, we flew in and out of ROC in February of this year, and it was 19 degrees outside with a wind chill of 4 – and there were several feet of snow on the ground after a big snowstorm a couple days earlier. But we had zero problems with de-icing or taking off. So hopefully it was just a fluke?
I’m so glad you guys got the full open house experience and got to see most everything! Where did you eat that you didn’t like the food? We’ve heard the opposite, that the food is meh especially at Gracie’s, but we got soup/sandwich at Nathan’s Soup & Salad (it’s kind of close to the campus store), and it was really pretty good.
My kid LOVED everything about the SHED and the general vibe of the students on campus. She felt like they were deeply nerdy and kind and welcoming and fairly diverse, and that she’d like a lot of people. (She’s in a school environment now where outside of band/theatre, it’s really not her peeps.) Is that the impression you guys got?
Okay so at the hockey game – how was the BAND? 
I was telling my family about your Limerick dilemma with the timeline, and DH thought you could maybe reach out to RIT and explain the situation, and then ask if there’s any way to get an earlier decision. And D26 thought it would be better to reach out to Limerick and see if you can get an extension.
But I was thinking – how much of a deposit do you have to put down there if you accept the spot? Is it small enough that you could afford to lose it if D26 later changes her mind?
(And Balloon Ritchie is awesome!)
We had a great open house visit too. We had wanted to do the ‘night before’ tour knowing that would open up more time Saturday to do the other things we wanted to do. We were coming in from the Syracuse open house the day before and didn’t make it to RIT for the 5pm Tour. So we crammed as much as we could on Saturday!
I agree they did a nice job for the open house. I did take my youngest to the zoo in the middle of the day while my husband and high school senior did the academic presentation and walked through the SHED. Lots of options and things to check out. They said that esports wasn’t at the fair like they were supposed to be which was disappointing.
I love that they gave a meal card to check out one of the dining options. We went to Gracie’s which was okay. I was surprised that’s the only/one of the only dining options near the res halls?
There was a lot and we didn’t get to everything but part of that was my husband and kiddo not planning based on where things are - so we were at the res halls and they wanted to get to the co-op presentation across campus and we were never going to make it! (The consequence of me leaving for a bit with my youngest).
It is still a top choice for my kiddo- but it will come down to whether he gets in and then money. An in state option has offered my kiddo full tuition and they have a game design program too… but they aren’t RIT ….
Did your son apply to the game design program?
