@Dustyfeathers Yes, the Game Design and Development major is in the office space next to my major’s office. Everyone I know in GDD loves it. It’s tough stuff and competitive to get in, but if you do it is ranked #4 nationally. A brand new state of the art building just opened on campus with all of the tools, studios, and equipment GDD majors need too. It’s called the MAGIC center (Media Arts…something something Center, I think?) Top gaming companies recruit from RIT.
@Frobot Thank you! No worries about any delay becoz we have a lot of time still 
D did not do early decision, so even though her portfolio got accepted, we wont know anything until later. RIT def seems like a good option for her even though its not a regular art schools. but with our finances we dont know if we can do with a 10K package. FAFSA wont do anything for us. So I suppose now to wait and wait to hear from everywhere. What makes us look forward to to RIT is the overall happy spirit I am reading about from most people and communicating with them was a really good experience. We have not visited but having made so many phone calls to so many places RIT seemed to be always ready to help and really friendly. COOP is the other thing that seems great about the school. Thank you so very much! And good luck to you!!
@SomaRathore I am very happy here. The school has its pros and cons like everywhere, but overall I’ve had a great experience. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to me with any questions, and if you do come visit I’d be happy to try and connect you with students in Gannet and Booth (the art buildings) and show you around. (And give an honest showing, not the admissions tour where everything is rosy.) RIT tends to be hit or miss with FA. For me it was definitely generous, so don’t rule it out until that package arrives. Also don’t hesitate to have your daughter write an appeal essay for more aid. I did and received 1,000 more in grant money.
Hey are you till there? How are things going? How did your summer coop go? What kind of update can you give to your update? How is RIT doing on their promises they made on mental health supports? Have those types of issues caused distractions this year? How’s the mood on campus? I see some posters describing the school as not being able to accommodate students who need to see mental health counselors followed by really bad outcomes and it makes me think twice about sending my student there. Thanks for any update you can give.
Hello! Yes, I am. I have the rest of this semester and then two more to go. My summer co-op went well, and I’ve got my next one lined up at a start up in Boston for the summer and fall.
I’ll address your questions one by one.
1.) How is RIT doing with their promises on mental health? So far, well. I actually just had a meeting with the guy who is spear heading the effort two weeks ago. He met with the student advisory committee in Golisano to talk about Golisano specific problems and solutions. It was really nice to see them trying to identify problems individual colleges have instead of trying to create a blanket solution.
2.) Have these issues caused distractions this year? You probably heard about the reasons behind the push for mental health reform. Tragically, a member of the chemical engineering department committed suicide. It was a sobering time on campus. Overall, the campus is doing okay. This is a problem at most schools in the USA, and honestly few are taking the steps to listen to students like RIT. That whole ordeal was distracting, but rightfully so. It shook a lot of people to go and get help or speak out to increase support.
3.) How is the mood? Well, this time of year mid winter it can feel kind of bleak. Definitely if your student struggles with seasonal affective disorder get a sun lamp and take steps for self care. Most of the year is perfectly good, it is just this time of year.
4.) University mental health services are /normally/ for crises students face. Basically what was happening was a lot of students were going (it is being discovered that my generation is more sensitive towards mental health, so more people are getting therapy), but the health center only has so many staffers. They have increased the number of staff. If you have a long term illness, I would advise seeking off campus therapy regardless of which college you choose.
Is there anything specifically you’d like an update on or more information?
So glad to get a response from you and great to hear you’re seeing a concerted effort on the part of the school to help kids in distress. My son who applied and is awaiting his RD notification believes he will not be affected by the stretches of winter bleakness. I’m sure there are work out facilities that are accessible that students can use during the winter. Are you familiar with them and are they good? Are they great? Far from dorms? What kind of things did everyone do there when you had the recent days of really bad cold up there? Is there a heated pool to use?
Q2: Are there single rooms available that you know of for freshmen? Do you have cleaners who come in and vacuum and do any other cleaning? How does that work? Or do students have to being their own cleaning stuff?
Another question: Is Gracie’s as awful as some of the students we meet there told us it is? Is there a way to avoid processed food and preservatives and stuff like that? Like if you must go to Gracie’s do they have options that are not too terrible health-wise and taste wise?
Oh, and one other q: How do you pay for school? I realize that may be too personal so don’t feel obliged to answer. But how do most of the students you know there pay for it? What are kids doing to pay these ungodly tuition and living expenses? Or is it kind of unspoken? Some of the kids I spoke with said they were going to have good paying jobs by the time they needed to start paying off their loans so it wasn’t bothering them too much.
Thanks for being such a great resource for this site! And for RIT!
@uniquefirsttry
Yes, I am familiar with the workout facilities. I have found them very useful and good quality. There are two gyms for students, a small one in Global Village and a rather large one in the Student Life Center (SLC). The SLC is located a short jaunt from the dorms. The first floor of that gym is dedicated to weightlifting. The second floor has bikes, treadmills, various machines, steppers, rowing machines, etc. There are two heated indoor pools. A lap pool and a just-for-fun pool that has a river with a current to swim against (or use lazily). The question about what we did- is that referring to how we stayed warm, or what we did when they canceled school? We dress for the weather and use the tunnels on academic and dorm side. These tunnel systems do not connect to each other though, so to get from academic to dorm side does require an outdoor stretch.
People come in to clean the floor bathrooms, but I would bring stuff for your student’s room. Can’t answer for the single rooms. Probably just for health reasons, but I honestly do not know.
Hahah so one thing that you need to understand with Gracie’s is that it isn’t bad (IMO), it just gets really old when you are a freshman and have to get most of your meals there with the meal plan. This is the case with almost every school my friends have gone to. I will say, I am super thankful that we have our own dining services and don’t contract out to something like Sodexo. It keeps the food quality higher than that. It is perfectly possible to eat healthy here at school if you have the discipline. There are options (salad bars, smoothie bars, healthier options, etc). Admittedly not as many as I would like, but it isn’t bad. Ignoring Gracie’s, we actually have a really good variety of food on campus compared to other schools. Remember that it will always be “campus food”, though. Nothing compares to home cooking.
Oh! Also, there are a few local restaurants that come to campus on different days of the week. That adds some options. (Dinosaur BBQ on Fridays, Sticky Lips BBQ, a taqueria, Indian food, Pakistani food, etc.)
Financial aid. It varies greatly for students. For me, it was excellent. Grants, scholarships, etc. Students save money by moving off campus after first year (which is a nice transition to real life anyway), getting off of the meal plan (Wegman’s is down the road), jobs, and going on co-op. My first co-op was meh pay-wise in Colorado at $16.60 per hour with a housing stipend. That paid for my living expenses last semester. My co-op this year is $38.00 per hour and I can live at home if I decide to. That will be for 6 months, grossing $36,000. This will pay off my loans and then some. When I graduate, I am anticipating $60,000 - $75,000 to start, depending on where I end up. I also have summer 2020 to intern as well because my co-op shifts me to a December graduation. During the semester, I work as a TA for a 4.5 - 7 hours per week at $11.75, which helps pay for my weekly grocery bill. It has been very workable for me. Wait and see what your aid package is…also, appeal it if you need to. I appealed mine and they increased my grant by $1,000.
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Great info! Thank you! 2 pools? Wow. Missed that on the ol college tour. No one comes by to clean? How do you all vacuum your floors?
One more q: What do you think of Engineering House? Is it a good place for freshmen engineering students or is it a funhouse? Better in which to visit than actually live?
Thanks for the description of your coop experience. So your first meh coop you made enough to cover your campus living expenses when you got back? For a whole year or just semester? Regarding coops in general, do you have to fight to procure a good one? Is it a stampede where they open the doors and everyone runs to the SpaceX/Tesla table or is it more civilized than that?
Please don’t let my many questions interfere with your studies. I appreciate the detail we’re getting. Thanks!
Hello! I don’t know if you’re still active but I wanted to ask, how are the art programs at RIT? Like animation for example, do you know anyone in it? What are their thoughts on it? Do they feel like they can get a job after they graduate? Thanks for posting this, by the way, I’m most likely going to RIT this fall and this was very helpful!
@sallyface
Hi! The art programs are excellent! We are currently ranked #19 for design, and I personally have known art students who love it!
Film & Animation was what I originally looked at RIT for. It is /excellent/. The program is very competitive because there are only 50 seats. The acceptance rate is < 3%. My friend just graduated this past week from the program. It was a lot of work, but she’s grown a lot. I’m not positive what her job positioning is, but I know her dream is to start a program to teach inner city kids how to animate in like after school programs.
In Industrial Design, I know one friend graduated and is going to design for Nike. My other friend in ID stuck around Rochester and works on designing super intricate booth displays for companies.
@uniquefirsttry
Hi again! I can’t speak to the cleaning in dorms because I’ve been off campus for 2 years. I also can’t speak to SIH. I am not part of one, but the two CSH students I know are super passionate, smart, and love their communities.
My co-op paid for half the year, but I have a 6 month one starting in June designing healthcare software.
As for co-ops, it depends on major. It is competitive, but no stampeding. There will be lines at the big names (Microsoft, Google, etc) at career fair, but they often have their own recruiting events on campus too. Keep your grades up and be involved in extra curricular activities.
Sophomore year is definitely harder than junior year because you have to sell yourself without any previous co-op experience. It’s stressful, but a good learning experience. Also, if things get crazy, the career and co-op office is there to help. I had something crazy happen to me with the company I was under contract with having only a few weeks left in the school year that resulted in it falling through. The co-op office helped me procure interviews and a co-op in that short amount of time. It was super nice to have the RIT supporting me and backing their student.
Hi! I am so glad I still at work your thread. May I ask if you are a transfer student to RIT? If you are, can you give me some input of the process you went through? My sophomore son plans to apply for transfer there next fall. We are still unsure whether he can be admitted to NTID. He plans to go to the New Media program.
Hello: Thank you so much for your detailed and informative posts!
My daughter applied this year but I am not sure if she specified into which program. Is that a step she should have declared within Common App?
We have a student considering RIT for ChemE. If we were to visit in late January or early February what do you recommend we see/do? Thanks!