@eightiesparent @spark2018 Your beliefs about RPI quality don’t appear to be supported by actual rankings. I’m not sure if this is good or bad but you give the impression that RPI is sinking-at least relative to its standing in the (I’m guessing here) 1980s. I don’t think the actual ratings which are based largely on reputation support that amount of swing.
In 1983 it appears that US news did not rank RPI-perhaps they only ranked the top 25 schools. At that time they were ranking CalTech at 12, CMU at 13 and MIT at 10. in 1996, apparently the first time RPI made the list (which was apparently extended), RPI was ranked at 39 but the following year it disappears, suggesting that it fell below the top 50. It reappears the following year at 48. From then until 2004 it hovered in the 40’s. MIT and CalTech stayed mostly in the single digits while CMU was mostly in the low 20s although it occasionally fell to 28. Between the years 2008 and 2015 RPI had an average rating of 42.75-with ratings as high as 41 but hitting 50 once (2012). During that same interval, MIT averaged 5.9, CalTech averaged 7.1 and CMU averaged 22.9.
Reputation is notoriously hard to change quickly. I don’t think RPI’s reputation has tanked. In fact I think it has gotten a bit stronger. It is highly ranked regardless.
https://publicuniversityhonors.com/2017/09/13/u-s-news-rankings-for-57-leading-universities-1983-2007/
https://publicuniversityhonors.com/2015/06/13/u-s-news-national-university-rankings-2008-present/