RPI over WPI - why did you?

Learjet45
Sun, 08 Jan 2012 22:41:03 +0000

Let me start by saying I applied ED to RPI and got accepted, and didn’t even bother applying to WPI after seeing the school.

I visited WPI I believe the day after I visited RPI in late March/early April 2011. I was a high school senior at the time, and I’m glad I visited both. I knew after taking my tour that I didn’t like WPI at all to be perfectly honest. For me it was:

1 & 2: Felt like high school again, not college. We (my dad and I) got there, sat through the information session, and then took a tour. On the tour, we walked around and around, and there weren’t really any other kids that we saw at all. Then as we’re nearing the end and getting back to where the tour started, all of a sudden, there were just massive amounts of kids all walking around. It felt like one of my high school passing periods, especially when compared to the other 3 campus tours I had been on by then (WPI was the last of 4 schools I was visiting). Also, the campus didn’t really have much of a college feel to it. With the other schools I visited (RIT, RPI, and Clarkson), when we drove onto the campus, they had a much different feel than when we got onto WPI’s campus.


Projects, projects, projects. Going back to the information session, one of the students speaking was a senior that was a mechanical engineering major focusing on aerospace. He mentioned that for his project the previous year, he went to Costa Rica and designed a website to teach children about conserving energy. First off, I don’t get the purpose of studying abroad only to do something with really no true connection to what you’re studying for your major. And second, a required project every year besides freshman year is kind of obnoxious if you ask me. Sure, projects are great and can be a good change, but I don’t want to do one 3 of my 4 years in college, especially if it isn’t going to relate to my major.
The tour sucked. It’s not a great reason, but the tour really didn’t sell the school very well.


I pretty much knew as soon as I was done on the tour that I didn’t even want to bother applying to WPI. It’s a good school, but I just think after actually seeing RPI, it seemed like a nicer school and had a much better college feel.