I got accepted int RPI for Aerospace Engineering and RHIT for Mech E and I’m having a hard time choosing between the two!
I’ll be paying the same amount for both schools after cost of attendance. Location-wise both fine and I don’t mind big vs small campus.
I’m more concerned with how different the academic experience between the two schools will be for the degrees. Any information and help would be amazing!
My son attends RPI (CS and Math), and he toured and applied at RHIT. He also loved RHIT, but decided against it because of location. He was also fine with it, but decided that after four years, he would get bored and may have a hard time living in such a remote location. I’m happy to tell you more about his experience at RPI if you are interested. It has been an amazing school full of fun, friends, amazing opportunities, and great professors. He is finishing his second year and has already been accepted for NSF summer research at another university. As you know, both schools are rigorous and students are hard working, but that’s why they have such great outcomes. Both schools will prepare you well.
My student was turned off by what seemed to be hundreds of flyers on the RPI campus that said “ dealing with the loneliness” and that was pre-COVID! We had lunch with some students who complained that they had to personally foot the cost of their capstone projects (Harvey Mudd provides thousands to underwrite cost of projects). Also, housing after freshman year at RPI seemed to be limited. At the time, there were lots of complaints about the ARC enforced semester off campus and the difficulty of finding an internship for that period and the cost of being required to be on campus for a summer as well…don’t know if that has resolved.
Student chose RHIT (slightly better scholarship money but similar) and has had zero issues with on campus housing all years and lots of cheaper off campus housing available nearby as well. No issues getting needed classes. Great support from school for students. Top rated career services and 3 career fairs a year with 250+ employers at each, with only 500 grads! Open door policy means it’s easy to pop by someone’s room to ask for help with a problem set. Floor goes to dinner together each night and out to dinner in town on Saturday nights. Greatest Floor Competition is highlight of silly fun between residence halls. If you haven’t done an overnight stay, highly recommend. Has had great internship opportunities. It’s crazy hard, but small classes sizes and tutors embedded in dorm help.
My son is at Rose-Hulman and absolutely loves it. RPI was on his original list, but it fell off after a visit. Rose has amazing facilities - their maker space is probably the best one we saw when looking at colleges. They have a new academic building (the NAB), which is beautiful. It’s hard, and you will work for your grades, but the professors make themselves available to any student who asks. You don’t need to wait for office hours, just show up and if the prof is there, he/she will be happy to help you! Students are collaborative and help each other out all the time. One of the really cool things my son found was that he can “reserve” a classroom in the evening. This allows him to do his homework in a quiet space that has a huge white board for him to work on problem sets. Most also have projectors, so he can stream a movie, or something just to have some background noise - or for a movie night with his friends.
The location is fine. It’s better if you have a car, but if you don’t, there will be plenty of other students who do who will be happy to bring you to walmart, kroeger, or wherever you need. My son doesn’t have a car and has not had a problem getting off campus.
Feel free to PM me if you have any specific questions!
I also have a student at Rose and agree with everything the previous two posters said! It is a great school.
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