RPI worth the debt?

mdbdad
Sun, 29 Aug 2010 15:33:01 +0000

The point about large state schools offering more alternatives should things not work out with the initial major is certainly valid. However, the one thing that struck me this past year as we visited schools was the potential difficulty in switching majors that require going across “College of …” boundaries. I know for example, University of Maryland has a few “limited enrollment programs” , engineering and business being among them. This might make it tough for someone thinking of switching from say, engineering to biology or from “undeclared” to business. When I posed a question about the ease of switching at one prominent school, the answer was effectively the student really needs to think about what they want in a career before applying . That might work a few but certainly not all 18 year olds. RPI’s answer to this question was a primary driver of our interest in the school. When you apply to RPI, you apply to the entire Institute not the School of Engineering, Science or Management and can change majors fairly easily down the road. The presenter in fact said he attended RPI and changed majors three times. This plus the individual attention and the extensive academic support structure makes RPI an ideal choice for certain students.