Thoughts on RPI from a recent graduate

somebostoner
Fri, 29 May 2015 17:01:13 +0000

I graduated from RPI in the fall, and have been working at a robotics startup since. I know a lot of the reviews of the place are by people who are either current students and parents of students, so I thought maybe I could give a different view on things and talk a bit about my experiences post-RPI. My thoughts while I was at RPI were pretty different from after I left, so please read the whole thing

Thoughts while at RPI:

Overall:
I wasn’t the happiest camper around definitely. The lack of a strong social community outside of Greek Life took away from my enjoyment. However, my senior year I had a lot of fun as I joined a bunch of clubs and met a lot of new people. You can have fun at RPI; you just need to make an effort to do so.

Gender ratio: I hated the gender ratio while at RPI. It was awkward and as a guy who just wanted more friends, it was hard to meet girls who were interested in being friends rather than immediately defaulting to thinking that I was interested in them. I think the ratio probably has something to do with this. However, I did end up with a number of girlfriends while I was there and some of my best friends from college are girls. While the gender ratio is pretty terrible, the truth is that a lot of the guys never leave their room so the remaining ratio isn't quite as bad.

Academia: The work was tough, but I never really felt motivated while I was there. The entrepreneurial community seemed a little lacking for instance. There is virtually no hand-holding in the academics, which I think is fine because developing the independent ability needed in the real world.

Administration: I wasn't the biggest fan of the administration until when I started to have some academic problems. While I was depressed, trying to start my own company, and didn't feel like I had enough of a social life, my grades dropped like a stone and I ended up going to the class dean. She laid out all my options there and helped me over the next month or so with frequent meetings, even making time for me during time she had off. The professors were also very supportive, and I managed to catch up on all my work and make it through my classes. RPI is a bizarre place; it seems like you're on your own and you have no way to get help, but the truth is that they are instead watching over you and will help you as best they can when you really need it.

Post-graduation thoughts:
Now I’m actually really happy that I went to RPI. I am now working at what was my dream job since I was 5 building cool robotic systems, and a lot of that is thanks to the BS in Electrical Engineering I got while at RPI. I’m doing algorithmic work with a bunch of people who have PHDs, and while I did have to learn some to catch up, I already feel like I’m in a good place.
RPI is really well regarded among the engineering community, and it shows… I once overheard the vice president (a very successful serial entrepreneur) talking about my school to a new hire, saying “he went to RPI: Rennsselaer Polytechnic Institute. It’s one of the three best engineering schools in the country along with MIT and CalTech.” I don’t know if he’s quite right about that one, but RPI’s rankings actually suffer quite a bit from the extreme focus on the undergraduate curriculum. Most of my friends got some research experience while getting their undergraduate degrees. They have a very well maintained system for getting research experience as an undergrad (even as a freshman), and that’s really unusual.
I also went to an MIT robotics event, where people knew of RPI and only had good things to say of the research and quality of alumni. Sure, your mailman might not know of RPI (actually, mine did :D), but the people who matter in industry know of it and respect it.

While the road isn’t easy through RPI, I really highly recommend it now that I’ve graduated.