Hello everyone,
I’ve visited all three schools. I have done overnight visits too. I like the feel of all three schools for all different reasons. I’m considering studying ME with an emphasis in aerospace. I consider myself in the 25% vs. the 75% of the students admitted ( “average, typical student” who works hard.) I’ve researched collegenavigator and find each of the schools have approximately the same retention and graduation rates.
All three will cost me approximately the same. I would like to have your input in the following:
Which of the three schools will provide the best comprehensive classes?
Which of the three schools will provide the best hands-on, interactive style learning?
Which of the three schools provides the best classroom assistance,help, etc.?
Which of the three schools provides the most help finding internships?
Which of the three schools provides the most help in finding a job after graduation?
I’m considering each of these schools as a varsity athlete, too.
Which of these three schools provide the most support (academically) for their athletes?
Based on what you have written, give strong consideration to RHIT.
However, it’s not clear what “comprehensive classes” means. Also, it’s unclear which “25%” you are in. There are at least four possibilities, as well as possibilities that straddle the others.
All these schools are comparable for what you want. They are all part of the [url="<a href=“http://theaitu.org%22%5DAITU%5B/url”>http://theaitu.org"]AITU[/url] and all relatively small. The big difference is that Illinois Tech and Case are in major urban areas and that might have some small effect on the number of employers nearby. Eventual job placement for all these schools is probably similar as they are known for graduating very competent engineers.
If you was research universities, then Case and IIT will be more attractive for you.
Ultimately, if the financials are equivalent, then you need to make a decision based on where you think you will feel more comfortable.
It is not a secret that I am a physics professor at Illinois Tech so if you have other specific questions about IIT feel free to ask me either in a PM or on the Illinois Institute of Technology forum. With regards to athletics at IIT, I can say that the student athletes I know don’t feel that participating in varsity sports has hurt their academics. The faculty are willing to accommodate schedules. Since we are Division III, the expectation is that you are a student first and an athlete second and I am pretty sure that the athletic department is structured that way. If you are referring to special academic support for athletes, no, there is none. All students can take advantage of the Academic Resource Center equally.
Good luck with your decision, I don’t think you can go wrong with any of your choices.
There aren’t very many metrics out there that attempt to quantify quality of educational experience, but princetonreview makes an attempt by conducting surveys that ask students how they feel about their professors and the caliber of their academic experience (among other things). Based on their numbers, it’s Rose-Hulman by a mile – their ratings for Academics, Interesting Professors, and Accessibility of Professors are way higher than the other two (with IIT faring especially poorly).
The problem with Princeton Review (and I am not trying to dispute their results because they are what they are) is that it is a student survey and they report it without revealing how many responses it is based on compared to the number of students who received the survey. The results can easily be dependent on only a few responses. A second issue is that the survey is only done once every three years and so the results are not necessarily “fresh” each year.
I am not saying that the Princeton Review should be ignored but it needs to be taken with a grain of salt just like any of the various ranking systems out there. Treat it as one data point.
I can’t speak about the other two, but my daughter is having a great experience at IIT. She is making great connections for recommendations, likes her professors, has had offers of research, is interviewing for internships, works as a tutor for other students, loves being in Chicago, loves the diversity of the student body. She’s taking her second interprofessional projects class and is learning a ton. The career center is very supportive and provides lots of help for students. The career fairs are well attended by employers.
Fair point, @xraymancs. Agreed it’s only one data point. I certainly think small differences shouldn’t be taken at all seriously. Large differences I think are probably reflecting something real.