http://admissions.rpi.edu/guide/celebration.html
I just found out that my boss is allowing me a day off from work that Saturday so I will be able to go. I called the RPI office to ask if it was too late since the RSVP time was a week ago, they haven’t responded yet.
I’m planning to walk around Troy a little bit with my son after the event to locate stores that he might need to visit during his time at school. Anybody know some important places? I saw from a thread a long time ago that there was a laundromat in town but I don’t remember why he said he would have needed to go to one and not use the ones at school. I was interested in finding a good barber that knows how to properly fade up a military styled crew cut (and a name if there’s a recommendation of a particular guy). Also, wondering the best place to get typical toiletries since I’m sure the bookstore will probably double the costs. Grocery stores for snack items for the mini-fridge. Clothing stores and pharmacy. If there were an easy laid out college student focused map available that’d be great.
I’ve also heard to stay out of generally the southern area of troy just in case any other people reading this might be planning to do the same.
I’d say to stick to downtown Troy. That’s kind of where everything is. No one goes to the other parts since they’re mainly residential, unless of course they live there. In terms of where to get things, people usually don’t purchase things in Troy. The best thing to do is to take the bus next to Quad up at RPI all the way to Walmart - it usually takes like 15 minutes.
Rite Aid is pretty close to freshman hill. Laundry is free, so don’t worry about that.
Also… go to the bottom floor of the student union in the game room. There will be 12 Greek organizations raising money for charity. If you want to learn a bit about the current news at RPI, you can also pick up a free newspaper anywhere in the Union near the entrances (just look for the newspaper containers).
I’d recommend to eat at any of these places in Troy:
Dinosaur BBQ
The Flying Chicken
The Greek House
Alibaba
The Whistling Kettle
Rent textbooks, don’t buy them from the store unless it’s for intro classes like Physics I, Chemistry I, or Calculus I where you need access keys since you can’t get those online most of the time. Sometimes your professor will also publish their own textbook, so you’ll have to get it from the bookstore.
In terms of accepted students day, just walk around starting at 10am on RPI’s campus if you haven’t already RSVPed.There will be people everywhere. Also, don’t forget to bring an umbrella - it’s been raining a lot lately. If anyone needs anything PM me! I’ll be volunteering at the science booth in the Houston field house and then later in the DCC.
It was!!
I just got back and I’d like to say for future readers, it’s definitely worth the trip.
One of the more interesting parts was the mathematics panel which was for me the highlight of the trip. Extremely informative and my son was so persuaded that he felt like changing majors from CompEng to Math. So I had to persuade him back and we agreed to try it as a minor and then give a better decision after 1st semester to let some time pass to let it brew in the mind.
All the talks sessions were real good and we got a better idea of how the campus is laid out since we did a lot of walking. The complimentary food was real good too. We ended our time there by going to the bookstore and picking up a shirt and hoodie, and a bumper sticker.
We were also there and it was very well put together! We had not been out to RPI prior to this trip. My son’s favorite part was the research panel that afternoon. I did feel like we could not get everything done we wanted to do. Our own fault for not making a trip out prior to this experience. Are all of your children choosing RPI? My son said he is going to decide by Sunday. It is making me crazy. HA
We weren’t able to attend the official day on Saturday, but I’m taking D up to visit RPI on Wednesday. Thanks for the report (and lunch spot recs! Whistling Kettle looks right up our alley! )
@notdrone what is your son’s intended major? And may I ask what part of the country you are from? My son is looking to dual major in Physics and Math. Really feel like academically RPI is the place for him, but he has yet to pull the trigger.
@phxcactus We are from Oregon and his intended major is Computer engineering, but is also considering dual major in aeronautical engineering. He really liked the school after his visit and was pretty sure that he wanted to attend RPI.
once your child is establushed there you’ll find there are much better places to eat in Troy (although won’t disagree with whistling kettle but won’t step foot in alibaba after seeing their report from the health department
I am surprised by the positive responses here. RPI fell down my son’s list after the visit due to concerns with the surrounding area and dorms that appear to have been last updated ~ 25 years ago. Additionally, during lunch with faculty, two of the students at his table were literally incapable of responding to a professor’s questions. One mentioned she was too tired to respond; the other muttered something then got up and left the table
In my opinion the surrounding area is comparable and in some cases better than the other colleges we visited. Downtown Troy is a pretty great little city. The dorms comparable as well
As a parent of a graduating senior with a great job in hand I can only sing praises for rpi
@NJFather I’d like to hear what your concerns are of the surrounding area and also what dorms you visited. I don’t see how you can do much better than some of the dorms offered at RPI (Barton, Quad, E-Complex, North), but I’d agree that some of the dormitories are a bit outdated. Many are brand new though (those mentioned above were renovated last summer).
Also, a fun article for those of you that didn’t know… Troy is safer than being in New York City or Albany.
@joedoe I am not 100% certain, but I believe it was Nugent ( on the right coming from the bridge). The first floor room we visited had 1 bath for the 2 person room. We were told this was unusual, that most had 1 bath shared by 2 rooms.
Full disclosure: my son has lived his entire life in an affluent suburban community a few miles from Manhattan.Due partially to a resulting bubble effect, he was less than thrilled with the run-down houses lining the streets leading to the campus.
Interesting how perspectives differ, haha. We were just up at RPI on Wednesday (very nice visit, we got super lucky with the weather!) and afterwards had lunch at the Whistling Kettle. I thought the whole area around the riverfront looked very cool (I’m sure some locals groan over the “gentrification”) with lots of funky art spaces and interesting places to eat.
That does sound like it was Nugent that you visited. The run-down houses leading to the campus is known as off-campus Upper Classmen Housing :)) . Nugent is one of the nicer freshmen dorms and one of the few with suite style bedrooms where a room has an attached bathroom. Standard dorms have communal bathrooms where the entire floor shares several sinks, showers and toilets. Barton is the newest dorm building (opened in 2000?) and half of the rooms there are suite-style triples (open room rather than divided in the middle as in Nugent) with an attached bathroom that is also shared by an adjacent dorm room. FYI - the dorm selection process is first come first serve by deposit date and most students choose Barton. If your son didn’t like Nugent he would definitely not like most of the other dorms available for freshmen.
We toured many schools in the Northeast and “outdated” is a pretty common description for all the dorms we saw. “Outdated” is also putting it very kindly. Some schools showed us newer and nicer upperclassman dorms but we would always double check in order to avoid a “bait and switch” experience. I give credit to RPI for being honest by showing only freshmen dorms during campus tours.
Just curious where else your son is considering and are the dorms there much better?
My son was also not very impressed by RPI’s dorms during the Accepted Students Day tours. We were at WPI a month before and their freshmen dorms were also not great. He mentiond to me that Alabama’s honors dorms were so much nicer (4 BR suites with shared bathroom for 2 students), so maybe he’s thinking Bama is the place to be.
@NoVADad99 RPI being the oldest technological research university (established in 1824) in the English-speaking world certainly puts it at a huge disadvantage when it comes to the age of its facilities. But then again, most NE schools with a long tradition are in the same boat. Some of the other schools we toured in the NE did offered better dorms for the honors students. In a way, I think one of the incentives to apply ED to RPI was the prospect of getting into Barton. Which dorm(s) did you tour?
Are all of your children choosing RPI? My son said he is going to decide by Sunday. It is making me crazy. HA
)
:)) . Nugent is one of the nicer freshmen dorms and one of the few with suite style bedrooms where a room has an attached bathroom. Standard dorms have communal bathrooms where the entire floor shares several sinks, showers and toilets. Barton is the newest dorm building (opened in 2000?) and half of the rooms there are suite-style triples (open room rather than divided in the middle as in Nugent) with an attached bathroom that is also shared by an adjacent dorm room. FYI - the dorm selection process is first come first serve by deposit date and most students choose Barton. If your son didn’t like Nugent he would definitely not like most of the other dorms available for freshmen.