@NoVADad99 I’ll have to echo that Bama has very nice dorms. A friend of mine went there and her dorm was absolutely gorgeous. At least, in my opinion, though dorms are only a small part of what you get out of college. I tend to view things in terms of return on investment and job placement rates more than undergraduate housing. You have every right to consider housing in making a decision, but, at least, in my opinion that’s something that should be placed aside and academics should be considered first. But, yeah, wouldn’t recommend living on freshman hill if possible unless it’s Barton, Cary, or Davidson which I’ve taken a weird liking to. It’s not the end of the world of it happens though, since it’s literally just a room. All you do in your dorm in college is pretty much sleep. Hanging out and studying and going out are usually not done in dorms.
We were shown Cary Hall. We have to balance the overall cost of the school, balance that with the academics and extracurricular and social activities, and the facilities. We’ll know in a couple of weeks 
@psfk2417 He is comparing the dorms to Emory, Cornell, Rutgers Honors, Ga Tech & Kelley. (I believe both Rutgers and Cornell are older institutions than RPI). Given that RPI require 2 yrs on campus (w/ exceptions), I think it is fair for him to factor this into his decision. Taken together with the most rudimentary website, by even community college standards, he is mostly concerned with the level of service he will receive once his tuition check clears. While other institutions have capitalized on near- zero borrowing costs to upgrade facilities, the most high profile construction projects undertaken by RPI appear to be for the personal benefit of its president.
@NJFather Your comments are fair and valid. I also agree that a student needs to be comfortable and happy in his new environment in order to be able to perform well academically. Good luck to your son and keep us posted on his decision.
@NJFather Great schools to be admitted to! You should be proud. Would agree that the website is terrible, they’re planning on having the entire thing redone by the fall. And I wouldn’t say that’s true, RPI has built a supercomputing center (the most powerful private university system, and top 20 most powerful in the world), upgraded the particle accelerator, built the largest centrifuge facility in the world, built the new biotechnology building, and built EMPAC - which is actually being used for art and music. More has also been done, but it’s a pain to look through everything. They’ve also completely renovated Quad, E-Complex, and North Hall. The freshman five are all being renovated over the next few years and will have AC installed at no extra cost. It’s pretty difficult, as you said, since RPI is very old. Even 30 years ago, there were structures that have been torn down and replaced simply because they became structurally unstable due to age. RPI actually had a castle as its original academy hall (at the current location of the library) and the old gym was slightly below. There was also an old science building and observatory. They all have been torn down over the past 30-60 years. Warren, the ugly lab on the bottom of the hill, is the world’s oldest chemical laboratory and it’s over 150 years old. Carnegie is also roughly the same age. Sorry for the rant and it really has no relevance, but I always find these things interesting. Many of Harvard’s buildings are well over 200 years old.
Also, RPI (1824) is older than Cornell (1865). The only school on that list that is older is Rutgers, which is one of the oldest colleges in the country. Cornell is ununsual in that it was founded closer to the end of the 19th century, while the other Ivies were founded 300 or more years ago (Yale, Harvard, Darthmouth, Brown).