Another "help me pick" posting... RIT vs RPI vs UMass.

College Search & Selection
1

I have been accepted to RPI (computer and systems engineering), RIT (microelectronics engineering), and Umass Amherst (EE).

In my research, RPI is the best school, but they didn’t give me nearly as much money as the other two, we are talking twice as much out of pocket as RIT and even more than twice as much as Umass. I could go, I would just graduate with an unmanageable amount of debt. I have emailed them about this but I have not received a response, it has been a week now. All things being equal I think RPI would be my first choice, but it doesn’t seem to be a choice to me.

I love the idea of RIT’s MicroE program. It is very small and has access to a clean-room which impressed me a lot during my visit. What I don’t like is Rochester. The area and campus seem depressing and hours from anywhere even compared to Troy or Amherst.

Umass seems to be the best fit socially. I don’t like the idea of being somewhere that’s considered a “party school” but I think that’s more than made up for by the place not being 70-30 boys and girls, all of them being engineers. Umass is also the cheapest, about 80 percent of RITs price and 40 percent of RPIs.

If I chose Umass as the cheapest, could I transfer out after one or two years if somewhere better became more affordable, or would I end up stuck because my credits don’t transfer, or transfer admissions are more competitive? I expect I would be able to get into the Honors College at UMass if I end up staying there, but I don’t think that would be equal to the education at RPI, or would provide me the same opportunities as the specific program I was admitted to at RIT.

In the end, I would be happiest during my time at school at UMass and I would graduate with the least debt, however my opportunities would be much better coming out of RIT or RPI.
Any advice on what others have done in similar situations, or you would do, any information about whether or not engineering schools would take my credits from UMass or RIT if I transferred, and thoughts on whether or not I would be favorably considered as an applicant assuming I had a high GPA would be incredibly helpful and appreciated.

-Thank you

2

Did you explore anything outside of the campus area while at RIT?

The Park Avenue area is pretty neat and definitely a younger demographic. It isn’t immediately next to campus but not horribly far either.

As far as transfers go, no one can really say anything regarding your chances until you see how you do. Where would you transfer to and why? All schools will evaluate credits their own way but for engineering I’d expect most to transfer.

That said, the best $$ is offered to first year students. I would not expect large offers if accepted as a transfer, however you would save some for two years so there is that.

I would agree that RPI does not seem to be an option

3

RPI should be out for sure. Don’t take on what you know is unmanageable debt.

Can you go with RIT with no debt (or with only federal student loans, no extra)? What kind of things off campus are you looking for that you think is hours away from RIT? If you don’t think you would like UMass enough to want to stay 4 years and can afford RIT and are already excited about the facilities, then my opinion would be to go with RIT.

4

Congratulations on your hard work and success!

RIT, especially, and RPI were on one of mine’s final list, so we looked at them very closely, and visited, one more than once. I’m separately a little familiar with U Mass Amherst, and know lots of other MA schools.

You are best situated to know your financial situation and how you feel about the schools. I can suggest a few things to think about in making your decision,

–Being at a university/college that’s a good fit can help make a student more successful. If you love a place, feel comfortable, and are with people–students, faculty, and staff–who make you your best person, and help you strive to do well, then you probably will do better.

–You mention gender ratios. How important is that to you?

–Again, not expert, but I believe U Mass is really attracting strong students these days and is developing at least somewhat away from its party school reputation. Not to say partying doesn’t happen, but seems like lots of very serious students there. I imagine you would have a strong, hard-working group of peers in EE. Also, I had always heard that the campus was pretty ugly. I was there recently and thought the new construction was turning it into a much nicer place, though there are a couple of big, ugly old concrete buildings.

–U Mass is part of the Five College Consortium, so you might have opportunities at the other schools, though that probably means less for an engineering student.

–I’d strongly advise not going to a school from which you plan to transfer. And certainly, whichever school you choose, go into with a commitment to that school. You don’t want to lame duck yourself. A negative, I"m only here until I can go someplace attitude will only get in your way. Embrace it. There are tons of amazing, tip-top students, faculty, and staff at all these schools. Go learn from them, and with them, and contribute to their learning. Then, over long breaks, if it’s still a possibility, give some thought to transferring. But wholly embrace the school while you are there. I promise that positive attitude will be helpful.

–Yes, transfer prospects will depend on your grades and other success. I’m not at all an expert on engineering, but I"m guessing that transferring credits might be a little trickier than in some liberal arts majors, emphasis on guessing.

–I probably seem to be slanting things toward U Mass. I don’t mean to do that. I think a lot of RIT and RPI. I think I’m just trying to address some of the concerns you express.

Great choices, good luck!

5

Thanks for the answers, I really appreciate the help. I’m leaning for RIT, and while I think I will be successful academically there, I don’t know if I’ll be as happy socially as I would be at UM’s more diverse campus. I really can’t say how much that matters because I don’t know how much my options coming out of college will change based on this decision. In terms of transferring, I expect my first best option would be to transfer to RPI after two years of paying less than half of what they are asking for, in order to optimise my education vs $$$ ratio. It feels really awful to be weighing my four years of happiness against what I think my options will be after college. I think I just need to remember that I’ll get out what I put in, no matter where I go.

6

If you can bring a car to RIT, the Finger Lakes are amazing for hiking, skiing, sailing and camping.

RIT is a more practical school with a co op plan. Do you want to co op? It will stretch out your degree to five years.
U Mass is ranked higher than RIT for most subjects and less job focused and more of a well ranked theoretical EE degree.

Clean rooms are great , did you see U Mass’s clean room? They have one.

Microelectronics is a field where you may want a masters degree or even a PhD, if you plan to work in semiconductor manufacturing for say Global Foundries in Vermont, or any cleanroom out west, where many are still located in Idaho, Texas and Arizona. Look at San Antonio Texas, for jobs.

One issue with microelectronics is you have to go where the job is, most jobs are in a few states, but Vermont
still has all the IBM cleanrooms, now run by Global Foundries, and owned by the UAE, if the east coast is your goal.

There are many less clean rooms than there used to be, because Taiwan built about 100 clean rooms and
most chip designers manufacture with TSMC. Look up TSMC. You could work there, but a PhD is required.

Microelectronics involves learning processing, so chemistry and materials science skills as well as electrical engineering. Its a lot of equipment engineering to make patterns, called photolithography, and vacuum systems
that deposit or etch thin films. Its fascinating work, but you will need to move where the job is located.

Waters are now 12 inches across, and everything is automated in clean rooms. A lot of what engineers do,
is take statistical data about the processes, and try to keep them in tight control, and debug problems with the process. Yield engineering is another area, where more math is needed, and more education, to understand the entire process to build transistors.

its a great profession, with a high paycheck, but many cleanrooms run on 12 hour shifts and engineers
carry cell phones and cover the night shift periodically. Its demanding and fun.

7

U Mass has the best professors to learn microelectronics, of your three schools. see these two cleanrooms
at U Mass.
https://www.umass.edu/ials/device-fabrication
https://www.umass.edu/ials/nanofabrication

U Mass has a lot more research in the area you seem interested in, and more advanced graduate students in polymer science as well. Polymers are used to make photoresists, which are light sensitive materials that are spread on the 12 inch wafers and then a mask is used in a stepper to expose a pattern, with the polymer.

U Mass has the best experts in polymer sciences, if that interests you. They have quite a few cleanrooms.

If you can get back to U Mass, go tour all the clean rooms and ask about undergrads working there. I am
sure they can work there.

Your best academic school is U Mass. for microelectronics classes and research

RIT is more of a school for optics, photography, and computer science, and a school for the deaf. Its
getting more well known, but its more of an undergraduate focused school, so not as much advanced microelectronics research as U Mass can offer you.

8

UMass has a lot more going for it than you seem to know. There are parties, of course, but the Zoo reputation is 30-40 years in the the past. The academic resources for your field are very strong, and if you felt best there, then it’s the right school for you! Good luck.

9

Just to give you sense. UMA #20

CS rankings.org

Institution Count    Faculty

1 ► Carnegie Mellon University closed piechart 16.7 149
2 ► Massachusetts Institute of Technology closed piechart 11.7 84
3 ► Stanford University closed piechart 10.8 64
4 ► University of California - Berkeley closed piechart 10.7 83
5 ► Univ. of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign closed piechart 9.6 88
6 ► Cornell University closed piechart 8.8 75
7 ► University of Michigan closed piechart 8.6 74
8 ► University of Washington closed piechart 8.2 60
9 ► Georgia Institute of Technology closed piechart 8.1 91
10 ► University of California - San Diego closed piechart 7.0 58
10 ► University of Maryland - College Park closed piechart 7.0 65
12 ► Columbia University closed piechart 6.1 48
12 ► University of Wisconsin - Madison closed piechart 6.1 49
14 ► University of Pennsylvania closed piechart 5.6 51
15 ► Northeastern University closed piechart 5.3 59
15 ► University of Texas at Austin closed piechart 5.3 44
17 ► Princeton University closed piechart 5.2 49
17 ► University of California - Los Angeles closed piechart 5.2 38
19 ► University of Southern California closed piechart 4.9 42
20 ► Purdue University closed piechart 4.7 54
20 ► University of Massachusetts Amherst closed piechart 4.7 47