<p>On another post, someone asked why RIT has lower retention than many schools in its category as noted by US News and World Report. It has lower retention when compared to all ivys and when compared to many other technical schools such as CMU and Cal Tech etc. Here is my response to that poster:</p>
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<p>We investigated this issue for my daughter. There are a number of reasons, in my opinion, for the lower graduation rate, much of which has little to do with school quality:</p>
<li>RIT overall isn’t that hard to get into. They accept about 65%-70% of their applicants although this does vary from school to school within the university. However, it is uniformly a very tough school to do well in. I think that many kids go there without an understanding of how difficult a technical school can be. You mentioned that the graduation rate of schools such as Cal Tech, MIT, ivy schools etc. have a much higher graduation rate. However , they also have very tough admission standards. Generally, retention has a direct corellation with the toughness of the admission standards. The higher the admission standards, the greater the retention. This certainly isn’t RIT’s fault, and I personally applaud them for maintaining high standards for their students. </li>
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<p>I should note that being on a quarter system adds to the toughness in some ways. If you get sick for a while, you will miss more than with a semester system. Both mid terms and finals come at the students with greater frequency than with a semester oriented school. As for my personal opinion based on interviewing both students and faculty members, I personally believe that RIT offers a stellar academic environment. Most kids don’t seem to leave RIT because of academic reasons.</p>
<li>There is comparatively little to do on campus. Unlike other schools such as Penn State, Ohio State, Northwestern and other big name schools, RIT doesn’t have a lot of school spirit. For example, sports, which really does build school spirit ( such as with University of Miami and Syracuse), isn’t that strong RIT. RIT’s strongest sport is hocky, which isn’t that popular in the US. Frankly with the weather being so cold, who wants to play tennis, football, baseball etc. Kids tend to stay indoors, and I think develop cabin fever.</li>
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<p>This is compounded by the fact that RIT really isn’t right near anything. Yes, Rochester has a lot to do in the City, but you really need a car to get anywhere. Even with a car. Rochester still isn’t as neat a city for a college student as other cities such as Boston, NY, Miami, Wash DC etc.</p>
<p>Also, unlike other technical schools such as CMU, RIT doesn’t have a drama program or musical theater. This reduces the activities available on campus and reduces the number of girls that apply to RIT, which will be discussed below.</p>
<p>I should note that RIT is building a “student city” where there will be restaurants and shops. However, this will take a long time to build and to finish. I also don’t know about the type of facilites or stores that will be in the city. For example, I wonder whether there will be a bowling alley in the city?</p>
<p>I should also note that RIT is trying to increase activities on campus by supporting lots of clubs. There are over 100 clubs right now available to students. However, my feeling is that this just isn’t enough to overcome the other problems.</p>
<p>Finally, the US News ranking system builds in alumni contribution as a factor in the admission process. Generally schools with strong sports programs have high alumni contribution percentages. Frankly, I feel that this is a rediculous factor in ranking a school.</p>
<li><p>It’s REALLY cold in Rochester: Rochester is very, very cold most of the year. In addition, they get a lot of snow , and it can be quite overcast and dreary most of the year. Thus, kids tend to stay indoors a lot. I guess many kids get cabin fever. The weather can also be depressing if kids are cooped up for too long a period of time.</p></li>
<li><p>RIT has a mediocre male/female ratio. The ratio of guys to girls was about 70-30. RIT is trying to remedy this,but, most of the girls are found in the school of imaging science and art. Thus, their might be one girl for ten guys in the science and engineering courses. This is a REAL problem for them that they need to remedy.</p></li>
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<p>Also, many girls tend to study humanities related stuff such as history, English, etc. These areas on not strong at RIT and thus, don’t attract a lot of students who want to major in humanities related majors ( other than for art and design).</p>
<p>Of course, if you are a girl, I would imagine that you would love the male-female ratio.</p>
<li><p>RIT does have a coop program. US News rankings really doesn’t handle schools with coops well. This may require many kids to graduate in 5 years or more. This, thus reduces the potential 4 year graduation rate.</p></li>
<li><p>Kids might take jobs as a result of their coop: Sometimes kids are offered full time jobs through their coop experience. They might then switch to part time status and take 6 or more years to graduate.</p></li>
<li><p>RIT doesn’t seem to have the support system found at some other schools. At some schools such as Syracuse University, Villanova,etc., there is a strong support system of tutors, counseling and other forms of help for students.Although professors are accessible at RIT, I never got the feeling that there was nearly as much hand holding and support for kids as found at other schools. Perhaps because RIT is less expensive than Syracuse and that of other private schools, they don’t have the money for this type of support. Who knows? </p></li>
<li><p>Housing is a real problem: Althoughl RIT guarantees housing for all the years of a student, it doens’t guarantee that you will either like the housing or be near your classes. While they do have some nice appartment type housing, geting them is very difficult. You either must win the lottery or get to know someone who has an appartment. They do have plenty of housing at a nearby hotel and other places that require a bus in order to get to the main campus. Frankly, who wants to have to take a bus to get to class each day? I guess kids can bring their cars and pay for parking as an alternative. Still, it is a far cry from having dorms that are close by and within walking distance of all classes. They have too few dorms that are within walking distance, and these are mostly for freshmen and for some sophomores however.</p></li>
<li><p>RIT is not as diverse at it appears. I believe that great diversity in all ways helps the educational program for students and provides more things to do since differing groups look for and sponsor differing types of activities. RIT has some decent geographic diversity although most kids are from NY.They don’t, however, have a lot of nomal minorites that you would expect to see at most schools. For example, RIT has a very small Jewish presence among students for whatever reason. While I was touring RIT, I also didn’t see a lot of underrepresented minorities. I don’t know how much this affects the quality and quantity of things to do, but I suspect that it does have some affect.</p></li>
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<p>There are probably others who can paint a broader picture than I. These are just based on my opinions while touring the school. I certainly could be in error regarding one or more points. See the thread, “Overview of Our Vist to RIT” found in the RIT forums</p>