<p>If you go to WPI I'd like to ask you some questions. Specifically about class size, frats, and the career office. Thanks.</p>
<p>Shoot them right away...</p>
<p>Thanks. </p>
<p>I heard a kid complaining about three things about WPI. He said his classes were big (over 100), the career office was terrible, and that if you don't join a frat (and drink heavily) you will have NOTHING to do.</p>
<p>What do you think?</p>
<p>Do you know what are be benefits of taking Intro to Analysis (MA1031-MA1034) vs Calculus (MA1021-MA2024) in freshman year? And since there's only one Analysis class vs about 10 Calculus ones, are the class sizes for Intro to Analysis very large? An estimate of the average class size would be very much appreciated.</p>
<p>iamtim:
There are rarely classes with over 100 kids...atleast none of my classes had over 70 people....maybe that kid took all those scarce classes at the same time...the thing is that just like anyother colleges freshman introductory classes have to be big so that everyone can take them and finish the basic requirements (although there are officially no prerequisites at WPI)...Most classes after freshman year are under 40 and many are under 20. You also have conferences which just have 20-25 students even for huge classes.</p>
<p>The career office is pretty good for placing people into tech companies, but please dont expect anything other than that....I for one am interested in banking so I am doing all the stuff on my own...but as long as you want to get recruited in your major it should not be that big a problem....Also We are getting a new director for the Career office and it will be fully transformed once this years class comes in...
I havent joined a frat and I can proudly say that I enjoy a very good social life on campus....If i have to go to parties I have tons of people who invite me on weekends to parties at their frats...so you dont neccesarily have to join one...these social issues are spread around by people who themselves are social and dont take the initiative to do something on campus....if you are outgoing and want to socialise, being in a frat wont matter at all....Another fun fact...I think WPI is the only school which has parties with alchohol and you still have many sober people coming out of the parties ...no peer pressure at all...</p>
<p>huanlai:
Generally speaking the Analysis series is meant for Math majors who will be going on to take Advanced calculus courses and will have a to deal with proofs and solutions all through their career. For all other majors it is advised that they take the Calc series just for the fact that Analysis wont teach them anything more than the calc series will...The Cal I-IV sequence is pretty comprehensive in itself and if you have a general level of intelligence I think you can handle any part of analysis if you are performing well on the calc sequence... The size of the analysis class depends year to year, as I said although its one class its mainly meant for math majors (and even some of them just take the calc sequence) so the class usually has only about 50 or fewer students in the lectures which isn't bad at all for a freshman class.</p>
<p>Wow, thanks for your comprehensive response vampiro. I was considering taking analysis with my friend, who is going to be a math major, because it seemed to offer beneficial information. But from reading your response, I'll have to start comparing the two series again. (I'm going to be a CS major, by the way.) Beyond that, I'm still trying to decide, if I do end up taking the Calculus series, which one to start off at, since I am taking AP Calculus AB right now, and I'm doing quite well.</p>
<p>^^ CS major, cool...Now I can offer you even better and custom advice...You should definitely take Calculus series. If you end up with a 4 or 5 on the AP you automatically get credit for Calculus I and II so you will start with Calc III. But if you get below that then you wont get credit, however you can still take Calc III and if you pass both Calc III and Calc IV in the first two terms (Only), then you get automatic credit for Calc I and II...But I would suggest starting in calc I or II if you get below a 4 on AB, otherwise just take the credit and do Calc III first term. One advice about CS though, unless you are quite good in coding dont take the Acc. Intro to prog design, you are better off taking CS 1101 the regular course because the acc course is too acclerated and your foundations are made better by taking the regular one...you can always learn the advanced functions of scheme (the language used) when you go to upper level courses...(which are like all 4000 level :) )..hope that helped</p>
<p>oh and btw have you already been accepted...or waiting on regular decision...just curious.</p>
<p>Hi, I've already been accepted, thanks :).</p>
<p>From what I've heard, with Calculus III being the hardest one, I'd probably start off at Calculus I even if i get a 4 or 5. Being ahead by 2/3 unit isn't really significant enough to graduate a year early anyways, so it doesn't really matter to me; besides, even if it does end up relatively easy, it'll just be for half a year and would be a nice start on my GPA.</p>
<p>As for the accelerated intro to program design class, I'll probably be taking that. My school doesn't offer AP CS AB, but I took AP CS A and got a 5, not to mention I have quite a significant amount of independent programming experience.</p>
<p>One more addition to that, do you know about any of the History Courses, specifically HI1332, HI2331, HI1333, and HI2332 (like average class size, if it's boring/interesting, how are the professors, is it difficult, etc)? I am also wondering, do I have to take a 5th history course, since I got a 4 on AP US History already and those fields are related. </p>
<p>Do you know about the Intro to System Dynamics and System Dynamics classes (once again like average class size, if it's boring/interesting, how are the professors, is it difficult, etc). Those are probably the classes that I want to do the most for the Social Science requirement and will be the backup classes for A and B terms, in case I don't get into the History classes, otherwise I'll probably take it in sophomore year if I'm still interested by that time.</p>
<p>Once again, thanks for your advice! :)</p>
<p>"As for the accelerated intro to program design class, I'll probably be taking that. My school doesn't offer AP CS AB, but I took AP CS A and got a 5, not to mention I have quite a significant amount of independent programming experience."
Cool..then definitely take Accelerated..Just an advice though...do coding in scheme over the summer....just get a book and learn the language on your own...that will improve your productivity and improve chances of an A...</p>
<p>I'll try to get answers from my friend who took the System Dynamics class and get back to you...</p>
<p>I have no clue about the history classes but i'll try to find someone who does...</p>
<p>Thank you very much vampiro, you're of great help for this pre-frosh :-P!
I will be attending WPI for sure next year, by the way, in case you were wondering :)</p>
<p>^^ good to know....come find me sometime when you are here....I'll "guide" you as a noob on campus :) ...</p>
<p>By the way, are you a CS major as well, or are you just familiar with the CS program in some way?</p>
<p>I am a CS Major.</p>
<p>For 2006/2007
Subject Quarter = # students
Analysis I A = 24
Analysis II B = 18
Analysis III C = 17
Analysis IV D = 14</p>
<p>Generally history 2000 level have 20 kids if its not that interesting to the max of 50 if its like that seems like a great class.
The 3000 level have a max around 20 although up to 50 can be in it.
I have not taken any history classes.</p>
<p>Thanks everybody. Right now I'm sort of choosing between RPI and WPI. They are about the same price now. What does everybody think?</p>
<p>You are on the WPI forum, so I would assume any answer you would get will be at least a little biased. My best advice would be to visit both schools and see which one you like better; while academics are important, don't forget that you will be living there for 4 years. </p>
<p>Outside of that, in my opinion, it all depends on your preferences. RPI is much more of a conventional education, semesters vs 4 7-week terms. WPI puts large emphasis upon its 3 projects. RPI is a larger school, ~5000 vs ~3000, with slightly larger class sizes, 14:1 vs 13:1 student:faculty. While neither are set in great college towns, I personally prefer Worcester over Troy. RPI is slightly more prestigious and higher ranked than WPI. I believe WPI generally has closer relations between teachers and students. RPI is generally more cut-throat competitive than WPI.</p>
<p>iamtim: I am the parent of a current RPI freshman and my daughter is in the same position as you, currently looking at both RPI and WPI so I would also be interested in hearing how the two schools compare. </p>
<p>I was a bit surprised at huanlai's comment that RPI is more cut-throat competitive, because I had neither heard that from my son nor seen that when we have visited campus. Also, we have not had the opportunity to visit WPI yet hopefully the weather will hold out so we can visit during February vacation. However, we visited Holy Cross so have some familiarity with Worcester. Troy and Worcester seem very similar. But, being in Troy really isn't that much of a deal. Everything is on campus and if you need to get off campus, RPI students can ride the city buses for free. The bus goes to the area mall, Walmart, Price Chopper, other local colleges. The Student union has Starbucks , Ben and Jerries ice cream, a barber shop, a small store, a subway-type store, and a smoothie place. The bookstore has just about anything you need and didn't seem to be too pricey. They have a very nice fitness center and there are so many clubs to participate in. Sports are huge - especially hockey. We were there in the fall when a football game was on and it seemed the whole campus was there. </p>
<p>My son's biggest complaints thus far are that freshman classes are very large (about 100 students) and he has been less than thrilled with most of his professors. He feels they are more interested in their research than in teaching. However, there seems to be a lot of mechanisms in place to help students succeed. Some of his professors would let students take tests more than once to improve their grade. Some exempt students from finals if they had an A average in the class. Other professors assigned a paper rather than have a final. So finals didn't seem to be too stressful. All dorms have a Learning Assistant who will arrange for tutoring and study groups.</p>
<p>His dorm is very nice - everything is new, quiet, clean. Housing is not guaranteed after freshman year so many kids move off campus after freshmen year - apartments in Troy are very reasonably priced. His dorm had triples this year because the freshman class was large. The room was a bit tight, but livable. The food is good, although some students compain that the menu gets repetitive. Students seem to work well together - everytime we have visited you will find groups of students working together in the student union. The campus is wireless, although the connection seems to break up at times. Students are strongly encouraged to get the recommended laptop and they have a department dedicated to help out with problems.</p>
<p>As a parent, I was very impressed with Open Houses and Orientation Programs. They have an Office of the First Year Experience which sponsors many programs for freshmen. They really seem to go out of their way to help kids adjust to college.</p>
<p>There are job fairs on campus and they strongly encourage freshmen to attend them to see what is available, get practice at interviewing. There are also a lot of internship, research and other opportunities. We spoke with a sophomore who was doing some high level biology research, a senior who was doing chemistry research. The lab facilities were phenomenal. There is a brand new biotechnology building and they are building a state-of-the art EMPAC building. </p>
<p>Hopefully a current WPI student can give a comparable summary for those students who are considering both schools. Thanks</p>
<p>I'm sorry if i made an invalid assumption upon the competitiveness. I just meant that RPI is more of a conventional school, whereas WPI tries to cut back on the competition with things like the No Credit instead of failing, and also no GPA or class rank of transcripts.
The main reasons I picked WPI and not RPI are the location (I live in Boston and I want to be relatively close to home) and because from my observations, WPI seems a bit more undergrad-education focused whereas RPI seems a bit more research focused.</p>
<p>"WPI seems a bit more undergrad-education focused whereas RPI seems a bit more research focused."
Bang on target</p>