@bogeyorpar Can you give more details. It will help us in our decision as well.
Of note with respect to RHIT, its students enter with math SAT scores similar to those typical at the nation’s most selective colleges. I’m not suggesting your daughter base her decision on a single factor, but this statistic does serve as a distinguishing aspect when considered in the context of her other choices:
Math SAT Middle Ranges
RHIT: 650-760
MSE: 603-710
Cal Poly SLO: 600-700
My daughter’s sat subject scores in sat2 math, physics and chemistry are 800
ACT is 33
Not sure if subject scores matter.
She does not have any ECs (with the pattern of education over in India plus we did not want to make up the application and create some ECs )
@merc81, thank you for the information. All information is very useful.
Cal Poly SLO is not as STEM focused as RHIT, so using overall standardized test scores is misleading. The average Cal Poly SLO engineering student is stronger than the average Rose Hulman student.
Cal Poly engineering SAT 1481, 32 ACT https://admissions.calpoly.edu/prospective/profile.html
RHIT SAT scores 700 math, 650 EBRW, 30 ACT, https://www.rose-hulman.edu/academics/academic-affairs/irpa/reports/cds_2017-18.pdf
D16 looked at Rose Hulman and didn’t apply based on its location and male female ratio (3:1). Cal Poly SLO’s male:female ratio is 52:48.
However, the data in reply #23 compares across years and uses “preliminary” data for Cal Poly.
Sources for Reply #21
https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=Rose+Hulman&s=all&id=152318#admsns
https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=Milwaukee&s=all&id=239318#admsns
https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=Cal+poly&s=all&id=110422#admsns
Computer engineering rankings may also be worth considering (all excellent):
- Cal Poly
- RHIT
- MSE
https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rankings/engineering-computer
I’m a parent of a S22, so I have a ways to go before facing this decision. This discussion has been helpful to me, because I’ve recently learned about Rose-Hulman. I live in California and know about Cal Poly. One item that will be important down the road for S22 is the typical class size. We’re interested in smaller class sizes. On that score, RHIT does fit better (I think) than Cal Poly.
Looking at the common data sets for both, I estimate that RHIT’s average class size is 19, Cal Poly’s is 35. 97% of RHIT’s classes are less than 30 students. 47% of Cal Poly’s classes are less than 30 students.
This doesn’t mean we wouldn’t look at Cal Poly for fit. I mean, what a great school and we’d be in-state! But from the data, initial view is RHIT is better for smaller class sizes.
RHIT data: https://www.rose-hulman.edu/academics/academic-affairs/irpa/reports/cds_2017-18.pdf#page=25
I got accepted to Cal Poly SLO along with 6 other schools for graduate school in the early 1990’s. When I discussed where I should attend with my undergraduate professors, they would always stop me from listing out the schools after I said “Cal Poly” and they would say: “Cal Poly!? You got into Cal Poly? Go there!”
Anyhow, best decision I ever made. I got a job with a large Silicon Valley employer, who favored grads from MIT, Cal Tech, Stanford, UCLA, Berkeley, and Cal Poly.
So yeah, Cal Poly in a heartbeat!
If your daughter finds MSE appealing, then it should be noted that by early career earnings its graduates perform quite well. In this group, graduates’ salaries place in the order of RHIT, MSE, Cal Poly:
https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/rosehulman-institute-of-technology-1830
https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/msoe-3868
https://www.usnews.com/best-colleges/california-polytechnic-state-university-san-luis-obispo-1143
Not sure if you are still choosing but my son has the East coast version of your choices. My son was accepted to Rose, MSOE and Umass Amherst (instate) for computer engineering. We just visited Rose and MSOE for overnights. He prefers MSOE over Rose based on location in Milwaukee which is actually a fun medium to large city. Terre Haute is not the best area, although the school is nice. Between the location and merit aid that made MSOE 23k per year less than Rose, he is favoring MSOE. But you should visit both, especially Rose, if still thinking about it. Going back to Umass Amherst next week, so should have a decision soon when he decides big vs small.
Rose Hulman have a lot of kids that would get accepted to Michigan, Northwestern but would rather go there. Saying that to me it’s like a big high school. Also it’s a very male dominant school. You have to drive to go into town and once you get there, there’s not much there.
It more like the engineering department of a small university. Known to produce good engineering students. Students from California do go there.
Msoe - My son did a 5 day summer engineering program there. Nice program, nice city (not large), with things to do in walking area. It is known in the Midwest. Small school.
Also Cal Poly has a stronger reputation and in recent years not the easiest school to get into especially OOS. Mountains and weather. You already live in California so adding on travel if she goes far away. Both my kids are within 4.5 hours away. All things be equal… My wife just drove 1.5 hours to spend the afternoon with my daughter at her college and now she is driving back. It is a nicety.
UMass Amherst cs is off the charts. It’s one of the top three in the world right now for artificial intelligence. Which is the future of computing. Also the influence of grad and advanced degree research. I hope you don’t give it the home town discount. It’s not good. It’s not really good. It’s great.
@Gregmacd "When I discussed where I should attend with my undergraduate professors, they would always stop me from listing out the schools after I said “Cal Poly” "
Because they thought you meant Caltech.
My uncle always thought that I went to Cal Tech, but he was not working in the academic world. My professors knew the difference between Cal Poly and Cal Tech, and commented on Cal Poly’s human powered aircraft attempts at the time I was applying http://articles.latimes.com/1989-12-07/news/ve-378_1_cal-poly
Also, if my professors thought I said I got into CalTech, they would have just laughed!