Choosing Between RPI and WPI

College Search & Selection
1

<p>Hi guys, I've got a bit of a dilemma on my hands.</p>

<p>Heres my situation, I was accepted regular decision at WPI and wait-listed at RPI. WPI's deadline for acceptance was May 1st, since I hadn't yet heard from RPI, I accepted WPI's offer, which included 13k in scholarships, plus 7k or so in loans and work study (out of the 50k tuition).</p>

<p>On may 12th though I got accepted off of the wait list at RPI, and was offered 26k in scholarships, plus and additional 14k in loans and work study. RPI and WPI are about the same cost, so RPI's offering me a significantly better deal.</p>

<p>That being said, cost is relatively low on my list of priorities, compared to the general creativity, enthusiasm and inspiration of the student population, and the quality of education. I should mention though, that I have a younger brother that will be going to college in a few years, and come from a middle class family, so the cost is not inconsequential.</p>

<p>Based on a day or two of lurking around this forum, it seams as if the quality of education, as well as employment opportunities are comparable between the two, though WPI is generally accepted to be less conventional, and more project oriented than RPI, which is a plus for me.</p>

<p>My main qualm with RPI is how one-dimensional their majors appear to be. I prefer to be well rounded in my knowledge of engineering; if I could, I'd major in a combination of electrical, mechanical, and software engineering, yet all RPI's majors appear to extremely narrow in scope, which bothers me.</p>

<p>Currently, my plan is to write to WPI, and ask them to match RPI scholarship, if they do, I'll attend WPI, if not, i'll withdraw, and attend RPI.</p>

<p>What do you guys think?</p>

2

<p>Wolf, I can't really offer too much advice, but I don't think you can go wrong with either. They are both very good schools. I know of a couple of people that looked at WPI and they really liked it a lot. Felt very comfortable there with the kids and the school in general. Best of luck with your decision.</p>

3

<p>Both great schools but would definitely give the edge to WPI only because it is located only just 40 miles from Boston and Providence and is not in the middle of nowhere in upstate NY like RPI.</p>

4

<p>I've always had the impression that RPI is a fair amount more highly regarded school. I would think that focus is so grads are able to go right into engineering positions rather than continued schooling.</p>

5

<p>I can't think of many objective measures that put one much further ahead than another. Quite frankly, WPI is in a better location (not regarding Worchester, but in terms of distance to NYC, Boston, Providence), and seems to have a wider breadth of majors than RPI.</p>

6

<p>Thanks everyone for your input,</p>

<p>
[quote]
I know of a couple of people that looked at WPI and they really liked it a lot. Felt very comfortable there with the kids and the school in general.

[/quote]

I've been hearing that alot, if WPI comes back with something close to RPI's financial aid package, I'll definitely go with WPI.</p>

<p>I just sent WPI an email asking if they could match RPI's offer. Depending on how they respond, this may be an easy decision...</p>

<p>I'll keep you posted</p>

7

<p>I'm a practicing EE in New England. RPI is a significantly better school with a much better reputation. WPI is easier. This one's a no brainer to me.</p>

8

<p>RPI has avg SAT of 1320 and 62% in top 10% of hs class. WPI has avg SAT of 1290 and 53% in top 10% of hs class. That isn't exactly no difference. As you have seen yourself, RPI is for the rejects of MIT, Cornell while WPI is for the rejects of RPI, URochester. Proximity to cities that are an hour or more away seem like a meaningless criteria to me. According to mapquest, Troy is 33 minutes closer to NYC than Worcester, so it depends what you're looking to be closer to anyway. The town itself, campus environment, general fit and job and grad school placement would certainly be more important measures to me.</p>

9

<p>
[quote]
RPI has avg SAT of 1320 and 62% in top 10% of hs class. WPI has avg SAT of 1290 and 53% in top 10% of hs class. That isn't exactly no difference. As you have seen yourself, RPI is for the rejects of MIT, Cornell while WPI is for the rejects of RPI, URochester. Proximity to cities that are an hour or more away seem like a meaningless criteria to me. According to mapquest, Troy is 33 minutes closer to NYC than Worcester, so it depends what you're looking to be closer to anyway. The town itself, campus environment, general fit and job and grad school placement would certainly be more important measures to me.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Based on what I've heard, while RPI is accepted as being the more prestigious of the two, most people seam to think the quality of education and and job opportunities are very similar between them. Would you say thats accurate?</p>

<p>
[quote]
I'm a practicing EE in New England. RPI is a significantly better school with a much better reputation. WPI is easier. This one's a no brainer to me.

[/quote]

I would have just gone with RPI, accept for the fact that, from what I've seen their majors are all neatly divided within each field, and don't seam to encourage a well rounded set of engineering skills, for example, they don't even have a software-electrical major that I know of. If thats not true, RPI definitely would be the better choice. Do you know anything about this?</p>

10

<p>I just went on their web site and looked. </p>

<p>Computer and Systems Engineering</p>

<p>"This field is one of the fastest-growing branches of engineering. Strong course sequences in software, hardware, and systems engineering are available. Students consider the digital computer as a system in itself, as a tool for modeling and design, and as an online element within a real-time system. There is the flexibility to study in depth automatic control, communications, or information processing, in addition to computer software, systems, and hardware."</p>

<p>I'm not sure what you mean by a software-electrical, but that's what this sounds like to me.</p>

11

<p>I may be mistaken, but I think that generally, computer engineering refers to the design of computing hardware (such as microcontrollers and the like), while a software-electrical combination would focus on the implementation of electrical hardware that includes computer elements (consumer electronics, for instance). By software-electrical, I mean a major that includes some general software engineering, and some general electrical engineering, rather than only the intersections of the two.</p>

12

<p>I'm going to WPI Fall 2008 (unless, of course, my waitlist fortune turns up), so I might be able to offer some insight. I didn't apply to RPI so naturally by knowledge is somewhat limited. </p>

<p>-RPI is more well known. This doesn't necessarily means its better, but you should consider it. I only know one or two people who've heard of WPI, conversely lots of people know about RPI. I'm from Maryland btw. If you're going to WPI and want to work across the country (i.e., Californa, you might want to go to graduate school). </p>

<p>-RPI is bigger than WPI. </p>

<p>-WPI has a few unconventional policies - like the sophomore, Junior, and Senior projects. I really liked the idea but I'd imagine some wouldn't. </p>

<p>-At WPI, the grading scale goes A, B, C, No Record. Basically, though, if you get 2 no records or more than you lose a chunk of your financial aid forever and might be forced to drop out. Since most classes are just a midterm and a final, it's really a necessity. </p>

<p>That said, I'd pick RPI if I was in your shoes. The annual difference of 7k is probably much larger than any quality difference between the schools, and in general I think going to a bigger school will be a safer choice. However, if you really like the project system or the culture at WPI than I think it would be okay to go there. </p>

<p>
[quote]
RPI has avg SAT of 1320 and 62% in top 10% of hs class. WPI has avg SAT of 1290 and 53% in top 10% of hs class. That isn't exactly no difference.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>That's not exactly a big difference either. We're talking 15 points on each section of the SAT. It's not "no difference", but it's not big. The class rank difference, however, is actually quite significant. </p>

<p>
[quote]
As you have seen yourself, RPI is for the rejects of MIT, Cornell while WPI is for the rejects of RPI, URochester.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>You're exaggerating the differences. Most people who get into WPI would get into RPI, and the average SATs are relatively close to each other. </p>

<p>I believe that RPI is a slightly stronger school than WPI, but you're almost trying to claim that there's no overlap. If we just use Math SATs as criteria, the bottom 25% of RPI is 650-, and the top 25% of WPI is 710+. Obviously, a top student at WPI (or moreover, probably an average student) would get into RPI easily. </p>

<p>
[quote]
Proximity to cities that are an hour or more away seem like a meaningless criteria to me. According to mapquest, Troy is 33 minutes closer to NYC than Worcester, so it depends what you're looking to be closer to anyway. The town itself, campus environment, general fit and job and grad school placement would certainly be more important measures to me.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Location isn't meaningless. Most people in Massachusetts will have heard of WPI, whilst most people in California will have no clue what WPI is. That said I agree that it should be a relatively small criteria.</p>

13

<p>48% at RPI have over a 700 on Math SAT vs 39% at WPI, the same 9% spread, so I would view those two differences similarly significant; especially over a class of 1,100 people.</p>

<p>That isn't what I meant by 'location is meaningless'. It was more in reference to the relevance of how far away the campuses are from major cities that most students would rarely be looking to go to while in school anyway.</p>

14

<p>
[quote]
I may be mistaken, but I think that generally, computer engineering refers to the design of computing hardware (such as microcontrollers and the like), while a software-electrical combination would focus on the implementation of electrical hardware that includes computer elements (consumer electronics, for instance). By software-electrical, I mean a major that includes some general software engineering, and some general electrical engineering, rather than only the intersections of the two.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>I think you are mistaken. Computer Science, Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering are all broad and widely overlapping fields. I wouldn't view Computer Engineering as the intersection, but closer to the union with a lot of electives. </p>

<p>You can see for yourself (scroll to page 2)</p>

<p><a href="http://www.ecse.rpi.edu/Templates/11_Templates_Fall07.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.ecse.rpi.edu/Templates/11_Templates_Fall07.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>There are also dual major options if you scroll down a little further.</p>

15

<p>Do you really think the claim "WPI is for RPI rejects" is justified by the 20 point Math SAT difference, or the 10% gap? The gap between Yale and MIT in summed 75th percentiles is larger than 20. Yet few people would say MIT is for Yale rejects...</p>

16

<p>I just got an email from WPI saying they can't up my financial aid package, so it looks like I'll be at RPI this Fall. I was leaning towards WPI, but both seam to be very good schools, so i'm not too disappointed.</p>

<p>
[quote]
I think you are mistaken. Computer Science, Electrical Engineering and Computer Engineering are all broad and widely overlapping fields. I wouldn't view Computer Engineering as the intersection, but closer to the union with a lot of electives.

[/quote]

Judging by the PDF you linked, that appears to be the case, I'd assumed that a double major would require prohibitive amounts of work, but the ones listed seam perfectly reasonable. Also, you right about even the single majors featuring significant overlap. Based on the overviews of the majors that I'd read, I was a bit worried, but now I'm pretty sure I'll be able to find a good balance of EE and CS one way or another.</p>

<p>Thanks again everyone,</p>

17

<p>"Do you really think the claim "WPI is for RPI rejects" is justified by the 20 point Math SAT difference, or the 10% gap? The gap between Yale and MIT in summed 75th percentiles is larger than 20. Yet few people would say MIT is for Yale rejects..."</p>

<p>One, Yale and MIT are two of the top five schools in the country and really could have any SAT avg below ~1550 they wanted to. Two, they have, at least, somewhat disparate focuses since MIT has such a higher % going into engineering and sciences than Yale. MIT has 87% with Math SAT over 700 vs 76% for Yale, but MIT only has 60% with Verbal SAT over 700 vs 73% for Yale. Three, RPI and WPI can't have any SAT avg they want to and are both similar relatively narrowly focused institutions. I would guess that there are lot more overlap apps between RPI & WPI than there are between Yale & MIT; making the comparison more relevant with the former pair of schools.</p>

18

<p>My son is going into his senior year. He is quite interested in RPI and wants to apply on an early decision basis. I am guessing that there are advantages as well as disadvantages to such a move. I think that he would be better off applying to five colleges and waiting to see what his options are with respect to financial aid and other incentives. What do you think? Is there some overriding advantage to early decision?</p>

19

<p>This is where you, as the payer of tuition, have a say. Early decision is binding, and you are stuck with whatever financial package they give you (with some possibility for negotiating, but they hold the cards in this case). If the amount of tuition is a concern to you, then you need to let your son know as soon as possible.</p>

<p>Also, are you prepared to have taxes and financial aid application done as soon after you get your W-2s as possible? Have you checked and double-checked deadlines?</p>

20

<p>I know 20% of WPI grads earn MS or Ph.D
It depends, Do you want to live/work in Massachusetts or New York?</p>