<p>ok. . .so I've figured out that a lot of the coolest things about rochester are unknown to the general public. . .so lets make this a game, add to the list we go along. . . . .post facts you don't think a lot of people know, or you think are very cool.I'll start with a few:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Rochester engineering has one of the best student:teacher ratios in the country.</p></li>
<li><p>Every weekend students all-night activities hosted by "fashionably late"</p></li>
<li><p>There will be a high speed Ferry service to take people into Toronto for a affordable rate (about $50 roundtrip)</p></li>
<li><p>Students can take free lessons at Eastman, and cross-register at RIT.</p></li>
<li><p>Eastman concerts are free to UR students</p></li>
<li><p>Rochester is no colder than the rest of upstate NY (despite poplular belief)</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Premeds/bio/bmes have the ability to take advantage of the Strong Memorial hospital for volunteering/many programs.</p>
<p>A new biomedical/optics campus is being built in River Campus - UR, around 60+ million dollars</p>
<p>Simon school of business is well ranked, somewhere in the top 20 or so.</p>
<p>Omega = The largest laser in the world , hosted by University of Rochester</p>
<p>Univ. of Rochester was one of two schools in the US, chosen by the US government for a grant to build and develop a plasma physics experimentation/buildings for study. (therefore creating a new dept to teach)</p>
<p>-I'm not 100% sure, but I've heard rumor (and this could be the same thing that KhAn_T1m is talking about) that the federal govt. is paying for UR to share a fusion reactor with MIT.
-I've never seen one, but if I go to UR the first place I will visit will be a Wegman's Grocery Store
-Frat Quad is on campus, parties almost every weeked for those who care
-You get the option of living co-ed by room
-Free Napster!
-Student Union designed by I.M. Pei</p>
<p>One more frequently known fact...It snows in Rochester.</p>
<p>Maxbro, they are not sharing the fusion reactor with MIT, it is theirs and theirs solely...
The only thing with MIT is that professors from MIT are involved in the research. UR got the 6 billion dollar grant all by itself... :)
Now who is better MIT???</p>
<p>ok
3 amusement parks less than an hr away (6flags is one of them)
free napster!(local access only tho, no legal ipod downloads)
free alienware desktops and notebooks to any student that requests one before 4/19/05.
great student:teacher
other stuff i dont know about</p>
<p>whoa...free alienware desktops/notebooks??? are you serious?! </p>
<p>anyways, how is rochester the city? I've been there twice but both on school trips so I haven't gotten a chance to fully experience it. It seems really small/dead kind of..but I live around NYC so it might be an unfair comparison. I've heard that the city has a high crime rate..is that true?</p>
<p>haha..well i'm a junior now and looking to apply to rochester this fall, hopefully to its REMS program. I just thought it was amazing that colleges would give away free computers..and such expensive ones too! Rochester must be really intent on recruiting smart people..with its enormous amount of merit scholarships. Does anyone here know alot of info about the renaissance scholarship? The description they provide on the site is a bit vague.</p>
<p>ronlivs: Remember, there are only 10 slots per year for REMS and upwards of 600 applicants; but there are dozens of other schools that have Med school acceptance programs - look into it. It's not as easy to get merit money at UR as it used to be 5 years ago and the typical 5K does not go very far vs 42K total. Right now there seems to be good merit available at Tulane, Vanderbilt, and Case.</p>
<p>ronlivs: Not sure, but it's likely UR, like most schools, is getting more applications than previously (function of on line app, commmon app, population increase in current HS class) and so the blanket merit monies get diluted or just not offered. There was a time that a 1350 SAT got you $10K merit at UR, but certainly not any more. BTW, all the early Med school programs are very comptetitive but some are easier to get in than REMS, such as UConn and RPI.</p>
<p>yeah, i know about the med programs..I'm planning to apply to REMS along with many other programs and other schools. I just wanted to make sure that UR isn't retracting any merit aid..it makes sense that competition is higher, and that's good because it means UR's quality is increasing.</p>
<p>I am really looking to get the Renaissance Scholarship...does anyone here know much about it, other than the vague info they provide on the websites? I know it is extremely competitive, but I am wondering how many people actually receive it, how much emphasis they place on certain areas of the application, etc. Also, I heard that there is a 12k cap on merit aid...I'm guessing the full tuition Renaissance Scholarship disregards that? Thanks</p>
<p>REMS is tough to get into as said above. Renaissance Scholarship involves filling out an app that you can get from the FinAid website and then you need to receive an interview from an Admin. And merit aid is capped at 12k. I got a 10k Rush Rhees and since my father is an alum that would add another 5k automatically. But its over the cap so I just got the Rush Rhees Scholarship, which is great anyway!!! Hope this helps.</p>
<p>There is indeed a Wegman's, I've been there ;)</p>
<p>ronlivs: If you want to talk to someone about Renaissance scholarships, you can talk to my cousin, cause she got one... I believe they base it a lot on diversity and not test scores, grades, etc. because I applied with higher SATs, ACTs, GPA, harder classes, and probably better essays than her. She got the full-tuition scholarship and I got 15k. <em>shrugs</em> I thought I got screwed, personally...</p>