<p>Gee, no one applied ED1 to RPI this year??? Last year, about 5 on CC got in ED1.</p>
<p>ED is pretty scary, especially if you are unsure and/or merit $ is a big factory. Do you have a son or daughter at RPI? I notice verrry few RPI posts this year.</p>
<p>I can certainly understand the concerns about ED, especially on the financial side with the way the economy is.</p>
<p>Yes, my son is a freshman at RPI. He is majoring in IT and likes it very much. He has made a lot of good friends and seems to be prospering there.</p>
<p>I have been VERY surprised by the total lack of RPI posts in recent months, especially compared to all of the activity last year.</p>
<p>My son is also a freshman at RPI and is very happy. Mech. engineering major. He applied EA to a few schools but not ED at RPI, because he wanted to keep his options open. He got into every school he applied to except MIT and chose RPI because it seemed a great fit for him. Very good $$ - Rensselaer medal $15000/yr plus an additional $4000/yr merit scholarship. Unfortunately, nothing through FAFSA although I’m hoping that having an additional child in college for next year will make a difference.</p>
<p>Happy to answer any questions about the school from a mom’s point of view.</p>
<p>Hello RPI parents 
</p>
<p>My son has superb stats, so we think he could get some good merit $ at RPI. When we visited it this summer, he liked it more than expected. (Of course, the sun was shining… he grew up in CO and understand nothing about surviving a dreary winter.) Schools like MUDD and MIT and Olin appeal to him more. But they are more of a longshot on admission and finances, so I am digging into RPI more.</p>
<p>Questions - these are my areas of concern, in case you have knowledge in these areas </p>
<p>1) Is there enough music on campus? Music makes him tick (piano, sax/jazz, composing for piano and ensembles). </p>
<p>2) Undergrad research? Major will likely be Mech Eng, but all engineering (and math and physics) </p>
<p>3) Interesting Humanities classes? For a math geek, he does suprisingly well in his IB humanities classes. </p>
<p>4) campus housing availability? On the tour, we heard on campus housing is no longer guaranteed because sophomores are being required to live on campus. I’m really not crazy about off campus housing in Troy.</p>
<p>1) Music: My son is not involved in any music groups, so I can’t give you much info here. The new EMPAC theater is amazing and is supposedly one of the best venues for acoustic sound quality in the country. Check the link to student groups on the RPI website; there are quite a few music-related clubs.</p>
<p>2) LOTS of undergrad research and state-of-the-art labs. This was definitely a strong point of RPI’s.</p>
<p>3) RPI does not have the humanities classes of a liberal arts college, but my son is currently taking a Psychology class that he has found so interesting that he is considering a minor in psych. He is finding the teachers top notch in all areas, not just the math/ science.</p>
<p>4) My son is actually looking to move out of the dorm next year. He will probably live at the frat he is joining (RSE.) He has spent some time at the apartments of some of his rugby teammates and frat brothers, which are right across the street from campus. There seem to be a lot of apartments very close to the campus. </p>
<p>My son really liked Boston, which is a great college city, but in the end he chose RPI over colleges in/ near Boston and is very happy he did. The frat provides a lot of social opportunities but also opportunities for study groups and extra help in test prep. He is finding the work challenging but interesting and is never without something to do on the weekends. So far so good. Now he just has to make it through finals this week and next.</p>
<p>Thanks. Those are very helpful updates! I will go back and look at old CC post to try to guage what kind of merit $ he could get. He did not get the RPI medal, but he has superb stats and I’m hoping he could get that much or more.</p>
<p>1) Is there enough music on campus? Music makes him tick (piano, sax/jazz, composing for piano and ensembles). – The majority of students can’t use EMPAC to play instruments in, and the shows they have there are really weird and for the most part are not interesting.</p>
<p>2) Undergrad research? Major will likely be Mech Eng, but all engineering (and math and physics) </p>
<p>From what I see, lots of undergrad research available for juniors and seniors, unless you get really friendly with professors.</p>
<p>3) Interesting Humanities classes? For a math geek, he does suprisingly well in his IB humanities classes. </p>
<p>People take psychology because it’s an easy A if you put a small amount of effort in (ie- reading the book at your dorm and skipping class, going to class and taking notes from a guy reading out of the psychology book for 2 hours, or both… pretty much memorization). 60% of the class doesn’t show up… but then again, only ~30% of people get A’s (shows how much people care haha).</p>
<p>4) campus housing availability? On the tour, we heard on campus housing is no longer guaranteed because sophomores are being required to live on campus. I’m really not crazy about off campus housing in Troy. </p>
<p>Freshmen and sophomores are guaranteed housing, though not many people want to live on campus after freshman year</p>
<p>Well, since Joshua is a student there, he is certainly the best one to answer questions.</p>
<p>I have been told that everyone tries to move off campus as soon as they can for several reasons. First, you can live off campus for less than half of the cost of living on campus. Second, I have been told that much of the housing within a few blocks of the school is rented by stedents. You can actually live closer to the academic buildling living off campus than while living in some of the on campus housing.</p>
<p>BTW, Joshua, how do you like it at school? What are your thoughts and impressions? How does the school compare to what your expectations were?</p>
<p>My son is very involved in music at RPI. He plays in jazz band (there’s so many kids they expanded to two jazz bands), swing band (more a club), and has his own jazz ensemble. He’s played center stage EMPAC several times, playing their beautiful concert grands. I’ve been surprised how accessible playing at EMPAC has been for the kids. The hitch was one classical piano class concert was mid day middle of the week because EMPAC does cost $$ to use and that was cheaper. His jazz ensemble (6 people vs 20+) gets invitations to play around campus and in Troy.</p>
<p>There’s many new dorms at RPI to expand housing options (apartments as well as dorms), plus off campus. Off campus is definitely cheaper. </p>
<p>Undergrad research takes student initiative, it doesn’t come to you.</p>
<p>My son has a double major with a minor so doesn’t get to take too many humanities classes outside his music minor, but he did take a fascinating class in political science about the election during the election. He loved it and learned a lot.</p>
<p>I like RPI a lot, but I feel more competitive schools would have been a better match for me, despite RPI being the best one I could get into probably.</p>
<p>Don’t get me wrong, you have to be smart to get in here, but I’d say about half the people here really try to do well. I’ve scored well over average on each test I’ve taken (high 80s on chemistry tests while the averages are always in the low 60s), and I don’t gauge myself to be a genius.</p>
<p>I’m hoping people take classes more seriously as I go to higher levels at rpi, but currently I’m enjoying a high gpa compared to my peers.</p>
<p>The labs (at least for intro courses i have taken, chem 1) are not really that great… they aren’t the ones they show you on tours. Often there’s missing or broken equipment, though chem 1 doesn’t really require that much advanced equipment. From looking in on other labs, there are definitely impressive ones that I can’t wait to use.</p>
<p>The only people I know that are also freshmen and are doing research already knew the professor before getting here (from the STARS program or some summer program), not many professors are willing to let freshmen participate.</p>
<p>As for clubs, RPI definitely has a lot of them and it’s easy to participate in them.</p>
<p>I’m an attendant on the rpi ambulance, I will be taking the emt-b course next semester (for free! thanks to rpi), I’m a member of the ballroom team, a member on the RHA (residence hall association) of Barton, and a junior e-board member of the BMES (biomedical engineering society). Next semester will definitely be tough (3 labs!), so I will definitely have to manage my time better if I want to keep up in classes.</p>
<p>One thing I praise very highly are the opportunities for help here. Most of the classes you will take in your first two years here at RPI have supplemental instruction and drop in tutoring options which are a great help. SI sessions are for 2 hours and involve a higher level student (usually a grad) that basically answers any questions you have on the subject (usually with a handful of other people), while drop in tutoring is more of a one on one environment (although sometimes other students are there that need help too). </p>
<p>Without these two things, I would not have the 3.92 gpa I will hold at the end of this semester.</p>
<p>I’m glad to see some posts beginning to appear. My son has submitted his ap regular action but it was a tough decision as he really likes the school. I’m curious about the comment that ED is risky if merit dollars are important. What does this mean?</p>
<p>Joshua:
Appreciate your comments. A key selling point during our campus tour was the attention given to those who might need help (through frequent emails from advisors, as we were told) and the half lecture/half hands-on application classroom technique that was pioneered by RPI. Have you found these aspects of the program to be helpful?</p>
<p>I think the poster meant that if you apply ED and are accepted that since you have to withdraw your other applications immediately, you cannot compare the merit dollar offers from the various schools.</p>
<p>You have no basis to compare the merit dollars you get from RPI to and you can’t go back to RPI and say XYZ school offered me more merit dollars, can you do better.</p>
<p>BTW, my S says that the “Early Warning” system that RPI has, where a professor can flag a student for additional help and attention if they feel it is necessary, does actually work. (Needless to say, my S said that you do not want to get one of those notifications.)</p>
<p>I haven’t gotten any emails from my advisor genuinely directed at me for help… the only contact most students have had with them is through the three meetings we have had so far. The most previous one dealt with deciding courses to enroll in for the spring semester.</p>
<p>Another good thing is the ease of making appointments with whomever you need to. I had questions pertaining to course selection as the pre-med curriculum for BME is very different than a regular BME. I was able to meet the head of the pre-med committe/department and talk with him one on one. Communication with head of departments is good as the more they know about you, the more they can help you later (writing letters of recommendation, premed needs 4 + an interview with the committee). </p>
<p>Most professors are approachable and friendly, some make you feel dumb if you don’t understand an explanation. I personally don’t feel comfortable approaching all of my teachers so SI is a great option for me. What do I care if a grad student thinks I’m dumb?</p>
<p>The only “hands on” things I’ve seen are labs. </p>
<p>Courses I took this semester:</p>
<p>– Gen Psych - 2 hour lecture where professor reads out of the book and you type up notes or play computer games on your laptop, no student activity unless you have a question</p>
<p>– Chemistry 1- 80 minute lecture where professor lectures what you need to know for texts, little student activity comes in with clicker questions (A,B,C,D on the iclicker) which count for attendance/homework points, both chemistry 1 professors are approachable</p>
<p>– Calculus 1- I’m in Professor Mclaughlin’s class. It’s pretty much lectures of what calculus 2/3 students do which is way above our heads, but he is a really friendly teacher who involves students in creating definitions, lots of back and forth between students and professor in this class, not sure about other professors</p>
<p>– Intro to engineering analysis- 2 hour lecture where the professor reads from a powerpoint, several in class assignments that you have to complete and hand in at the end for a grade, no class participation at all unless you have a question (which holds up the class, everyone wants to get out)</p>
<p>I heard about the technique in a tour I was on as well, but I have yet to encounter it.</p>
<p>Okay, thanks. I thought that might be the case but I wanted to see if there was any sense that one’s chances for any kind of merit award is diminished ( or enhanced for that matter) in ED vs RD. I would think not. </p>
<p>Curiously, our campus guide seemed to speak from personal experience when discussing the frequency and tenacity of the “Early Warning” email alerts.</p>
<p>I am also a freshman BME at RPI.
This semester i took:
Calculus I: (see joshua’s post) Prof. Mclaughlin really wants everyone to actually learn something from his course. The material and test questions are difficult but because of his grading systems i have gotten over 100 % on two out of three of his tests. </p>
<p>Writing for Classroom and Career: A semi decent writing class. I learned more about how to make papers visually pleasing than actually how to write them but the prof. was very helpful if you had any questions.</p>
<p>Chemistry I:(see joshua’s post) </p>
<p>Physics I: So far, this is the only class that i have heard of that splits the class time between lecture and activity. The prof. would use the first 10 minutes of the class to explain one of the HW problems that was assigned last class. After that he did a 40 minute lecture followed by a mini lab that helped explain the concepts in the lecture.</p>
<p>Joshua:</p>
<p>Thanks for the thorough reply. I know you must be in the middle of finals this week so I appreciate your taking the time to answer. Perhaps the lecture/hands-on process is in the upper level classes once you are in your major. </p>
<p>We’re keeping our fingers crossed for a favorable decision. We like RPI and the smaller size and hopefully more personalized attention versus many of the large state schools. My son plays hockey (although not Div I level) and believe it or not, prefers a climate with cold and snow. I hear the nearest Vermont skiing is only about 45 minutes away.</p>
<p>mdb - what does your S want to major in? (I hope he is applying to some safeties in this whole process.)</p>