If it’s between RPI and Stevens there’s not even a question RPI is best. Without going into too much detail I can say there are issues with the teaching at Stevens that I haven’t seen at RPI. The campus at RPI is absolutely stunning and I’ve enjoyed the weekends. The classes are rigorous and employers know that. We have two career fairs per year and students get awesome jobs and salaries. I don’t regret my decision.
Tell him to wear a t-shirt from each school for a day. He will feel more proud & at home in one of them.
The classes at Stevens are just as, and in some ways, more rigorous than RPI, because Stevens requires breadth and depth of the curriculum that RPI does not. Stevens placement is better than RPIs (12th in the nation on Payscale’s survey). Employers know that as well. Stevens too has two career fairs annually in which over 300 companies recruit, and it also has one of the top five (Princeton Review survey) co-op and internship programs in the nation (including placement in the top technology companies and Wall Street investment banks - among many others - in the United States). So you have “seen teaching issues at Stevens”? Did you attend Stevens? How do you know in detail what their teaching methodologies are? From what knowledge base do you speak? When I was in high school I too was offered admission to RPI. I chose Stevens and never regretted my decision.
Two things that you need to know.
First, everyone is going to defend their own school and you’re unlikely to run into anyone who has attended both, so take all that with a grain of salt. Guaranteedly, he will have bad teachers at either school, because every school in the nation has some bad instructors, and, if he works hard and keeps his grades up, he’ll have good opportunities with a degree from either.
Second, as parents, we worry about the timeliness of their decision, but in reality, as long as they get their choice in before the SIR deadline, they’ll be fine. Reply now or late and there’s a 50/50 chance they like their roommate(s) either way, with no way to predict it. The good news is, they get to change after a year. If it isn’t ideal, it only builds their resilience.
My son waited until two days before the deadline, and he’s now a senior. It works out.
Would giving up one of those schools make him sad? Which one would be hardest to say goodbye to?
@eyemgh - You are correct, every school has great and not-so-great teachers. Hopefully, the great ones are those that get the promotions and tenure, and the not-so-great ones get weeded out by that process and peer review. Yes, everyone is going to defend their school but that should be stating the merits of the school, not stating how great one’s school is while denigrating another. I am certain that the person who postulates “he/she has observed teaching problems at School X” never actually attended School X and is thus not in a position to make such an observation. And yes, one will have great opportunities having gone to either school. Engineers in industry come from a plurality of schools and engineering progress still continues.
@engineer80, I agree 100%. They are both very good options, and to choose one over the other depends on the intangibles important to the student. For example, if nightlife and culture are important, Stevens’ location is unparalleled. Conversely, if the outdoors is the attraction and you hate traffic, Troy is the better option. That’s not to say a student in Hoboken can’t get to the outdoors, or a student in Troy can’t get to the city. They can. The only thing I would personally push back against is @GoRedhead’s assertion that the RPI campus is “stunning.” The EMPAC building is stunning. The campus…not so much. Like many campuses, it has some nice areas, with some cold war era buildings scattered in.
@Engineer80 ,@eyemgh,@GoRedhead, thank u all for your insightful responses. While I believe each school has similar competitive programs, we drilled down on the best social fit for my son. After 2 visits to both schools, my son committed to RPI. To be honest he came to that decision after I told him if he couldn’t give me a school choice I would send him to a state school in the area since it would be essentially free due to scholarships. By making the choice for him, gave him deep thought on the college experience he wanted and within our 24 hour deadline I gave him, he took a stand for RPI. Thank u all for your healthy and helpful contributions. As one woman said in an earlier thread, sometimes when choices are taken from us, the disappointment we feel helps the best choice to shine through. Best of luck to all the 2018 grads!! Cheers to New Beginnings!
@love2teach that is great!
I’m thinking of cutting a T shirt in half from each, sew the two schools together and make him wear it to school for a vote, Getting desperate here! #stilltwoweeksleft
@DadTwoGirls
How would someone “see where his stats land on the scale of admitted students at both schools.” for their own student.
I’d like to do this for my daughter.
Thank you