<p>First, my apologies if my stereotypes from the far west pervade my question, but how suitable is RHIT for kids who are liberal in their politics and are not necessarily heterosexual. Will my kid not only be safe but will there be peers with whom to relate - not just academically - but socially/politically?</p>
<p>many thanks for honest responses. RHIT seems like an awesome school!</p>
<p>I’m a prospective student of class of 2014 and I’m rather socially liberal and fiscally moderate.</p>
<p>I know a few gays at Rose who are part of the Rose-Hulman gay club (I am not gay though).</p>
<p>While compared to most high ed institutions, Rose-Hulman would be considered fairly conservative, it is not “conservative activist”–if that makes sense. Campus is actually very much apolitical with only a couple pockets of activism–liberal or conservative.</p>
<p>There is an active UNITY chapter on campus that participates in the Day of Silence campaign, etc.</p>
<p>Hope that helps…</p>
<p>Jared Goulding
Assistant Director of Admissions
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology</p>
<p>I graduated from Rose last year and am fairly liberal … I suppose, but also happen to be gay. I didn’t come out until Junior year, but faced really no problems before or after that on either political or sexuality grounds (even within sports, as well as, if not especially within, my fraternity). I am a big, fairly masculine guy … which could have been a part of that acceptance … but the few other gays I knew (as well as my dozens of very liberal friends and acquaintances) seemed to have no particular problems as far as friends or general acceptance goes.</p>
<p>My partner, also from Rose, and I both felt our years there to be a great experience. I sort of doubt we will ever find better people or friends.</p>
<p>PS: I WOULD call Rose “fairly conservative,” but I would also have to agree with Jared in that the campus as a whole seemed almost oddly apolitical and I think most students recognized this (often preceding to blame the workload). If you are not doing homework or studying, I think people just want to hang out, relax, and have a good time.</p>
<p>Hi, I’m reviving this thread in the hope to get more perspectives on the LGBT experience at RHIT and the Terre Haute area, and for an Asian kid to boot. JakePH’s post was encouraging. Any other comments, positive or negative, would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>Rose seems to be a perfect fit for my son in all other aspects. When it comes to the LGBT environment, however, is apathy or reluctant tolerance the best he can hope for? Will he miss out on the special warmth and camaraderie that Rose is famous for? Will he be welcomed and respected, and not just tolerated? I know he will have to deal with issues sooner or later, but this is the protective Mom talking…</p>
<p>To reply to your post and speaking as a current student, my perception of the attitude toward LGBT here is more or less on the lines of people don’t perceive you differently just because you happen to be LGBT. The only thing I see different is that there’s much less attention focuses on LGBT, in general, compared to some of the extremely liberal schools I see on the East Coast. </p>
<p>And definitely, there will be times that one forgets there’s someone around them that is LGBT and cracks an insensitive joke, but most of us here (I’d hope) are mature enough to handle these matters responsibly…so no one gets offended or anything. </p>
<p>The inverse of all this can be true too, since being the liberal I am, there’s a slight tendency for me to belittle/crack an insensitive joke with regards to religious affiliations (as an atheist) and it’s in my best interest to make sure people know I’m not being serious or that people aren’t being offended. </p>
<p>But really, we just all want to get along because homework/exams is enough for us to stress about, let alone the drama knocking on the door.</p>
<p>This question is along the lines of “is RH liberal” (as the title of the post). My question is: If my son goes to Rose Hulman, will he come back a Republican? I read that people aren’t “actively” conservative, but I’m still worried . . . . I like everything about RH (the open doors social policies and supportive atmosphere through a rigorous engineering program) except the politics that I’ve heard about, but those rumors are unsubstantiated as yet. Does anyone know? I just want to know that he’ll come back and still want to improve our waste problems, get rid of plastics in the oceans, fight global warming, and keep from wiping out polar bears. Call me crazy and silly!</p>
<p>Another perspective on this – my D attended Operation Catapult two summers ago. Most of the counselors for Catapult are RH students. She found their attitudes toward women to be pretty backward and appalling. What bothered her the most was the female counselors – apparently all of them thought the feminist movement was silly. My D asked them which part of it they would like to give up – the opportunity to study STEM topics, the chance to vote, or would they prefer to go back to when women were considered property of their husbands? My D high-tailed it away from RH at the end of that experience and ignored all mailings & opportunities to apply that came her way afterwards. The technical part of the camp was fine, but she said if the counselors indicated the attitudes of the typical RH student, she wasn’t interested. My D is fairly liberal, but not the most liberal person I know by any stretch. She is attending a STEM college in the fall, but found RH to be too conservative for her taste.</p>
<p>Wow, intparent, that’s amazing! I’m so glad to hear this info. I hope that RH gets its act together in terms of thinking about all people being capable of all opportunities, and recruiting students who feel this way, because I definitely am raising my son to respect women, the environment, and the idea that everyone can try whatever they set their minds to. Maybe that’s why other sites say that the Greek system at RH is so dominant <em>and</em> divisive. Some students love it while some students abhor it. I’ve not done a study on this, but my gut feeling (please correct me! willing to be educated!) is that the more active the Greek life at a school, the more conservative and the more gender (and perhaps other) stereotypes exist. The old in-group, out-group thing. But I may be wrong. As important as technical education is, you don’t want your child to also be educated by their environment/ surroundings/ social milieu that some people are entitled to do X while other people are only allowed to do Y. Not cool in my world. (In fact he’s at a public, technically oriented environmental high school currently–his choice, and it’s 93% non-white. The school just placed the first female graduate in a traditionally male job this past year, the first young woman to break the gender barrier in this century-plus-old skill area here.)</p>
<p>I would add that she did like the technical project she worked on and the other students in her group. We kept running into those other students in her group at other college accepted student visits – they were an all female group, and I am pretty sure none plan to attend RH. But what my D just couldn’t understand is how these female counselors could be so ignorant of how they got the rights that they enjoy today. Maybe it is just a “focused on math & science to the exclusion of history” thing. In any case, it wasn’t the right environment for her.</p>
<p>Thanks, intparent. This is helpful and I want to think about whether this means that RH students are "apolitical’ in general, as often described, or if ‘apolitical’ is a code term for ‘right wing’. My son would benefit greatly from RH’s reputed personal help and camaraderie through the program, as he is smart but can be a little befuddled sometimes. But I’m deeply concerned if he comes away with messages of intolerance about other people, etc. Thank you!</p>
<p>DustyFeathers, take it from an industrious racial minority student who works very hard and has a good GPA .THE LACK OF DIVERSITY IS INTOLERABLE. I can only compare Rose Hulman to a ghetto for people with degree holding parents and middle class incomes. It’s a sub-sub culture where %50> are from Indiana, 80% are male and over 90% are white. If you are a parent who wouldn’t like your child to have much exposure to the outside community and continue to espouse whatever ideologies that are pervasive in your household and your small side of town, whether (right or wrong) Rose Hulman is the best choice for you! The school doesn’t take diversity serious, so if your child was accepted they probably fit that narrow-NARROW demographic. That being said, your child will probably be OK. I would caution against the greek life or risk having your child fall victim to a very cult like situation. If your child starts acting out of character, it is probably because they have submitted to the cult-like culture of greek life here and is receiving direct instructions to remove themselves from any other institution that doesn’t afford further allegiance to the contrived setting of a greek organization (ie: removal from YOUR family). Since this school is dominated BY young white males and made FOR young white males, expect all facets of white male pseudo-exceptionalism to surface in most conversations. For instance, I hear males talk freely about how women only receive employment/internships solely because of diversity quotas. You’re a non- international minority (Asian Americans included)? Then you probably made it here to meet diversity quotas (inquire further about said quotas and you’ll see that the typical rosehulman student just regurgitates “parental wisdom” and what ever facts their rural area affirms). Such small mindedness is only plausible at Rose because there are no outsiders present (<em>eh-hem</em> no diversity) to dismantle these pea-brained fallacies. In conclusion, if your child goes to Rose-Hulman, they will either come out believing the aforementioned fallacies (quite remarkable to see such instances of self-loathing that takes place at Rose) or they’ll drop out.Just saying.</p>
<p>I’m a white male that just graduated Rose, for what it’s worth. I understand helpme’s post and don’t disagree with the fact that Rose needs more diversity, but I don’t think that’s the fault of the administration as is suggested – in fact, I think the administration tries hard to increase diversity in the population and in the student mindset.</p>
<p>There are factors that work against Rose’s diversity that are not the fault of the school: </p>
<p>1) Rose is small and undergraduate-only, and thus doesn’t have a high profile for international students. An international student will be <em>much</em> more likely to have heard of a large school like Purdue or University of Illinois than Rose-Hulman, and thus the international enrollment at those large universities is higher than at Rose. This means that most of the students at Rose-Hulman are domestic, which brings to point number two…</p>
<p>2) Most students at Rose are domestic engineering and science students, which means that the population is inherently swayed to be Caucasian or Asian (and male). Rose seems to have fewer Asian demographic students than the average, but I believe that’s because most Rose students are from the Midwest, which doesn’t have nearly the Asian population of the coasts. </p>
<p>You have to remember that Rose is a STEM-only school, which skews the demographics heavily away from some minority populations that, for whatever reason, aren’t well represented in STEM fields. I currently work in a job where nearly all of my coworkers are recent domestic hires in STEM fields (0-1 years removed from their BS). ~85% of them are white males. 7% Asian, 7% Hispanic. ~13% are female. The demographics are this way despite the fact that my employer goes out of their way to hire minorities because they realize how important diversity is. Granted, my sample of coworkers isn’t large (~15 people) and isn’t representative of all engineering students by any means, but it’s indicative of the fact that domestic STEM fields just aren’t as diverse as other areas, unfortunately.</p>
<p>Rose-Hulman (and STEM in general) is not as diverse as it should be - for whatever reason. It isn’t because Rose-Hulman “doesn’t take diversity seriously” or “made FOR white young males”. Rose realizes that they can improve and so they are trying to make it better. </p>
<p>I can’t comment on what it’s like to be a minority at Rose, but I do know that I didn’t “come out believing the aforementioned fallacies.” I hope helpme’s unfortunate experience isn’t the experience of most minorities at Rose - I’m sorry you’ve felt that way, helpme.</p>
<p>@gobeavs-great post & it is good of you to take the time to reply to posts on here. My son is just finishing and it has been a wonderful experience for him-he is also a EE. He had multiple job offers in the fall and is very excited to start his job after graduation. His brother is considering RH for next year and we are waiting to hear about his acceptance.
My son says, “RH is without question, the best choice if you’re studying engineering”. He was accepted into some very prestigious engineering schools but has never regretted choosing Rose. The weather was terrible for his visit and beautiful when he went to Carnegie, but he didn’t feel like the students were as open and friendly at Carnegie. I remember him commenting about how the dorm room doors were all open at Rose, but closed at Carnegie. My son has been active a wide variety of extracurriculars, as well as being successful in the classroom. We have heard that some of the universities give a lot of busywork to weed out-what benefit to learning is there with that? </p>
<p>To respond to "intparent"s comment:
“Maybe it is just a “focused on math & science to the exclusion of history” thing. In any case, it wasn’t the right environment for her.”
In my opinion, considering the cost & purpose of college, Rose is the best education and engineering degree. College is a large expense and it is to get an education and provide for yourself. You can get diversity later, focus on what’s important-it’s an education! Kids choose college based on dorms and if they have Starbucks or Chipotle. RH is a technical school with a cooperative (vs competitive weed out) environment. They are all about doing all they can to help the kids learn. The professors are there because they want to teach, not because they are required with their research grant. I know several great engineers, who felt RH was the best learning environment and wanted their kids to attend Rose, but their kids chose Carnegie & elsewhere.
There are less women in engineering now than when I was in college 30 years ago, which is astonishing to me. I went to an engineering school where it was 10 to 1, Rose is 5 to 1 and was all male until 1995. I think Rose strives to have diversity but it’s a real challenge with the number of women interested in the STEM curriculum.
I think it’s important to explain the cooperative learning environment, the value of the education and job prospects to your child. Ultimately, it has to be there choice on where they feel they will succeed, but they should understand the distinctions, in order to make an informed decision.</p>
<p>Thank you, everyone, for your opinions on this important issue. I’m giving a special call out to @helpmepleaseguy, @gobeavs, and @xcmomof3. We come from an <em>extremely</em> diverse area. My DS’s high school is >90% non-white. It’s normal and exciting for us to hear several languages at any one time while on the street and to eat a different kind of ethnic food for each meal. Our city has a massive immigrant population. Which we love. RH seems great for so many reasons, including the openness and cooperation that can help a student through a rigorous academic program. The diversity issue, should my DS be accepted and attend, will be a huge, huge splash of icy water. If you’re from either coast–or even a big city in the Midwest–it’s normal to be with people who don’t look like you, no matter what you personally look like. Straight, gay, nerd, jock, hip-hop clothes, Christian, Muslim, atheist, Jew, buzz cuts or dreds, it’s all good. And to suddenly go to where everyone wears polos and khakis and eats bland food – that could get real old real fast. That being said, he’s mainly a computer nerd and has virtually no interest in politics. As a teen, he could probably survive on pizza 24/7. And he’s been breathing diversity since birth. So we will see what he thinks when we visit. I hear you that RH is attempting to reach out to attract diverse candidates. Most people where I’m from have never heard of it. When I found out about it, I felt like I found a potential jewel. Fingers crossed that my DS likes it! I did note that Harvey Mudd has done really well recruiting females. Maybe there are some lessons there for RH. Probably, too, the techniques for attracting women to a traditionally male program would work in principle for attracting minorities to a traditionally non-minority discipline. RH may want to look at what Harvey Mudd is doing along those lines. </p>
<p>@Dustyfeathers- I would be interested on your thoughts after your S visits RH. My S has recently placed this school on his list.</p>
<p>Hi @momsthebest please post your experience here. We have some time before we apply. </p>