Overview of our visit to RIT (Rochester Institute of Tech)

<p>Was at RIT yesterday for an Open House for Accepted Students. The students broke up into groups by major. So many similar sounding majors. Learning is very specialized here. Not sure how true it is, but RIT made it sound like most classes are taught by profs only, not TAs. Gave example of 600 calculus kids. Instead of breaking it into 2 classes of 300 each, RIT has 20 classes (30 max per class), each one taught by a full math professor. Saw the new sports facility. Somehow missed it on our prior trips. Looks like a place where kids can meet others outside their major. Another way is through intramurals. I believe RIT students played in 2500 intramural games last year. </p>

<p>For Taxguy and other people interested in design, the rest of this info may apply. For design majors, all types take the same foundation year (similar to Syracuse U). Actually New Media may have small differences, not sure. Two hour session with the heads of the depts, then a tour of the design facilities. Head gave talk then open discussion. Very informative. For next year's School of Design:
685 students (282 Graphic Design, 161 New Media Design, 161 Industrial Design, 81 Interior Design). Portfolio Acceptance Rate was about 40%. Retention Rate for Fresh to Soph yr is 95% (this was good to hear since RIT as a whole has a lower retention rate). Mid 50% SAT range was 1100-1300 (I think) but some very high SATs were mentioned also so I could be off a bit...</p>

<p>One change to RIT curriculum mentioned was lowering the # of liberal arts classes (but adding in Gen Electives). Wasn't told details. But the effect on Design students is that in the past they were encouraged/required to take a Liberal Arts minor using their electives. Even the tour guide mentioned this. But apparently RIT just made some changes so now it's possible to minor in something outside of Liberal Arts. I know the Industrial/Interior Design head mentioned how he encourages his students to take business classes and now they can minor in marketing or other types of business. My D liked that idea. She also wants to minor in photography. Seemed like they were saying you can easily get an associate degree in photography or other art areas since the foundation year covers many of the necessary courses and you use your electives for the few others. So you would graduate with a BFA in one area and an associate in another.</p>

<p>Looking at the curriculum, it seems challenging. Not sure of other schools at RIT, but freshman Design majors take 18 credits a qtr. To me, that seems insane. I thought at first it just was a numbers game, but looking closer, students take 5-6 classes a qtr, of those 3 are studio classes (keep in mind that each art class is double the class time as a regular class). Students we talked to said it is a bit rushed (10 weeks) so you can't afford to fall behind. You have basically 2 weeks to start and finish a project. Some of the students really liked the qtr system. Felt that they produced lots more work (projects) so they had more to show in their portfolios. Many said they were up late at night on a regular basis and pulled all nighters several times a qtr. In fact, the studios are regularly available late at night. The ID head mentioned the couches in the dept are used. </p>

<p>This brought us to look at some of the housing options, in particular the art house and photo house (although there are other interesting specialty houses also). In the art house, about 45 kids with an interest in art live together on one floor in one of the dorms. They converted one of the lounges into a studio so students have a place to work late at night outside of their dorm room. They also converted a room into a spray room where the fumes are sucked up and out. They also have a small darkroom. The photo house works in a similar way. I don't think it has an art studio but it has a bigger darkroom. We were told all dorm rooms are the same, regardless of which dorm you live in. There are long, skinny rooms or squarish rooms (same sq foot). Usually upperclassmen move to apts (on or off campus) but we met a bunch of upperclassmen still living in dorms. In fact, I believe there was a 5th yr student living in the art house.</p>

<p>Just a few responses:
-Only Professors, not TAs teach. TAs are only there to help students during labs while the Profs are helping others. GAs are disallowed to teach, but they may run labs.</p>

<p>$8,000 is the max. for the Presidential Scholarship, but if you got $8000 you are probably qualified for the Honors Program, which has additional benefits as well as requirements. If you are considering RIT and have a strong background (~1400 SATs, top 10 in your class, etc.) it is worth consideration. Note that a friend had a 4.0 GPA in High School with 1370 on the SAT and ranked 12/400 and did not make the honors program, so it is tough.</p>

<p>The new minor-in-non-LA-degrees is so new, they just told students about it last week. None of us have a very good idea of what it is, as the info sessions about it all start in a few weeks. Our understanding is they reduced the LA requirements and now every major also has a minor. This came as a surprise to many.</p>

<p>RIT has many, many, many, clubs, so I'm sure you can find plenty of people with common interests, be it poker or pokemon.</p>

<p>I need to get back to the books. It's midterm exam week! Let me know if you have any more questions.</p>

<p>Well, I should be qualified in this area as I've finally completed my math and physics requirements @ RIT (Well, one more math course to go). I'm not quite sure of the best way to tackle this question, as I am not sure where you got this idea. However, I can say this: It is obviously a necessity for good engineers to have very solid backgrounds in math and physics. RIT is known to produce good engineers. I'd put RIT math at a very sufficient level. I couldn't see a reason not to do so. There are currently 8 math courses on the EE curriculum. Combine that with the quarter system, and there is a rather rigorous course of study in the various math fields. After taking 7 of my 8 math courses, I feel that I have a pretty wide breadth of understanding of mathematics and how it applies to engineering. That's the most important thing I've seen: RIT math and physics is often applied to engineering which draws the necessary ties between theory and real world. As EEs only take 4 physics courses, I could see a little more reason why you'd have this view. When I started taking physics, they had just changed the way the courses are taught, so they were working out a couple kinks in the curriculum. I found that the 4 courses were wide on topic coverage, but not so excellent on depth. As always, the topics were very applied (which is good!). However, even though the physics courses didn't delve deeply into the material, you will always find that anything you'll ever need for engineering will be either taught in these physics classes or in your engineering classes themselves. I hope this helped some. Feel free to ask me to clarify anything.</p>

<p>I noted some typos in my original post. I do know that Immagine is improper spelling. It should have said imagine. Oh well. I wish they would let me edit posts over any length of time.</p>

<p>Please make this into a sticky post.</p>

<p>This is to bump this to the top since the mods haven't seen fit to make this a sticky post.</p>

<p>Here's a bump for you taxguy. I don't think the mods make trip reports sticky, do they? </p>

<p>My son attended RIT's career and technology event last weekend. <a href="http://www.rit.edu/%7E960www/careers2005/index.php3%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.rit.edu/%7E960www/careers2005/index.php3&lt;/a>
It started Friday afternoon with a tour and admissions talk. In the evening there was a mixer and fun activities. My son said there were about 300 other students there, all rising seniors like him. They stayed in a dorm. The next day my son did the four workshops that he had signed up for, all computer related. He said they were more lecture then hands on. He came home talking about applying as an IT major. I'm not sure RIT is the right fit for him but he was very impressed with the very up-to-date technology and the spaciouness of the campus.</p>

<p>When I did the College and Careers program a few years ago, I found most of them quite hands on. I suppose it depends which of the workshops he signed up for. 3 of my 4 were very hands on - we programmed a microchip in one and made holograms in another. I just wouldn't want you or your son to feel that RIT is not a hands on type of school. Practical application is a key element in all of their programs.</p>

<p>Arthur,
No, I think my son is just leaning more towards a liberal arts education. He's concerned that it would be hard to switch majors and since it's a pretty expensive college (for us), he's pretty determined to get a bachelors in 4 years but doesn't want to feel pressured to stay in a major he might be unhappy with just because he doesn't want to get off track.</p>

<p>As an RIT alum, I have to say it was the best decision I made. I do agree with some of the posters here, it is a school where you have to be pretty sure about what you want. This statement in itself is kind of funny, when you think, what 18 year old really knows what they want to do for the rest of their life? :)</p>

<p>What I believe is that RIT helped me get serious about my academics and helped me focus quite quickly. It helped me think about positioning myself for a good career after college. </p>

<p>I was a printing major, and RIT is without a doubt the best school in the world for printing. It's beaten into you as soon as you get in the program. It's also proven to you once you start looking for a Co-op and finally a real job.
I found it funny how I ended up working for DuPont out of school when some of my engineering friends were having difficulty getting the right job with the right company (ja, and they thought being a printing major was funny!!)... the saying on campus was always, "if you can't make it... pack it...and if you can't pack it...print it!! "...hence, why most of the Engineering 'drop outs' ended up in my program.</p>

<p>Anyway, I grew up in Brooklyn and so I needed to keep busy so as not get bored at RIT. I made the most of it, joining residence life as an RA, being a student ambassador for a couple years, playing intramurals and joining a fraternity on campus. This, along with my academics, kept me quite busy. </p>

<p>The truth is RIT is not really hard to get into but it is really hard staying at RIT. The academic programs are challenging and the quarter system does not allow you to 'make up' time. However, now being 32, I think the quarter system is much more up to par with 'real life' scenarios.</p>

<p>Yes, I was reading about their printing program and heard it was one of the best in not only the US but in the world.</p>

<p>it is a great program. Although I can honestly say most people I've met are 'shocked' that such program exists! Explaining to my wife what I did when I first met her was a real challenge, so I now say I'm a Media consultant...sounds better ;)</p>

<p>Hi, I am a second year IT New Media student. My opinions of RIT is that it is a really hard school. The SAT scrores are lower than other schools, but that is because of our design and photo schools. You don't need high SAT scores to be an amazing photographer (not to dis any design students or photo students and say you are dumb...im just saying that SAT's don't test those skills). The greatest part about RIT is that all the classes are so small and personalized. Almost every professor I have had have known my name, and what my work is like. The quarter goes by really fast and you need to be on top of all of your work. I love the quarter system. At first it seems really fast and hectic, but after a while you get it and know when to put extra work in and when you can take a break. There were only two other girls in my major in my graduating class last year, and i don't know if they are still IT New Media. I have had classes where I am the only girl, or there are like one or two other girls, thats most of my classes. RIT is definetly not a normal school. You can find things to do for fun, but it is definetly limited. The culture here is nothing like it is back home, and it takes some adjusting when you go on break. It is cold, and the wind is horendous. There is very little school spirit, except for RIT hockey, and those games are a blast to go to.
Thats all I can think of for now, if anyone has any questions, ill try to come back and check this board.</p>

<p>Just to add a comment about the housing at RIT, while it is in good condition, it is fairly limited. While you are guarenteed to have a room for the first year in the dorms, after that you are somewhat on your own. While the RIT housing dept. likes to say that they is plenty of housing, I have talked to few students who agree. The likelyhood of getting into an apartment is very small unless you can sign on with someone who already lives in an apartment. </p>

<p>As an example, the newest apartments on campus have a 99+% retention rate, and most other apartment complexes are around 80%. Becasue of this, many upperclassmen end up back in the dorms, and therefore, the housing dept. has been "forced" to convert virtually all of the lounges in the buildings into triple rooms, thus leaving only one small kitchen/lounge/TV room for each floor.</p>

<p>So, keep in mind that if you like to live in apartments and not dorms, be prepared to befriend upperclassmen, or you will likely end up in dorms indefinately.</p>

<hr>

<p>-TabletCorry
First Year Computer Science Major
Graduating 2010</p>

<p>can anyone inform me on the premedical study program in RIT? is it really 85% medical school entrance? overall, how would you rank RIT?</p>

<p><shrug>Frankly I had no idea there was a medical program</shrug></p>

<p>I d like to be there as well in a year! :)</p>

<p>I dont know much about the medical program. I do know its pretty good. Being suround by leading hospitals like strong is a hge plus. I do know that my sisters friend graduated with a degree as a physicans assitant and was hired at rochester general or one of those hospitals general srgery at $60,000 a year before she goes to med school. Or something this is second hand knowledge so...</p>

<p>I'm curious, how does RIT's mechy program compare to UB's or Boston University? If I went to RIT would I be able to start by taking both film and engineering courses? I'm divided over which program I want to spend the rest of my life in.</p>

<p>Does anyone know anything about their Crafts School? I'm interested in Metal and Jewelry arts and it seems like they have a very strong program and great facilities, but I'd like to hear from someone who had more of a first hand idea.</p>