<p>CSMathASA1994, thanks for all the info! I was wondering if you could comment on the social scene/Greek life at RPI?</p>
<p>Social life - If you want parties they are easy to find. If you don’t want parties they are easy to avoid. Generally the parties are either fraternity or apartment parties, but it is usually fraternity parties. Usually, there is a guest list for fraternity parties, so you either have to be greek yourself or be friends with someone that is greek to get in. (Which shouldn’t be too bad if you are social.)
I personally think the social life at RPI is better than people say it is. Yes we are an engineering school, so we don’t have parties everyday comparared to a state school like Penn State or UIUC (I am not dissing those schools btw, both those schools have great engineeirng programs as well). But the parties that are thrown Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday nights are pretty good.
If parties aren’t your thing, then there are plenty of clubs and intermural sports to meet people. And you will not have any problem making friends. If you want to make friends, you won’t have trouble making them - even if you don’t choose to join an organization. Everyone is in the same position, as in being thrown to a new environment. I recommend that students should leave your door open for the first couple of weeks and hang out in the lounge on the floor when you can and you’re sure to get to know a few people. Introductory (freshman) level classes are usually not great for making friends just because of the sheer size and format of them. The smaller classes (and labs!) are good for meeting people though.
Greek life- It is pretty strong at RPI. Around 30% of people in RPI go greek. When a person goes Greek, it is pretty easy to have a fun social life; however, you don’t need to go greek to have a good social life. (it just makes things 10x easier).</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply! For some reason, I was afraid that the social scene at RPI wasn’t that great (no parties, etc) but after your post, I feel much better! I’m also glad to hear that Greek life is pretty strong at RPI–it’s definitely something I’d want to join.</p>
<p>My son who is a sophmore is rushing a frat now. He wavered over it freshman year and didnt want to be rushed into a decision. He is busy most fall and winter weekends playing club hockey and feels that a Frat will give hime a great core set of friends and parties.</p>
<p>My daughter is interested in science – probably biochemistry. She says she wants to go into drug research. I am steering her to look at RPI and Worcester Polytech, both of which have biotech facilities on campus. Anyone know about the science program – not engineering? Is there an RPI or WPI “pipeline” to the pharmaceutical industry?Thanks.</p>