Hello fellow humans,
I’m a prospective WPI student and am trying to gather as much information about all of my schools as I can to make a very large ven diagram comparing and contrasting them all. (I’m gonna need a lot more circles than is the norm!)
As you could probably tell from the subject, I’m wondering about WPI’s internship opps, food (I’m vegetarian, like to eat relatively healthy), dorms, and nightlife.
Also-- any girls that have gone there have advice? The ratio makes me a bit nervous.
Thanks in advance for your time and effort, internet strangers :))
Lol, we meet again! Haha, looks like we applied to the same schools.
I only applied, but my best friend currently attends WPI. The food there is subpar, with a lot of chicken nuggets, pizza, and fries… That is totally fine by me hahaha but it might be harder to eat healthy there, I think. I also know that WPI puts in a lot of effort to even out the gender ratio and offer many supportive programs to females. Not really sure about anything else, but my friend also says that there are a lot of guy gamers on campus that don’t go out much. I’m sure you can find the right people though!
@anxiouswreck lol!!! Thanks for the advice – very helpful 
Hi! I’m a junior at WPI.
As was said above the food is really subpar, especially in the freshman dining hall. The salad bar is always pretty fresh though! And if you’re on the VIP meal plan (it costs a bit more), you can use meal swipes in the Campus Center, which has more and better veggie options. Once you’re an upperclassman you can get into a dorm with a kitchen, which will save you a lot of money and allow you to make your own dietary decisions. There is a small grocery store close by and a large one about 40 minutes’ walk away.
The dorms are fine; most are old-ish and a bit cramped due to large intake in the past couple of years. But the community feel is generally pretty nice. I lived in a quad in Riley and liked it despite the lack of space. There are many suite options for upperclassmen with the aforementioned kitchens.
I personally don’t participate in much nightlife but people seem to like it around here. Just make sure you don’t go out alone after dark. Worcester can be sketchy at night although the environs of the university are good neighborhoods. There are some shops and restaurants a block or so from the college, and it’s a short walk to downtown in one direction and Park Ave (more shops) in the other direction. There’s a train station downtown where you can take commuter rail to Boston’s South Station for about $25 round trip.
Depending on your prospective major there are some good internship and lab work opportunities. If you’re in bio or BME there’s a new facility called Gateway Park where the BME professors have lab spaces and they like having some undergrad volunteers. UMass Medical School and other companies in the Gateway area also have summer programs for undergrads. I’m pretty sure there are similar opportunities for Chem and Chem Eng.
As for being a girl in the context of “the ratio”, there is the odd time when I notice it, but for the most part the classes I’m in are pretty even, since I’m in all bio, BME, and chem classes. You’ll see it a bit around campus and in the dining hall but at least for your freshman year you’ll be living with girls so you’ll be surrounded by them all the time. And if anything, guys seem more respectful and protective of women here than in other places because there are so few of them.