<p>My son just visited RPI and was very impressed by the school and the students he met. I have some questions, however: </p>
<p>He is not really considering an engineering major at this time, but rather biology or chemistry. How would you rate the school for other than engineering majors? </p>
<p>How are the professors and their interaction with the students? I saw some pretty negative comments on campusdirt and studentsreview, both of which I take with a grain of salt. </p>
<p>Thanks</p>
<p>We just came back from the Medalist visiting day. My S is non-engineering, too, and we were very impressed with the Dean of the school of science, the faculty we met and the facilities we saw (physics and math, mostly). S's judgement was that it was much better than he expected. We did not run into the negativity you see on those web sites, and we were randomly picking students to ask questions (not just the tour guides). In fact, the administration and faculty people openly encouraged this, so they were confident in their students overall to give honest replies.</p>
<p>Science and engineering are both strong at RPI.</p>
<p>Just as with alot of reviews, you're probably gonna see alot more negative comments than positive because they are the only ones posting on online student reviews -- the majority, as far as I can tell, are definitely happy being here.
Some professors are very approachable and helpful, and others arent. Alot of profs run weekly study sessions, and post online videos with problem examples which I find extremely helpful. On the other hand, there are a few with heavy accent, or are simply boring or uncaring. Talking to upperclassmen is a good way to find the best professors (and back tests), but we also use a site called <a href="http://www.ratemyprofessor.com%5B/url%5D">www.ratemyprofessor.com</a> which hold reviews of most of the profs. From my own experience, the TAs have not been very helpful but I know of other students who claim to have good TA's.</p>
<p>Professors so far for me:</p>
<p>Calc I and Calc II were excellent</p>
<p>Diff Eq, which I'm in right now, is not too good (strong accent and can't explain too well)</p>
<p>Comp Sci I-most disgusting professor ever. He didn't know himself what he was doing. He had to ask the students for help. God why does he teach?</p>
<p>Physics I-so-so I guess. Boring speech, heavy accent but did explain things really well.</p>
<p>Physics II- I'm in it right now. Excellent prof. Kinda way too strict (i.e. you MUST hand in the homework at the 8 AM at the beginning of class-8:04 is considered late).</p>
<p>Intro to Engineering Electronics-Just one credit and wasnt too important, but the prof was cool</p>
<p>CAD-The prof doesn't exist. He made video lectures which bored the hell out of you. CAD itself is mad fun but the prof is terrible and lazy.</p>
<p>Chemistry Principles for Engineer-He was average to above average.</p>
<p>Intro to Engineering Analysis-Excellent professor.</p>
<p>Embedded Control-I'm in it right now. Most BOOOORRRRINGGG class in the world for non programmers like me. Professor is good tho. Still hate the class and wish I never had to take it.</p>
<p>Living in Cyberspace-decent prof.</p>
<p>General Psychology-pretty good I guess</p>
<p>Computer Components and Operations - just so u kno this has nothing to do w/ programming. We're learning about digital logic circuits, so its a cool class. But the prof is wayyy to foreign and just DOES NOT stop talking!!!</p>
<p>As for TAs, some are great, others-not so hot.</p>
<p>Thanks - I am guessing that you may be in your second or third year. Would you still make the same choice and attend RPI?</p>