Request for help from current RPI parent

Colleges and Universities A-Z Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
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<p>RPI Parents,</p>

<p>My daughter is attending Senior Visiting Day, Monday, March 26. The 3 of us (wife, daughter, me) heading there Sunday since the program starts at 8am and we have about a 3 hour drive from Boston. </p>

<p>Here's the request for help.....
We tried to go through the RPI office to register our daughter for an overnight in the dorm with a current student, but they haven't come through. If anyone has a daughter who's willing to host our daughter for an overnight Sunday the 25th in their dorm, please send me a private message. Our daughter is going for civil engineering with minor in architecture, loves to dance, and is a sailor. But a match in these areas isn't necessary whatsoever.</p>

<p>Thanks!</p>

<p>-John</p>

2

<p>RPI administration tried to help, but no go for a university dorm overnight so far. If anyone on CC can help, I’m all ears. We’re heading to RPI tomorrow afternoon, and will attend the admitted student event on the 26th.</p>

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<p>Sorry I didn’t see your message until today, not that I could have helped, because I have a son who is also a prospective student next year. </p>

<p>I do, however, have a question: </p>

<p>We were unable to attend today, and there is a good chance we will not be able to get back next month for the open house for admitted students, but I hoped you’d let me know how things went today. My son would like computer engineering or Comp Sci. We visited last fall, loved the programs, but my husband and I were a little concerned about the atmosphere on campus ie seemed like no one was walking in pairs, no one met our eyes or said hello even though it was very obvious we were visiting. </p>

<p>Our son is of the mindset that he can stand any atmosphere if it is worth the education, and that there will be at least a handful of kids with whom he will enjoy spending time. He is also very practical and RPI has offered him a very large leadership scholarship…</p>

<p>Any thoughts after your visit?</p>

4

<p>Billysdad I would like to hear your experience today too.</p>

<p>@Momforall - when we were visiting there the timing of our flight made us miss any strict tours so we were walking around ourselves and it was late in the afternoon so not too many people around at all. But a student who walked by did stop and ask us if we needed any help - I remember him clearly because he had a hat on that reminded me of Indiana Jones - he was very polite, nice and helpful. A few other people who were walking in the distance just slightly nodded as they walked by in the distance. We felt very welcomed.</p>

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<p>Thanks for taking the time to write back even after your busy day. Makes me feel better, our son will have to make the ultimate decision, however, it is always nice to have another adult’s opinion!</p>

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<p>Wife & daughter just got home from RPI. I’ll get a debrief from them and post up tomorrow morning.</p>

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<p>It was a brief de-brief but I believe that I got the main points.</p>

<p>[ul]
[<em>]The opening session was kind of choppy as the scheduled speaker was ill and a replacement needed to be found at the last moment.
[</em>]At 10:00, there was a session scheduled for the School of Engineering. Unfortunately, the opportunity to sit in on a biomedical engineering class was at the same time. Daughter opted for the class and was slightly disappointed to find that a guest speaker from the Patent Office was giving a presentation. No interaction with students or faculty.
[<em>]Lunch followed the class. It wasn’t in one of the student dining areas but rather in a more private room. One student did stop by to talk and answer questions.
[</em>]After lunch, there was time to kill until the 2:00 campus tour. Daughter appreciated the time put forth by the student guide and saw sights that had originally attracted her to RPI.[/ul]</p>

<p>Daughter’s overall assessment was that she liked the campus, the dorms were nothing special, and she believes that she would receive a top-notch education at RPI. The big downside was that the students she observed seemed to all be working on their own. Walking through the Darrin Communications Center, she saw students sitting about 4 feet from each other, plugged in and working individually on their laptops. In short, it didn’t look like a fun place for a sociable person to spend 4 of 5 years.</p>

<p>I’ll add my comments. She called me before the campus tour and sounded very down about the visit. When she got home, she was more upbeat and talked about the tour. Walking around the west end of campus (with the views of Troy and the river) reminded her of why she had added RPI to her application list. The big question for her over the next week or two is comparing the educational opportunities and perceived college experience at RPI vs. her other offers.</p>

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<p>My son is a freshmen engineering major and loves it-would he have been happier at BU-possibly yes-would he have done as well (RPI Honors first semester) No. The kids at RPI are serious about their studies-if you have a kid who wants to party all the time do not waste your $.
Does he have a good time-yes. He plays intramural sports, works out, goes to frat parties goes to town and shopping etc. He has study groups-yes all these kids are not cut throat-are there groups who stay inclusive yes.Aren’t there in every college? Just rem some of these kids think building a computer on the weekend is fun. There are a lot of “geeks”-to say it nicely but know what that’s why they are sought after when they graduate-they like what they are learning and do it well.
We and he are very happy with his selection-other merit offers were UMaryland College Park;Boston U, U of Rochester; etc
Now we are in the same decision with our daughter cept for the EMAC major. So i understand your indecision. I find sending a girl away is a tad more difficult.
I hope your daughter finds her niche! Good Luck!</p>

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<p>I’ll add my 2 cents since D and I were also there yesterday (and, interestingly enough, D sat in on the same BME class as Fauster’s D with the same impression. She was going to go to a chem class later but changed her mind).</p>

<p>Let me preface this by saying we went in with no expectations. We had visited the school as a family over the summer and D felt sort of ambivalent about it. She didn’t love Troy; there weren’t many students to interact with; the poor tour guide was locked out of most buildings; later, the school lost track of her application fee and sent a borderline rude e-mail to her (the fee had been sent electronically well before the app deadline). She wasn’t feeling too warm and fuzzy about the school but since they gave her a a good merit package, I pushed her to go back yesterday before totally writing off the school (she will be away for the later date). </p>

<p>While D was at class, we divided and conquered and I went to the session given by the asst dean of engineering. I have to say that I was pretty impressed by much of what he had to say. Things that I liked:
*collaborative nature of school / students
*focus on working with other disciplines
*ease of study abroad
*availability of co-op if student desires (and merit will then be applied to last semester in 5th year)
*co-terminal degree option which includes continuation of FA package for up to 10 semesters
*studio / project based learning - greater emphasis than expected
*understanding that many kids change their mind about major and ease of switching engineering (or non-engineering) major.</p>

<p>While D was disappointed that there was a guest speaker in her BME class, she did come away with new knowledge and ideas. She has always been focused on medicine as her end goal. This speaker had an undergraduate degree in BME and a law degree, focusing on patent law (from D’s explanation). After listening to this guy and talking to a few other people yesterday, she sees broader applications of a BME degree.</p>

<p>When we went to lunch, it seemed as if there was a current RPI student “stationed” at every table. We were able to chat with an admissions rep on the way to lunch (got lots of good pre-med info) and had a nice time at lunch talking with the student and another family. The student was friendly and knowledgeable. Gave pretty honest answers to questions.</p>

<p>Our tour was good - dorm was ok. Nothing special but I was impressed that the room we saw was not planned. The guide found someone with an open door and asked to show the room. It was a guys’ freshman double with clothes on the floor! The parents with sons all laughed said their sons would fit right in. The room was a good size and utilitarian. I was pleased to learn that laundry is free.</p>

<p>We needed to leave the tour early so that D could talk to a coach. We caught a student shuttle over to the East Campus. There were a couple of students on the shuttle. One must have overheard a comment I made to D because he initiated a conversation about his amazing time at RPI. He is a senior and has a great job offer from IBM. He was friendly and helpful. When we started talking about sports, another student jumped in and said he was a lacrosse player and would answer any student athlete questions. He even offered to introduce D to his female athlete friends. I was so impressed with how friendly and forthcoming these students were.</p>

<p>We also spent a little time in the student union - looking around the bookstore, grabbing a snack, etc. Again we experienced friendly students who welcomed D to RPI and talked about their experiences as students. When we sat to eat our Ben & Jerry’s in the Union, the tables were full with groups of students talking or working together. Students were helpful finding our way to the shuttle stop from the Union and one young lady even checked her smart phone for us to tell us when the next shuttle should arrive.</p>

<p>So, all in all we had a great day. D left feeling very positive about the academics, students, opportunities, etc. Maybe the positive feelings were because we both went in expecting very little and both of us (from our different perspectives) felt like the school could meet our individual needs (hers = academics, internships, ECs, fun and friendly students; mine = enough resources to support her if she should need it as well as an environment that strives to retain the students that decide to go there).</p>

<p>Sorry this was so long, but hopefully it will be helpful to anyone that can’t make it to an accepted student day.</p>

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<p>My S is a junior at RPI, majoring in Information Technology. He likes the school very much and has done very well there.</p>

<p>He has a lot of friends and is very active socially. All the friends that his mother and I have met are very smart, friendly, and outgoing.</p>

<p>I think there may be some kids who are more of the traditional “geek” type and stay in their room. One bright side to that is it seems that the geeks who are staying in their rooms are mostly guys, so that helps to even out the guy-girl ratio among the rest of the crowd.</p>

<p>From a parent’s point of view, the thing that has impressed me the most about the school is the support for the students - frequent meetings with academic advisors; an “early warning” system, in which a professor can fill out a form if he is concerned about a student’s performance, which is then followed up on by the administration; free tutoring; seminars on studying skills; staff going from room to room at the beginning of freshman year just to make sure everyone is ok, etc. </p>

<p>This is what I am talking about:</p>

<p><a href=“Advising & Learning Assistance Center | RPI INFO”>Advising & Learning Assistance Center | RPI INFO;

<p>My wife and I both think very highly of the school and are glad that our S is at RPI.</p>

<p>Perhaps one of the students there (Joshua?? Cesium??) will check in at CC soon. Needless to say, their opinions would be a lot more relevant.</p>

<p>Good luck!!</p>

11

<p>It’s an interesting dynamic in my family. I went to a college that wouldn’t be considered fun and had an absolute blast. I appreciate RPI and it’s reputation for academics and I was the one pushing for the initial tour, Medalist application and admittance application. Mom is worried about sending her daughter to a campus in a city environment. Probably because she had her purse snached while visiting me in West Philly while I was in school. Understandable.</p>

<p>The one thing I promised myself during this process is that I wouldn’t force my daughter into any specific college. She has to make that decision. I’d be thrilled if she chose RPI and completed a 5-year BS/MS program. But she also has other solid choices that will get her to where she wants to be. This hands-off stuff is killing me!</p>

<p>Thanks to the posters who have added their comments from yesterday’s session and RPI in general. And I’m hoping BillysDad chimes in as well since my wife and daughter were able to meet up with his family. My daughter said that the two of us would get along very well.</p>

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</p>

<p>Hey. I’m around. I don’t really know what to write here. If anyone has specific questions, I’ll be glad to answer them.</p>

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<p>I was around campus and helped out a few people find their way, made me feel good. </p>

<p>One parent from here asked if I could meet up with them at some point in the day via PM, but unfortunately I missed this message (sorry!). I wasn’t really free at all anyway though.</p>

<p>Reading some reviews about how helpful students were makes me feel good about our campus. I think the warm weather makes people happier :).</p>

<p>“The big downside was that the students she observed seemed to all be working on their own. Walking through the Darrin Communications Center, she saw students sitting about 4 feet from each other, plugged in and working individually on their laptops. In short, it didn’t look like a fun place for a sociable person to spend 4 of 5 years.”</p>

<p>No one really does work in the DCC, you just go there if you have lectures in that building. The people were just waiting for a class. If you walked through there a little before noon, they were studying for an organic chemistry lab quiz.</p>

<p>I’m a little curious what BME lecture was offered for people to sit in on. I can’t think of any time I had a patent lawyer come in and talk, other than IED (introduction to engineering design).</p>

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<p>@Joshua - it was a senior level BME class. Not sure which one off the top of my head.</p>

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<p>I saw this thread picked up and has trended towards “How was Senior Day?” Some answers/observations:</p>

<p>MomForAll wrote: "We were unable to attend today, and there is a good chance we will not be able to get back next month for the open house for admitted students, but I hoped you’d let me know how things went today. My son would like computer engineering or Comp Sci. We visited last fall, loved the programs, but my husband and I were a little concerned about the atmosphere on campus ie seemed like no one was walking in pairs, no one met our eyes or said hello even though it was very obvious we were visiting. "
We saw a mix of students alone and in groups. This was during walking campus, in the dining halls, in the student union, etc. Similar comments to Fauster’s daughter’s assessment, we did see kids alone. But saw a lot of double ups or larger groups walking together, several groups working projects (huddling over laptop talking about work (school) from the looks of it. Overall a mix, as you’d expect. Twice we were holding maps, and someone came to help. One was an administrator from the opening event; one was a student walking opposite our direction who stopped to help.</p>

<p>Reading the other questions/posts, I’ll just jot down a few observations/comments since it’ll flow better.</p>

<p>Opening was rough as stated by others - the video/audio was a challenge for the presenter, volume sort of low, gaps, etc. But overall we got the basic information and stats. With long prep time, you’d think it would’ve had a pre-show run throught, but I guess not. Near the end of the day, we came across the opening speaker. He saw we were visitors and stopped to ask how the day went. Nice guy, nice talk.</p>

<p>After the general opener, the engineering pitch was on deck for 10am. But so was the class our daughter wanted to sit in on (Structural Reliability). We divided up - we walked her to the class, and ran into a problem…we found the classroom and building just fine, but the class was the wrong one (an electrical engineering class). The prof was nice, and challenged the kids to find our correct room. They asked for course # and name. One student quickly told us the class #. Another jumped up and walked us to the classroom (up on another floor). The structures prof was very friendly, shook all of our hands, and asked our daughter to find a seat. We explained we had to go back for the engineering talk, and he said no problem, and invited us back to sit in on the rest of the lecture. Very impressed. More on that later.</p>

<p>Dorms - yes, nothing special. Not as “good” or varied as Syracuse (son’s school), but similar to Brandeis. Free laundry was nice though. Dorms have study rooms (4-8 chairs and 1 or 2 tables) with white board on one floor, game room on another. Kitchen/lounge too. Seems that most dorms are similar (4-6 of them), and others vary.</p>

<p>Lunch - yes, we were segregated. Nice to have a place to meet other admitted students. And as mentioned earlier, an RPI student (he called himself an RPI ambassador) came by to chat. We talked about a lot of things, including internships. He was a mechanical engineer / applied math major. He didn’t get an internship this past summer, but worked out undergrad research at RPI as a stop gap. “All” seniors he knew had jobs lined up after graduation though.</p>

<p>“it didn’t look like a fun place…” - I think it was a fun place. There are a lot of dedicated students, but we saw a lot of happy groups doing their thing. Besides the fun the kids had finding us our class room, the next biggest interaction was at the desk of the student gym. A mix of 2-3 boys and 2-3 girls talking about this and that. We asked questions about dance, and they told us of dance/yoga/etc rooms on the upper floor.</p>

<p>GraniteState wrote these items, with comments following: "We had visited the school as a family over the summer and D felt sort of ambivalent about it. "
Us too! Our daughter thought something was missing from RPI when we visited a year ago. There almost seemed to be no kids around even though it was a regular class day. This day was very different - vibrant and full of life. In the end, she loved the visit, and pushed RPI to the top one or two choices. Got home and got the acceptance to Lehigh, so more chocies. Ugh.</p>

<p>Heard about an intro to engineering class that sounded good. It was just one credit, but they go over US Grant Challenge (never heard of it) problems and attack them wearing different engineering discipline hats. What would an ME do? How about an EE? etc. Sounded very interesting.</p>

<p>Co-terminal degree. Combine BS and MS and you’ll have your undergrad degree aid extended for the 10 semesters. If you had need/merit aid, sounds like a good deal.</p>

<p>Studio style classes - really neat. When possible, courses are set up with sessions including a lecture for first 1/2 to 2/3, then the rest the students apply what they learned in a lab setting. Kids try out what they learned in lecture, and the prof helps correct mistakes or answer questions. They work as many of their classes as possible this way. Our daughter is project focused, so she loved this aspect.</p>

<p>Dorm rooms - another comment. We saw 4 dorm rooms on our tour, and noticed different configurations (beds at opposite end, or bunks, or top bunk set up with desk underneath). We asked the tour guide, and he told us RPI configures the room however the student wants. They call the “Fix It” service, and they come out and do the configuration for you on the spot. And yes, they fix things too.</p>

<p>We went back to the structures class, which was 5 guys and 4 girls. This goes along with “the ratio” (boy to girl) trend that has been happening. A few years ago, RPI stats was 75% boys / 25% girls; now we got info from RPI showing 68% boys / 32% girls.<br>
Best for last was the meeting we had with the professor after the class. We introduced ourselves and found out the prof was the Dean of Engineering (David Rosowsky). It was a 600 level class of grad students. He took time to have a talk about RPI with us for about 1/2 hour. We learned a lot about RPI engineering in general, and the make up of civil engineering (15 professors, with 2 openings for instance). We went over schools were were considering, and he was happy to give his opinion on how RPI compares. He was happy to do so saying he kept up on such things based on his role in the university. We got a good feel for similarities/differences, which really helped us out.</p>

<p>Overall, we had a great time. After yesterday’s visit, looks like it may be between RPI and one or two others. But by May 1st, she’ll have it all figured out since deposits are due most (all?) places.</p>