<p>I'm having a hard time finding a lot of information on RHIT and Cooper Union. Can anyone tell me how these schools are different from a traditional school, and how they compare to larger, PhD-granting engineering schools?</p>
<p>Umm the Cooper Union is a very small, very selective, tuition free school situated in Manhattan’s East Village a few blocks south-east of Union Square. Admittedly I’ll be applying for their fine art program, so i may not have the best information assuming you are applying for the school of engineering but I’ll still try.</p>
<p>Cooper Union is comprised of three distinct “schools”: architecture, art and engineering. Each of which is pretty difficult to get into. The school of engineering is the largest (admitting 175 student/year), the second most selective (admission rate around 19%) and has the most amount of course options: electrical engineering, chemical engineering etc. Admission to the school of engineering is determined primarily by the candidates academic history, their SATs and SATII’s. And, furthermore, Cooper does not use the common app.</p>
<p>[The</a> Cooper Union](<a href=“http://cooper.edu/legacy/engineering/departments.html]The”>http://cooper.edu/legacy/engineering/departments.html)</p>
<p>The Cooper Union does not have a campus or many of the other trappings associated with a traditional college experience. Housing is only guaranteed to Freshmen and there is little in the way of a college social life. This, however, is negligible because, according to many students, you probably wont have time for one.</p>
<p>Students say, that if you decide on cooper union, it will possibly be the hardest four years of your life because cooper union is HARD. Students, particularly those doing engineering spend most of their lives (during the week at least) in class, studying or completing assignments. And one should not expect to graduate with a GPA higher than 3.5. Students say that the bone grinding work eventually pays off and though cooper is largely unknown outside of New York, the recognition that NY Firms have for the kinds of students cooper produces more than compensates. One poster on cc claimed that it was common for employers/ recruiters to have different GPA expectations for cooper union grads. In one instance a recruiter stated that he was largely interested in applicants with a GPA of 3.7 and over but in the case of cooper he only required a GPA of 3.2.</p>
<p>All in all it seems that cooper is a school for people who are dedicated and certain about their chosen subject areas and are prepared dedicate the next four/five years of their life, in entirety, to their chosen study.</p>
<p>Oh one more thing. Many cooper grads (art, architecture and engineering) often claim that they received best education possible: easy access to professors, lots of teacher contact hours , small classes etc. Feelings of superiority amongst cooper alum seem to be quite rampant.</p>
<p>Check out the following thread if you are seriously interested:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/cooper-union/51603-can-laid-back-kid-survive-cooper-union.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/cooper-union/51603-can-laid-back-kid-survive-cooper-union.html</a></p>
<p>The Cooper Union engineering curriculum itself doesn’t differ all that much from other schools as it is ABET accredited. You pretty much take the same courses, the same labs, etc as any other ABET accredited school. What I found to be great was the faculty-student ratio and the high caliber of my fellow classmates. It’s usually quite easy to get in touch with a professor to go over something. They’re not absolutely consumed with their big research projects like some are at a large school.</p>
<p>
While you definitely won’t have the traditional college experience, there is a campus - it’s called New York City.</p>
<p>Hey there ken,</p>
<p>All of my knowledge of cooper is pretty much vicarious. It sounds like you are a cooper alum so i was wondering whether there were any gross exaggerations in the stuff i reported.</p>