<p>My son is interested in mechanical engineering, specifically automotive engineering. He is trying to decide between RIT and Northeastern. He likes that RIT offers many classes related to automotive, whereas Northeastern does not. RIT also seems to have a larger and more diverse group of employers that recruit for co-ops. however he is drawn to Northeastern because of the location and the gender balance. He feels really torn and I'm not sure how to guide him in this process. Any thoughts are much appreciated.</p>
<p>If he’s really, truly certain about automotive, I’d suggest that he not come here. It can be a huge heartbreak to not have a specialization that you really want to do. I was always in love with statistics in high school, and despite being a math major here, we have a very weak statistics program. I think if I had gone to a school with a stronger group of stat professors, I’d be on my way to a PhD in Statistcs right now. Since we don’t, I spent about three stat classes worth of time complaining.</p>
<p>Plus with something like automotive engineering, you might NEED specific experience in it in order to get a job in it, if that makes sense. So like you can teach someone how to program code, but that doesn’t mean they can create a video game. They’d need to take specific video game courses to have any idea what to do without having their hand held the whole time. I feel like something like this might be a similar situation, so it’d be best for him to go to RIT.</p>
<p>Personally, I don’t really see gender balance as being a big issue unless there are NO girls/boys (like a single gender school). I’ve been in plenty of classes where 80% was one gender because of the nature of the class, and it’d not big deal. I’ve met most of my friends in dorms and at work, and then a few in classes- but I never sat down and was like “wow, there are so many girls, I don’t like this” (I’m a girl, btw). Now if I went to a school that was alllll girls… I purposefully didn’t apply to Barnard College. But I don’t think he should make a decision just because there may be more boys than girls. I think wikipedia says that RPI is 30% female right now.</p>
<p>Just my opinion. Good luck!</p>
<p>If your son hasn’t made a decision yet and is an entering freshman under normal circumstances, he should really decide as promptly as possible. The national tuition deposit deadline is May 1st and his spot is likely to be given away if he doesn’t put down an enrollment deposit. They don’t wait for you no matter how badly you want to go to the school.</p>
<p>As for the actual decision that needs to be made, I wish I could offer more in the way of information, but I really don’t know enough about the particular subject. Best of luck in all of your endeavors.</p>