My son is a HS junior and on paper RIT seems like a good school that matches his interests. His concern is when he Google Maps the area there is nothing within walking distance. (Most of the schools he is looking at are in small cities and college towns…so lots of things walkable. He grew up being able to walk to “everything”.) Do students feel trapped at RIT or is it a non-issue. We are hoping to drop during April break to see. Thank you.
While having a car is a huge advantage, especially after freshman year, RIT has decent enough bus service to get anywhere you need to go both on campus, the surrounding area, and downtown. The campus is so large that in some ways it feels like it’s own town by itself so there’s always plenty to do and enough amenities you don’t have to leave if you don’t want to.
I generally advise people to live on campus for your first 2-3 years and then move off after that. Provided you do have a car, you’ll be saving a lot of money while living in a more walkable neighborhood should you choose to.
I lived in Rochester for several years. When it snows, it really snows. If they live off campus, they need to be prepared to do some hard core shoveling to get to class.
My daughter lives in an apartment on campus and takes a shuttle bus to local grocery stores when needed. She Ubers to the nearby airport, and the Student Government has a sponsored shuttle to the airport/bus and train station during vacations. Also for vacations, My Bus Home is a great resource - it picks you up on campus at one of two stops. While in the dorms, there is a “tunnel system” in which students can walk from dorm to dorm. My daughter has friends with cars, which does make things easier at times, but I honestly would not want her to live off campus, only because RIT does a great job of clearing sidewalks/roads on campus when it snows. It is large and a bit sprawling, and she was at home used to walking to a bus stop to get a bus to the Boston subway - not all is walkable, but buses/Lyfts/Ubers are available. Rochester proper has some fun areas - Henrietta is somewhat of a sprawling shopping center.