<p>RIT runs sort of a nice, brief (one night) college camp that introduces kids to a myriad of career/college choices. They just started accepting registrations (and it does fill up) so I thought I'd pass it on in case anybody is interested. It's really too much to list here, but includes computing, engineering, math/science, photography, graphic arts, art and design, business, etc. (Lots of fun, techy and artsy stuff). </p>
<p>It is either July 21 and 22 or August 4 and 5.</p>
<p>Wow! Sounds great, and RIT is one of the schools my son will apply to next year.</p>
<p>Too bad we're in California and can't easily fly there for a 1.5-day visit. :(</p>
<p>mootmom:
That is too bad and, unfortunately, we have one of the most expensive airports in the country too!</p>
<p>My DD goes to RIT so ask away if you have any questions about the school. She's home for the summer so I'll try to get her to respond. She's a Graphic Design major and her bf is an engineering major.</p>
<p>One of my kids went to a session last summer and enjoyed it. RIT also had things for the parents, such as a bus tour of Rochester narrated by a couple admissions officers.</p>
<p>Hello. My DD is interested in Photography. The programs at RIT look amazing. We approached the RIT desk at a college fair and my daughter was immediately turned off. In her words, the 3 guys interested were all "geeks". What is your daughter's impressions of the guys at school? I'd hate for my DD to not apply to a school with great programs because of her perception of the student body. This sounds so lame I know, but it's very important to a 16 year old girl. Thanks.</p>
<p>My DD's friends were surprised she chose RIT (geeky school) over Syracuse (party school). Of course, those are just stereotypes but there is some truth to most stereotypes. There are many types of kids at RIT. I definitely wouldn't describe my DD or her friends as geeks. She has said that most kids are focused on their work.</p>
<p>Seems to me that there are plenty of boys to choose from at RIT! I did a project with some RIT kids (mostly boys) and I couldn't for the life of me figure out why I didn't look at RIT when I was a a cute teenager choosing a college. :)</p>
<p>By the way, explain to your daughter that in the long run you probably WANT to end up with a geek. Smart guys, good money, good loyalty, good husbands!</p>
<p>I have a friend who's daughter is a rising senior at RIT. She's really enjoyed it. She is an industrial design major. She told us that the dorms are full of kids that think a great party is a lan party. For those of you that don't have computer gamers, that's when the they all hook up their computers and play the same game. She said it was a geeky school, but also artsy so there were all kinds of kids there. They also have a large deaf population. See the RIT site for some reviews.</p>
<p>My son went to the career weekend thing last year, and he was wowed at how they had the latest and greatest technology. When it came time for applications though, he decided that he didn't want to go to such a technical school, and decided to go the liberal art route.</p>
<p>Thanks for the responses on RIT's student body. My daughter has been leaning towards liberal art schools, but with RIT's reputation for Photography, and the fact that it's a good target school for her, I am hoping to have her apply. How do your kids like Rochester? My DD has been focused on schools in or near a city, but is considering others that have good Photography programs. She's looking at Communications programs as well since I'm insisting that she needs to double major or maybe just minor in Photography. This is why liberal arts has been an important factor, but schools are so competitive with kids applying to too many schools, that RIT was looking very good to me.</p>
<p>freshtart:
I don't know a whole lot about RIT - but I do live nearby and I've been there several times. RIT is in a suburb of Rochester. It is in sort of an unattractive, strip-mall town. But Rochester overall has lots of good things about it. Of course it is a photography haven with the George Eastman House Museum here and RIT etc. We have lots of good restaurants and there are some fun neighborhoods in the city (especially Park Ave and University Ave - not near RIT or U of R) where many kids have apartments. I see lots of students (U of R and RIT) at the public market on Saturdays (usually at the coffee shops/bakeries and in other food-seeking modes). The city also has a very lively music scene, largely because of the presence of Eastman School of Music downtown. There are many musicians who live here and lots of music clubs in the "East End" downtown. </p>
<p>I will say that kids who have cars are probably happier than those who don't. I'm sure there is some sort of public transportation serving RIT, but, in all honesty, Rochester is drive-around kind of place. RIT seems to have plenty of parking. Kids who get off the U of R and RIT campuses once in awhile and really make an attempt to learn the area seem to be happiest at both schools.</p>
<p>The RIT campus itself can best be described as modern-high tech. It does not feel or look like an ivy-draped LAC, but personally I like it. It suits the sort of work that is being done there. Inside the buildings it always feels very HANDS ON. Lots of art facilities, engineering stuff, numerous labs and large workspaces - classrooms/lecture halls seem to be in the definite minority. Kids are DOING stuff there. Out in the halls are kids practicing surveying, in workspaces (I don't really know what to call them) there are kids building things, wiring things, in the art areas there are studios and models and lights everywhere. It really feels very different, to me anyway, than a LAC. (Don't get me wrong though I am also a big proponent of LACs.)</p>
<p>RIT has a large deaf population and so classes nearly always have a signer. Rochester has a large population of young deaf people (we also have a deaf school here for k-12). It makes it interesting to see the kids signing away. The kids seem to mix pretty well.</p>
<p>By the way I have a friedn who is a commercial photographer here. He has a VERY successful business, and it sounds like a lot of fun. He travels around the world. </p>
<p>Has your daughter visited? SHe probably should.</p>
<p>Son is back from the RIT Intro to Careers event. He had a great time. Several kids from his school and orchestra were there, as well as a kid he knows from computer camp. There were 500 kids there, and they hold two sessions every summer.</p>
<p>He thought the sessions were very helpful to his understanding exactly what these various majors are. He signed up for Elec Eng, Comp Eng, Mech Eng, and Micro Elec. He came out saying he thought he wanted to do Comp Eng. He also attended the Penn State Engineering Open House, but he felt this event gave him better insight into what engineering really is.</p>
<p>RIT is in our home town, and like college seekers everywhere we tend to snub our local schools. While walking through the parking lot we were amazed at all the different states people were from! Rochester has such an inferiority complex.</p>
<p>On Friday evening and Saturday they had a full roster of events for parents. We only did two - the tour and a general information session. We skipped the various Rochester tours, the financial aid session, and the careers of the 21st century session.</p>
<p>The info session was done by dean of admissions. Perhaps his greatest emphasis was on the fact that RIT's primary focus is on undergraduate teaching. Also, that this is a school well positioned for the "World is Flat" scenario. Lots of co-ops are done, in fact they are required for many of the majors. Engineering is consequently a 5-year endeavor. RIT is on the quarter system, which I know has pros and cons...</p>
<p>I have been on the RIT campus several times briefly and never thought much one way or the other about it, but I have to say I was very impressed with it this time around. It's not a green, ivy covered, pretty-quad kind of campus. It is modern, high tech, and sleek. All the buildings are the identical brick (hence the name, Brick City). Most buildings are connected by enclosed walkways. </p>
<p>Downside - I know from experience that RIT can be very windy and cold in the winter. Also, it is located in an admittedly ugly town - just a sprawlville, strip-mall, fairly nasty suburb. Clearly kids with cars have an advantage. It is not walking distance to anything really.</p>
<p>The facilities are exciting to say the least. Wow. There are many new buildings on campus, including a really great field house; it seemed that every building we were in was new or had a new addition, or a new program -- all with high tech names that I don't even know what they do (eg. Bioinformatics???). There is lots of new construction going on. Numerous computer labs, clean rooms, a wind tunnel, art galleries, darkrooms, and lots of other inexplicable (to me anyway) lab/workshop looking places. Like all "tech" schools clearly lecturing is not at the forefront.</p>
<p>My son stayed in what I suppose is a typical freshman dorm. It was pretty nice actually. Good furniture, regular sized rooms, hot. I've always been under the impression that housing at RIT sort of deteriorates after the first year, and I wasn't really able to get good answers about that from the typically smiley-faced tour guides. Apparently after freshman year on-campus apartments are available to most students - with any overflow in a way-off-campus old hotel that I would not be happy about. But they did not indicate that there are any problems at all with housing, so maybe I'm wrong about that.</p>
<p>RIT tuition is a little lower than some similar schools. For 2006 it is $24,627 (room and board an additional $8700). I suspect RIT does a decent job meeting need, but is skimpy on merit money. There is the usual tech school 70% men, 30% women problem. </p>
<p>If I don't sound especially excited about RIT you should know that this is my response to all the "tech" schools. All those inexplicable equations and symbols on the whiteboards, scary machines, Calculus books in the book store - it all would paralyze me. HOWEVER this most definitely is not the response of my son - for whom an LAC looks like a "tortuous death from boredom." He thought RIT looked just great, although I think he's wondering about his ECs which are cello and theater - neither of which seems well represented on campus. (He really liked the playhouse in the middle of the RPI campus for instance.)</p>
<p>Although my son will almost certainly apply to RIT I have some reservations about kids not leaving their home towns for school. It just seems like a such a good time to get out and see a new place. </p>
<p>Hopefully this report will help someone thinking about RIT.</p>