I’m applying to colleges this fall and am trying to decide whether Rose-Hulman or IUPUI would be better. Planning to major in Mechanical Engineering.
Am an introvert who would prefer to go somewhere that is quieter/more study-focused (few parties). (Terre Haute is fine for me despite its boring reputation)
Rose-Hulman is smaller and it sounds like there is more individual help/attention which sounds like a big benefit, but I’ve heard good things about IUPUI.
I like the idea of smaller classes/a more focused environment but I’ve been told IUPUI has a similar feel, not sure if this is true.
Rose will definitely be the smaller and more focused of the two. I can not speak for engineering at IUPUI, but the undergrad environment there is definitely commuter heavy with a pretty good rate of attrition at least early on and in general Ed classes.
I do know people who have come out of engineering there to end up at Allison, Rolls Royce aircraft, etc.
The trade off is really smaller/more personal with a traditional on campus environment (R-H) vs favorable cost at IUPUI.
Rose IS small. Not sure how much smaller you get. It’s engineering 24/7 and you will find your peeps there. Students that like this type of environment love this school and the school loves them back with great internships and job opportunities.
What’s your budget? I’m guessing you may be in-state, so IUPUI would be below $10K tuition for you, and Rose-Hulman is very pricey without aid.
If you want to stay near southern Indiana, another school you could consider is U of Louisville. Residents of certain states, including Indiana, get great auto-merit aid there. Some Indiana counties qualify for in-state tuition there anyway. They have a very good engineering school, with a full complement of degree options.
IUPUI has some engineering degrees, but leans more heavily on engineering technology in their program, probably because Indiana engineering is mostly handled by Purdue proper.
U of Louisville is pretty big, but getting into the honors college isn’t too difficult and that may offer the environment that you’re looking for. The requirements for honors students are minimal, and mostly seem like they’d be a nice experience for the students. There are engineering and honors dorm options for you to have a close cohort.
Being an introvert in a big city is very different than being an introvert on a rather seculeded campus where everyone is focused on a similar major. Introverting can be done anywhere, but will look very different depending on where it is done. Where would you be most comfortable? Are you looking to be slightly less introverted? IUPUI is pretty commuter heavy which might make it harder to meet people whereas you will be surrounded by your people 24/7 at RH.
Rose is tough to beat with those requirements. My son has a friend (He was actually his math tutor in 4th grade) that went to Rose in 2016 graduated with degree in CS and Mathematics with a 4.0 in 3 years.
Rose helped him tremendously with this.
Rose is on the quarter system vs semester. You may like that also.
My son was accepted by Rose for MechE, and we were hoping he would go there. Unfortunately, he could not get over their location five miles outside Terre Haute. We were greatly impressed by RHIT for several reasons. First, the school is totally focused on teaching undergraduates. Class sizes are capped at 30 students and teachers self-select for teaching instead of research. Our son went to Rose’s summer Catapult STEM program and the professors there were terrific. Second, it is ranked No 1 for almost every engineering major for schools that do not confer PhDs. Third, we compared Rose’s salary and grad admissions outcomes to UofM (we are in MI), and they are comparable.
If you are fine with the school’s size and location I would highly recommend Rose Hulman.
I forgot an important bit of information in my initial post: RHIT gave my son a merit award equal to around 50% of tuition for all four years, or $26,000/year. His stats were strong for the school and he attended their summer Catapult program, which certainly helped, but I have read posts from several other CC members who received similar awards.