<p>I have known one Rose-Hulman student, who graduated several years ago. For various reasons, he could probably have gone anywhere he wanted, and he chose Rose-Hulman. (He was from California, but had strong family ties in Indiana.) He loved it. He has loved his life since. It was a great choice for him. He would have found MIT oppressively snobby, tense, and pretentious.</p>
<p>That said, the Common Data Sets reveal some real, objective differences between Rose-Hulman and MIT (and other schools).</p>
<p>Here is the percentage of men and women:
MIT- 54/46
CT - 59/41
HM - 60/40
RPI - 70/30
R-H - 80/20</p>
<p>Rose-Hulman is, as previously noted, very male. It is also very, very white. Percentages of white, not Hispanic (domestic) students, Asian (domestic) students, (domestic) URMs, and internationals:</p>
<p>It may be worth asking whether such utter lack of diversity affects the educational value of the college (and what an engineering institution with fewer than 20 ethnic Chinese per class is like). It’s a little facile to point this out, but Terre Haut was essentially the birthplace of the Ku Klux Klan. I don’t think that the Klan is active there anymore, but it is an area that does NOT resemble the world much.</p>
<p>Wow, are you saying that there still a sort of what we call racism over there? I am serious with diversity and very sensitive about racism and that make me reconsider mon avis even though I found the school very friendly.</p>
<p>I thought I just said it’s a matter of perspective. -_____-"</p>
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<p>Not really. BC is like that just because it’s really not that urban compared to MIT. But if you look at Harvard, I really enjoy Harvard’s campus, and I don’t think they’re trying to create a “fantasy forest land.” Brick buildings (or in the case of BC, limestone buildings) just go really well with grass and trees.</p>
<p>also harvard’s campus is a total bore. same w/ BC. The only campuses I found that really stood out were Columbia, University of Virginia, maybe Stanford out west. The rest are totally boring. :P</p>
<p>With respect to the OP, if the cost of MIT tuition is not a factor, there is absolutely no reason not to be doing a visit. I respect anyone that’s willing to look past prestige, but you’ve got to do it with both eyes open.</p>
<p>Racism in Terre-Haute==rOSE-hULMAN? Thats a quite serious issue your are bringing about now…Objectively, MIT has a far dmore diverse student body.</p>
<p>Columbia is soooo congested. Also I applaud the fact that Columbia managed to have that kind of campus in New York City (as opposed to NYU, which doesn’t have a campus at all), the fact that it is in an ultra-urban area also caused severe space-deficiency. Just look at their tiny, cookie-cutter quad (although I guess having one is better than not having any). Although I can see why you like Columbia if you like MIT…their library building (I dunno, the one that’s across from Alma Mater) looks uncannily like the buildings around Killian Court, except with names of philosophers inscribed on the top rather than scientists =p</p>
<p>Stanford just looks like a country club. Too inconvenient for my liking (hard to get to places solely on foot).</p>
<p>^right. Quite frankly I am fervent pourfendeur of racism and that gives me a dark side of terre-haute. But I reasonably think MIT in term of diversity is way over Rose-Hulman.</p>
<p>I also think that you have to understand me since I havn`t visited MIT and that that is really difficult to reason in these conditions. I might tend to prime Rose since that’s the one I have a better image of.</p>
<p>I feel like it’s very different to get a sense of MIT solely from CC, and especially only from CC. I would say that the blogs (completely being objective here, without influence of self-interest) provide somewhat of a better picture, but I would say it is very hard to get a sense of the school just from messages on the internet (even talking to a MIT student or alum live would be more preferable).</p>
<p>But either way, you should just go where you want to go. If you still think Rose is better than MIT, then by all means, go there. I wouldn’t agree with you on the choice, but I wouldn’t try to convince you anymore than what the people have been saying here and (presumably) your own research on the internet because I think there’s already a lot of available information.</p>
<p>This was quite a discussion, my D is at Rose and she know of 2 people who did take Rose over MIT. Yes, there was a reason for and some of the reasons the OP gave. </p>
<p>My D also could of applied at MIT could she have gotten in Maybe, but that was not the right school for her. I have been to Rose and it is quite a school. I have actually been to many college and have to say this one has its act together. </p>
<p>They send a lot of their students to impressive graduate programs…but this school is a undergraduate schools and they turn out great engineers. So before you tell the OP not to do be sure you talk about both schools and yes I’ve been to MIT. It is a great school but so is Rose. </p>
<p>Different school fit different people what I do know is the OP will get a great education at Rose.</p>
<p>I also think that the MIT Admissions blogs give you a much better feel for MIT than College Confidential. Of course, experiencing it for yourself is the best way :D</p>
<p>yes all of you are completely right. Trying to get a picture of MIT only on CC is not the best way to convince myself.And yes, my investigations are not limited to CC. I have read quite a few MIT blogs. I mean it is really alluring but without any sort of drama or fiction, I will make my decision considering this last thread as a plus in my quest of information. Thanks a lot! you guyz are amazing and I hope to see you if ever I do come to Mass.:)</p>
I’ve told this story on CC before, but it seems to fit, so I will roll it out again…
When I went to MIT, one of my close friends from HS went to Harvard, and so, I regularly visited the Harvard Campus, and spent time there. I never really felt completely happy there, and I confided in my friend one day that Harvard always felt a little bit pretentious to me in a way that I was not completely comfortable with. My friend looked at me and said “that’s exactly the way I feel when I am at MIT.”</p>
<p>So yes, I am happy to call MIT pretentious, but it is a very, very different pretention to Harvard or many other schools. I think we have seen some of it in this thread.</p>