There have been a lotof comments by myself and others in the various threads. The purpose of this thread is to enable open discussion regarding decisions to apply to or enroll at RPI as a member of the class of 2023.
Does anyone know when RPI will start releasing early decision 1 notifications?
@AJC By December 15th although previous years have been by December 10th.
(Source: [DEADLINE DATES](https://admissions.rpi.edu/undergraduate/apply))
Has anyone researched average financial aid and what is realistic to expect in terms of merit aid?
@AJC
look at line [url=<a href=âhttps://provost.rpi.edu/institutional-research/common-datasets%5DH2j%5B/urlâ>https://provost.rpi.edu/institutional-research/common-datasets]H2j[/url]
RPI is nearly 100% âneed metâ so whatever you need to make it happen-they will try to provide. According to that link, the average student needs about $40k but that is ofcourse the average. If you need more, they give more, if you need less, you get less.
@slimmy The big question is what RPI considers âstudentâs need.â EFC is an unrealistic number that Federal government comes up with to avoid paying need-based aid. For many families EFC is not affordable.
Does RPI always extend the application deadlines like it did this year? The RD deadline was supposed to be 1/15 but they extended it to 1/28 and Iâm pretty sure the extended ED deadlines, too.
It seems to me that RPI, more than other comparable schools, plays admissions games. Constant emails to apply, special applications with misleading wording, RPI marketing medals, and extended deadlines just to name a few. Do they think that students are stupid?
While I understand your frustration, butI think you are being a bit harsh. Having gone through all of the âfunâ 12 months ago, I actually think RPI is a fair actor here. As for the medal, I wish my son got it and had those $s in the bank going into the application process. My only rub with the medal was with our HS, who should award to those who are qualified and likely to seriously consider the school. My son is 2nd semester freshman, who got into the usual NE schools at RPI level, and so far, very happy with the decision to attend. Best of luck.
Son accepted at Purdue First Year Engineering and awarded a nice OOS scholarship. With the starting cost of Purdue at $42K for OOS and RPI starting at $71K, can anyone tell me why I would/should pay more for RPI? I am a parent that didnât have any of the options that my son has but I assume they are both great Engineering schools. Why would you pay more for the same or similar education?
@FLGDAD My daughter was accepted last cycle to both Purdue and RPI. She was awarded the medal scholarship at RPI so it brought the price way down. She still chose Purdue, but cost was comparable so not the factor.
Purdue is very stingy with OOS scholarships in engineering so I suspect your son will see merit $ from RPI.
@momofsenior1
Appreciate your reply and the info. Visiting Purdue April 3 and will make decision after that trip. Will visit RPI after decisions on March 15. Did RPI award scholarships simultaneous with admissions? Purdue was a week after acceptance.
I believe dd got scholarship info from RPI with her acceptance.
I strongly urge people to ask the following questions regarding merit scholarships.
Are they renewable? If so under what conditions? and what is the renewal percentage?
If there are conditions for renewal is there a probation period and/or the possibility for reinstatement?
If there is a probation period what is the percentage who get off probation and retain their merit scholarship?
If reinstatement is possible what is the percentage of those reinstated.
Can I see a percentage by term chart of both students and amounts.
Are recipients expected to fund raise? If so are they penalized for not meeting goals?
Do not accept answers like âevery award is differentâ, âevery student is uniqueâ. Hone in on numbers.
Anyone know if RD is coming out tomorrow? I had called & spoke to someone in admissions about another Mather & they told me 3/2 at 7 pm? Sound about right?
When we logged into my sonâs status page it said Decision Date: March 9th. Maybe everyone is different ??ââď¸
Yeah just checked again and his Decision Notification date is populated on the status page.
I have March 9th too. Is the release time 7 pm?
@gymnast9261 According to the RPI twitter post decisions will be made March 9th at 7pm. Good luck!
For those who asked about aid, I think itâs always a crapshoot but I wouldnât count on RPI being great. Out of 25ish college acceptances that my kids have received, RPI gave us by far the worst aid. Cost to go there was more than 10,000 more than anywhere else, including schools with comparable sticker prices. That said, it all depends on the schoolâs formula. I guess itâs possible something in RPIâs formula just worked against my familyâs financial situation, but might work well for yours.