Thanks for all the names of the restaurant and spots to visit close to campus. It helps to picture life in the campus.
Does anyone know if RPI has ‘orchestra club’ ? my daughter plays violin and she likes being in orchestra club - not sporty but loves to ski.
So do students mostly stay on campus housing then - for the 4 years ?
Where do they usually intern ?
Thanks for going into so many details - it does sound like a great place!
My son isn’t in the orchestra, but my daughter (high school junior) has looked into it at RPI. She’s also interested in being part of an orchestra. She plays the violin too. I haven’t seen an RPI club devoted to stringed instruments, but it’s easy to start clubs. My daughter would love to play in the orchestra or in an ensemble.
https://hass.rpi.edu/announcements/school-hass-announces-rensselaer-orchestra-and-concert-choir-auditions
The ski and snowboard club is very popular at RPI. Some people in the club are brand new to snow sports.
You have to live on campus for 2 years, and then students generally move off campus. One major perk of Troy is that off-campus housing is incredibly cheap compared to bigger cities and compared to on campus housing. It’s something I hadn’t planned on for the 3rd and 4th years - paying less because housing is really a deal! Some kids live across the street from campus, or just a few blocks away. Many kids don’t ever bring a car to campus.
I can’t talk about internships and coops yet because my son is a freshman, but I know the info is on the RPI website somewhere. They get good internships, and the school brings in all of the big names for the job fair events. Coops aren’t handed to students - they have to apply and interview.
Ours too. CSM and RPI. We got more merit $ from RPI.
Same here. Which way are you leaning?
We’ll be visiting 3 schools during winter and spring break. She got into UMD also but not direct admit to CS. So I think we are ruling it out. Her sister has been influencing her to come to RPI. So far RPI is 9k cheaper than CSM. Unless they offer more merit, she’s leaning towards RPI.
She did love the CSM campus when she visited for a sports camp and especially the mines hike and thought the kids were very cheerful.
We shall see.
Mines is truly beautiful and a fabulous location — small town, edge of big city and Rocky Mountains. We will probably visit RPI soon.
Wait til the cold snap is over. Look at Friday’s weather! Brr.
UMD I heard has beautiful location
For those applying/considering to Mines, did you also apply to Boulder ? Or any reason not too ?
My D also admitted at Boulder CS but did not apply to Mines, because we don’t really know much at that time. Although I heard Mines is academically really good.
Colorado is closer than east coast/Rpi. But not sure yet.
Did not apply to Boulder since we have great in-state options. Mines is STEM focused and feels more like a private school than a public school.
I see, makes sense. We are from CA and very hard to get into UC; so venturing out . But yeah, might as well do private school if OOS
No didn’t apply to Boulder. Mines is strong STEM school and smaller in size.
We didn’t apply to UC mainly because of big class sizes and how CS is impacted. We didn’t want to play the waitlist game as we experienced with older kid.
Only CA school D23 applied was Stanford like playing lottery. Also because she took college level CS classes last two summers at Stanford and did really well. But she knows it’s a gamble.
Yah I got what you say about UC. My D is also applying for CS - so hard to get in . And I heard about large class size at UC.
This is our first one so will learn to strategize better, I will have 2 more kids after that.
Hi, my twins are admitted to Purdue CS honor programs and RPI (medalist), does anyone in the group have a child who was admitted to Purdue and chose RPI? Why?
And any feedback to share of Wisconsin-Madison and Case-Western?
My son toured at Purdue, but decided he didn’t want to compete with a gigantic undergrad student body on an enormous campus, so he didn’t apply. Undergraduate students: 37,949!
My son is an RPI medalist and current freshman. He also applied to Case Western and was admitted with a generous scholarship. We love CWRU, but in the end, RPI ticked more of the boxes he was interested in.
Thank you for the feedback.
The Purdue CS Honor programs are hard to get into, and both of my kids are still debating. They have friends at both schools. Purdue seems to have more connections (co-op) for the CS major. As parents, we love RPI’s class size and proximity to home.
Having looked closely at both, you are a number at Purdue. You are a person at RPI.
My son was accepted for ITWS, but wants to switch to CS. He sent an email and was told that a decision will have to wait until after RD has been sent out. How much different is ITWS from CS?
As I recall the IWTS classes are hard to get into if it is not your major. Some would be attractive electives, but slots for non-majors are tight. An option is to check out doing a dual major after entry. Again, as I recall, the twist is he will need a specific GPA for a few of the CS core classes, including the challenging data structures.
My son started computer systems engineering and then wanted to switch to CS. I forget why, but the switch was not going to be easy. However, a dual major was easier to get approved (as long as core CS grades where B or better). With a little planning, got both.