<p>I'm a female senior undergraduate student at RPI and majoring in Biochemistry/ Biophysics with a minor in Psychology. RPI was my first pick from the beginning and no one from my rural hometown had ever heard of it. It was featured in US News/ Kaplan report as one of the 25 New Ivies during my junior year of high school and it clicked immediately for me. Here's the link to a summary of the article: America's</a> 25 New Elite 'Ivies' - The Daily Beast. I visited once with my family and once by myself staying with a freshman female student. </p>
<p>It's an interesting school that blends the classic geek lifestyle with a strong Greek presence (about 30%) and a cooperative atmosphere. I'm heavily involved with undergraduate research and my sorority. My friends and I joke that the "nerds" from high school come to RPI to meet other "nerd" friends and it's true. I use the term "nerd" in quotations because we are all nerds by virtue of our academic interests. We have a D1 hockey team in the ECAC so basically we play the ivy league schools, union and quinnipac. The football team is consistently good and alot of people are involved in at least inter-mural sports. There are 38 fraternities and ready for this... 5 sororities! The ratio evens out to around 60:40 as soon as the freshman boys get their laptops though. </p>
<p>Freshman housing is set up really well to facilitate collaboration. All freshies take the same classes for the most part so everyone in your dorm is taking all the same classes. I hate math... I'm awful at it comparatively but everyone else in my dorm was taking it too so they could help me. Some of the students had trouble with Intro to Psychology because English was their second language and they had trouble with the vocabulary so I helped them. At many tech schools (CalTech, MIT), students are so focused on being at the top of their class that they refuse to collaborate. They even go so far as to steal textbooks from the library. We considered ourselves a united front against the subject material. I'm not going to lie... RPI is a hard school and has a much lower than normal average GPA (google it). It tests your self-confidence when you get a 48 on your first Organic Chemistry exam even though the average was a 32. But I enjoyed every minute of it. </p>
<p>I love talking about RPI to prospective students and I've hosted for overnights countless times. Feel free to contact me if you're looking for actual student information and if you're interested, I can get you in contact with someone from your prospective major as well.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot for your info about PRI, especially the fact that PRI is a place for “nerds” :). My D is really a nerd (and she enjoys as is) and plans to join RPI to Biochemistry / Biophysics too. Our concern is, PRI is famous of its engineering majors, and Biochemistry belongs to a science department. Is Biochemistry in RPI not so catching eyeballs? How is the reputation of Biochem major from RPI is U.S.? Are those medical schools willing to accept graduates from RPI Biochem? My D is interested in pursuing a MD if possible, if not, then trying to get into Biomedical engineering post-graduate program.</p>
<p>cth163 you should contact the pre-health advisor at RPI to get your questions answered. I too am curious - if I get answers before you I will post. We will be going to admit day on 14th.</p>
<p>yeah think about. When/if we’re all parents and have kids, RPI will definitely be much more selective by then and our kids may thank us for giving them legacy status there :)</p>
<p>CTH: Major does not matter for applying to med school as long as you have all of the prerequisites. What does matter is having a high GPA, >30 mcat score, volunteering, clinical experience, shadowing, and leadership in your extracurriculars. You can do that with any major.</p>
<p>The school you’re applying from has a near negligible effect on your application. Going to a state school and getting a 3.8 would be about equal to going to Duke and getting a 3.7.</p>
<p>Just let her go where she would be most happy. If you are happy in your major and university, you will do better.</p>
<p>CTH163: RPI is one of the only schools with a combined Biochemistry/ Biophysics majors but many other schools have similar programs under different names. There’s lots of flexibility in what courses you take so it’s a good pre-med major in that you have room to take the pre-requisites that aren’t part of the curriculum. I’ve seen people come to RPI for Pre-Med and succeed but it’s not easy. GPA is important and getting a 4.0 at RPI is more difficult that at other schools where grade inflation is common. Ask admissions about the accelerated 7 year pre-med program with Albany Medical College. There’s a GPA requirement but if you get in and keep your GPA up, you are guaranteed acceptance to Albany Medical as a junior.</p>
<p>All this GPA talk is scaring me. I understand that if a student is a hard worker that they will do well. The part that worries me is if it’s like when I went to school and we only had a midterm 20% and a final exam 80% so you never got a feel for if you were understanding the material or answering questions thoroughly enough until it was too late. (not I did not attend RPI)</p>
<p>For those of you already at RPI, in any given science course (freshmen level) roughly how many assignments/tests etc do you have before final exam? Do you feel that you have a chance to adjust to the expected standard level before it’s too late?</p>
<p>Usually 4 exams and then the final. If you’re lucky you will have a small homework grade to help cushion your final average. </p>
<p>If a class is hard, nearly everyone does poorly. Thankfully that’s what curves are for! The average for most classes in BME are set at about a B-</p>