<p>My son plans to start college as a BME major, and I know GT is ranked second after JHU. However, RPI is a very good school, Is smaller, will likely have fewer students in classes, etc. I'm worried because of the fall in rankings and bad press RPI has received lately, and the positions they've had open at the top. (can't think of what they're called - the heads of the various schools). I'd like to hear from some of you veteran posters who seem to know a lot more than I do. The schools will be similar in cost, and he is interested in doing a semester abroad. Advice please?? He also has been accepted to UMD, but he seems less interested in going there, even though it would be significantly less expensive. oh yeah, he's visited both schools and feels he could live with either. The most important factor for him is the prestige of the college. </p>
<p>The rankings are the US News Rankings. I think they were tied with Case Western in the low 40s last year and this year Case went up and RPI is at 50. They had 3 deans depart within the last couple of years, but I read somewhere within CC that they each went to “dream jobs” and didn’t leave because of anything at RPI. RPI had a bunch of layoffs within the last couple years that didn’t make some people happy also. RPI seems to have gone down in the engineering rankings, but I don’t have a source for that information other than within CC. All that said, it still seems like a great fit for my son, we were impressed, especially with the students when we visited for the medal winners day, and he is an RPI medal winner, so the tuition should be comparable to Georgia Tech. One of the things I appreciate most is that every time I’ve called RPI it was easy to get a real person who could give me information I was looking for. Both schools have their strengths and weaknesses, and I will likely help my son decid but leave the final decision to him.</p>
<p>Rankings in general are pretty broken, but if they are your main factor and you’re comparing a #2 ranked school with one probably not in the top 15 then there’s hardly any question as to where to go.</p>
<p>The small-school advantage RPI has is nice. I can’t really comment as to what this would mean for your son since I wasn’t in BME, but as a CS/Math major I felt by the end of my fourth year I knew the majority of professors from both departments pretty well, virtually all of whom I felt privileged to meet (and, in some instances, work with!). Perhaps because I’m a huge introvert, I can’t really say I knew many of my peers very well (some of the ones I did know, however, were pretty exceptionally smart).</p>
<p>Nonetheless, I’m sure GT has some advantages of its own (beyond rank, that is) that merit much attention. Have you asked people on the Georgia Tech boards for their ideas?</p>
<p>Thanks for the feedback. My son is also very introverted, and I think he’d have a similar experience to you at RPI. it wouldn’t surprise me if he changed his major to math and he seemed to really click with the math majors we met at the medalists open house. I’m a little worried that at a school like GT he would get lost amongst all the type A extroverts, but it too has a lot to offer besides rankings, such as their intern and coop programs and study abroad opportunities. I will submit a post to the GT board also.</p>
<p>It’s pretty sad that RPI has to lose students to GT because of rankings. GT may rank higher but the fact of matter is that they are peer universities and are of the same academic caliber. Look at stats that matter like standardized test scores, endowment per student and you will see that they are comparable. </p>
<p>If “prestige” is what matters then pick GT. I for one prefer the smaller size of RPI and would pick it over GT anyday.</p>
<p>We were at RPI this past weekend. We really liked it. We couldn’t make it in time on Thursday for the official tours and walked around ourselves but we made it to an information session the next day. I think the message that students will not fall through cracks is clear. Sounds like all students get to know their professors. I went to a very very large university with good rankings but if you don’t make the connections then it’s tougher to move ahead. I think making connections is very possible at RPI. I got the impression that all students can do research starting in their freshman year - this is not possible at most other colleges until your junior year.</p>
<p>We will be visiting GT at the end of March and we will let you know what we thought.</p>
<p>As far as the finances go, yes RPI is expensive and funds will be influencing our decision too. My D did get a private scholarship specific for RPI (not affiliated with the school) for $30K/year and today we find out if she is a Finalist for the President’s Scholar at GT. So we will see. She was invited to an all expense paid few days at U of Michigan this weekend - pieces of the puzzle are falling into place.</p>
<p>However, she really really liked RPI and the potential that’s available to not just a few but to all its students. If you are into innovative reseasrch - RPI is great.</p>
<p>Thanks everyone. For anyone curious I also posted in the GT board, and got many responses. Although GT is better if you purely go by the rankings (and maybe the weather), RPI is a great school and you’re likely to have smaller classes, get to know your professors more, and generally probably feel a little more “looked after.”
Rico2, you seem to know more than many people about RPI. Can you address any of the bad press issues and do you know why RPI has fallen in the rankings? Overall I favor RPI slightly, but It’s still more of a gut feel than based on pure data.</p>
<p>I would agree with Rico2 that these are peer institutions and your S’s decision would best be made on his feel for “fit” for the school, especially since these two schools are so different in terms of size, region of country, etc.</p>
<p>(Also, IMHO, the USNews rankings really don’t mean that much.)</p>
<p>The problem with USNews is that those rankings unfortunately do matter to people. When a company tries to decide where to recruit, they usually start with the state flagship(s) then add in programs from the USNews Top 10-15 in their field (assuming they’re at above average pay) or they’ll pick from the top schools (as defined by USNews in their field) in their region.</p>
<p>Employers don’t care about rankings, they care about results. If companies get good workers from a certain school, they come back to pick up more. I have seen this happen with a couple of different companies in my three years here.</p>
<p>I’m not a BME, but I have come across very few faculty members here who do not care. In addition, the free tutoring and homework help program (ALAC) is really good at helping with first and second year classes. Most students who do not succeed just don’t seek help, there is plenty available.</p>
<p>I have been impressed with the caliber of the GT kids I have met, I think both schools do a pretty good job.</p>
<p>I would do more research on BME as a major though, a ton of kids get into it and it seems like they have an awful hard time finding a job. BME tries to do too much, and if a medical company wants someone to do a mechanical thing they will hire an ME over a BME and if they want an electrical thing they will hire an EE over a BME.</p>
<p>There are over 500 engineering schools. Where do you start looking?</p>
<p>I’ve been involved in recruiting, as well. Depending on the number of new hires you normally target, you develop a list of schools to recruit. That list comes from the local flagships, the top USNews schools, and any schools with which you already have a relationship (such as the CEO’s alma mater). You recruit those schools for a number of years and monitor metrics (the average tenure of a student coming from that school in your company, the average conversion rates of interview to offer and from offer to acceptance, the performance evaluations of students from those schools, etc.) If a school starts to drop off in a metric, you leave and start recruiting another. How do you pick that new school? Probably from the USNews top 15 list.</p>
<p>I have also been involved in a signficant amount of recruiting over the years. I have never seen or heard of anyone going to a college rankings list to decide where to recruit.</p>
<p>The hiring managers involved in the recruiting process are experts in the field and they know from their years of experience in that particular field what the best schools are (from the various people they have met and worked with over the years).</p>