<p>pls help me out</p>
<p>major in nuclear engineering</p>
<p>Rpi.....................</p>
<p>Purdue....</p>
<p>RPI is much more highly respected in engineering. It is right behind MIT & Cornell in sending its students to getting PhDs in engineering.</p>
<p>Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute</p>
<p>could you guys tell me why?
whats better than purdue?</p>
<p>gellino had told all the reasons.</p>
<p>one thing, is US news raking important and reliable?
i'm very confused b/c Purdue's engineering schools is 6th, but everyone is telling me that RPI is better..
I have to make a decision by next week and I'm very very very confused</p>
<p>Purdue, slightly ahead. If tuition is mcuh lower at PU, then Purdue by a longshot. If Big10 sports/more fun college is also important, then Purdue as well. If you like a tech/nerdy school environment better, RPI.</p>
<p>Lunnyisvet, it depends on what is most important to you. Purdue will offer you a very good engineering education with good balance for sports and social life. However if being the best engineer you can be is you top priority, there really is no contest here.. Rensselaer.
Here are some facts about RPI - </p>
<p>1) It was founded in 1824 and is the oldest engineering school in the
United States (yes older than MIT and Caltech). </p>
<p>2) The average SAT score at RPI is significantly higher than Purdue.
You will be in an evironment of superior students who share a
passion for engineering. </p>
<p>3) Purdue has a nuclear reactor but RPI has nuclear reactor and a
linear particle accelerator: </p>
<pre><code>http://www.linac.rpi.edu/general.html
</code></pre>
<p>4) If you are interested in nuclear medicine, RPI just opened up a world
class $100M biotechnology center which will augment that activity:
<a href="http://www.rpi.edu/research/biotech/index.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.rpi.edu/research/biotech/index.html</a></p>
<p>5) RPI is about to move into to lead among all universities in the world
in computing capacity</p>
<pre><code>http://news.rpi.edu/update.do?artcenterkey=1540
This new supercomputing center will the most powerful (70
TeraFLOPS) and any university on earth.
</code></pre>
<p>6) The school will only get better. Rensselaer has raised $670M toward
1 billion dollar capital campaign. </p>
<pre><code>http://www.rpi.edu/campaign/index.html
</code></pre>
<p>Don't blindly follow US News. The ranking have serious errors. For example, for the engineering rankings they have a popularity contest and have Purdue at #6 and RPI at number 18. But when they rank universities as a whole and factor in SAT, faculty ratio, etc, RPI is #43 and Purdue is #60.
Since RPI is primarily an engineering school, how is it possible to have a worse engineering school than Purdue but still outrank them in the overall ranking? It's not. US Rankings don't add up. </p>
<p>Bottom line - RPI is the easy choice if academic quality is the major factor. If you want a better balanced college experience, go to Purdue.</p>
<p>As an URA school Purdue has full access to the massive Fermi nuclear research facility in Chicago. Also that PhD ranking only covers PRIVATE schools.</p>
<p>From what I've seen EVERYWERE, Purdue is a better engineering school than RPI. If your out of state however I would chose RPI because you will probably have better research ops, faculty interaction, facilities, and everyone there will be mostly in the sciences (better overall atmosphere). If you're in-state, unless you got a huge scholarship to RPI, I would take Purdue.</p>
<p>I forgot to mention, I you are into energy research, check out this partnership between Rensselaer, Cornell and Brookhavan National Lab:</p>
<p>From the Purdue website: </p>
<p>First-Year Student Profile<br>
First-Year Class, West Lafayette Campus, Fall 2005</p>
<p>Size of class: 7,429
Number of applications: 24,052
Overall average high school class rank: 75th percentile
Average high school GPA: 3.4
Middle SAT I range: 1030-1260*
Average SAT I: 1150*
Middle ACT composite range: 23-28
Average ACT composite: 25
Number of National Merit Scholars: 86
Number of valedictorians: 240
* Out of a possible score of 1600</p>
<p>High School Class Rank<br>
Students in top 10% 27%
Students in top 25% 58% </p>
<p>From the RPI website:
The Undergraduate Class of 2009:
Percentage of valedictorians and salutatorians: 9%
Percentage of students who were Rensselaer Medalists: 24%
Percentage of students in top 10% of high school class: 61%
Average SAT combined: 1320
SAT 50th Percentile: 1220-1420
Average SAT Math: 686
Average SAT Verbal: 634
Average ACT score: 26
Average high school GPA: A-/B+</p>
<p>Purdue is a fine institution but RPI is a better one.</p>
<p>I'm sorry rico but even thought RPI sends more people to top 5 or top 10 engineering schools, Purdue IS one of the top 5-7 engineering schools.</p>
<p>And the reason it gets better placement is because the entry standards are higher, Purdue accepts many people because it's a big public school, and most people aren't doing engineering (which is more selective), but their graduation rate is not high (less than 64%).</p>
<p>I agree that RPI would be better for undergraduate because of funding and atmosphere etc..., but overall, in terms of reputation, and graduate programs (in engineering) Purdue is better.</p>
<p>For the OP I suggest RPI unless you're in-state for Purdue</p>
<p>If you considered ONLY the engineering students at both schools I'd bet a weeks pay that RPI's are still far stronger. RPI takes the prize.</p>
<p>rico, if you were to compare Purdue's engineering students scores to those from RPI, you might end up having to cut corners next week. Purdue is a pretty solid engineering school, RPI is not better.</p>
<p>OP: just make your choice on which environment you like better. Do you want to go to the Michigan or Notre Dame game on a Saturday afternoon, see yourself in a big college or do you prefer a smaller, all-tech environment? There is not much differentiation in terms of academics, use the other factors to guide your choice.</p>
<p>Sure Purdue is a solid engineering school, who said it wasn't? Obviously we're not going to agree on this. I maintain Rensselaer as the better overall but hey, its a free country. If others feel Purdue is better, fine, we've had a good debate and let the students decide for themselves</p>
<p>If you compare the faculty quality PU is better. Which is more important?</p>
<p>On what measure do you conclude that the faculty quality of Purdue is better? In general, I find that measures of faculty are much more difficult to assess than those for students. Plus to me, as a potential employer or grad school, they should be more concerned about the quality of the students; after all they'll be the ones doing the jobs and taking the courses and being TAs, not the faculty.</p>