Hey guys- I am a POC woman pursuing a degree in Mechanical engineering, and I got accepted into both RPI and Penn State programs. They both cost the same, so it was no financial difference for me to attend either, yet, I have trouble deciding between the two. I am slightly concerned about RPI’s rankings compared to Penn State, despite it being a solely STEM school. I am also concerned about the demographics, as I heard unfavorable things concerning women minorities in engineering schools. Penn state is larger but does it have more prestige than RPI? And how does a State school compared to a smaller institution concerning opportunities? Thanks and I hope to hear from someone soon!
Since it appears that you are unsure regarding your choices’ general academic attributes, note the below analysis (from a few years ago), which will offer you perspective on the general student profiles at your two choices (#s 36 and 219).
https://www.businessinsider.com/the-610-smartest-colleges-in-america-2015-9
These schools have very different feels.
From purely an academic perspective, I would chose RPI over Penn State but college is so much more than that.
My D was worried about the gender imbalance at RPI along with the new ARCH program.
I’d recommend reading through both school’s subforums here on CC and also reading the student newspapers. That can give you a bit more of a feel for what issues are happening around campus.
I can’t speak about Penn State directly but my D’s top choices were all public flagships. She’s finishing her second year at Purdue and the opportunities have been tremendous.
Note that PSU requires students entering as frosh in the engineering division earn a 3.10 college GPA in the first 40-59 credits (3-4 semesters) to be allowed to declare the mechanical engineering major.
https://bulletins.psu.edu/undergraduate/colleges/engineering/mechanical-engineering-bs/#howtogetintext
https://advising.engr.psu.edu/advising/entrance-to-major/index.aspx
My advice is that if you decide down the road that you don’t want STEM, RPI is probably not the place for you. The gender imbalance and ARCH are legitimate concerns, so I’d lean to PSU. good luck!
I’m not sure if this helps, but someone showed me an interesting article about how less women on campus is not necessarily a bad thing when it comes to safety/dating: https://money.com/college-gender-ratios-dating-hook-up-culture/