<p>Hi! I'm a high school senior and have been accepted to RPI, RIT, Manhattan College and Northeastern. I'm planning on majoring in engineering (specifically, either civil with a stress in environmental or mechanical with a stress in energy). </p>
<p>I'm at a loss as to what school to choose!! I visited them all and loves the campuses, though they're all very different. I loved the small class sizes at RIT and Manhattan as well as the laid-back atmosphere at RIT, but the co-op is so great at Northeastern and RPI's prestige/name seems unparalleled... I don't know what to do. I'd love to hear some opinions! (particularly regarding internship/co-op quality and the likeliness of going to grad school or just going straight into the workforce after graduation depending on the school). </p>
<p>Also, I was accepted to RIT’s honors program. And financially speaking, with scholarships and everything, tuition will cost about the same at each so money is not really a factor in deciding.</p>
<p>If you can afford Northeastern, I would go there for the co-op and opportunity to live and work in Boston at a young age. However, it is very expensive so you should figure out if you can afford it.</p>
<p>Thank you so much for your feedback! Barrk123, why do you choose RPI over the others? I’m just curious - are you familiar with the programs/what do you like best?</p>
<p>I’ve only visited two of the schools so I can only comment of them. I loved RPI (as did my son) Had the FA worked more in our favor, that’s where he would be going in the Fall. Great engineering program, great campus, great (but not overbearing) sports program, and more and more efforts being made to build up the arts and humanities. (EMPAC is still one of my favorite, all-time college buildings!) I live very close to Manhattan college and have gone to Jasper games many times. It’s a really good school…but I only caution you that (and you know this since you visited) the college sits smack in the middle of a very residential community (well, the Bronx version of residential)…and there’s definately a very big “town and gown” rift. Alot of students live off campus and rent apartments in the neighborhood buildings and do what college kids do - have parties, come home late, leave beer cans in the lobby…whatever…and the college kids are not very well loved by their neighbors. It’s not a huge thing…just something you should know, esp if you’re looking to have a more traditional college experience.</p>
<p>Thank you so much again for all the feedback! </p>
<p>Is RIT really considered that inferior to the others? I’ve gotten the impression that their co-op program is fantastic. How do you guys feel about the co-op programs versus the others not being co-op required?</p>
<p>Employers are impressed by both. Employers recruit at both.
The advantage to co-op is that you get to know a few employers during your co-op experiences and these often lead to jobs at graduation if they liked you. Plus they serve as good references when you apply to other companies. But the same can happen with summer internships that you can get when you attend non-coop schools.
So pick the experience and environment and cost that suits you and don’t get too hung up on whether RPI is more highly ranked/famous/prestigious than NEU. Though I do agree with XtremePower’s ranking.</p>
<p>Thank you everyone. I think I’ve pretty much eliminated RIT from the list. BeanTownGirl, that was extremely helpful. </p>
<p>Does anyone have anything to comment about Manhattan College? Keepitlight, I appreciate your input, I wasn’t aware if the local opinions regarding the students. Still, I’ve been told that the civil/environmental dpt is fantastic. Plus being so close to manhattan is great…what do you guys think?</p>
<p>Who cares about typos here ? This isn’t youtube. </p>
<p>Manhattan is great for civil engineering. If you like the college atmosphere and everything go for it. You need to enjoy your four years. However, I do believe RPI is superior academically. RPI has average SAT of 2020 whereas Manhattan has 1650. There is a vast un-ignorable difference between those two. RPI has very unbalanced male:female ratio but that’s expected for an engineering college. No matter which college you choose, the engineering classes will have high number of males. </p>
<p>For co-op, just because you attended RPI or Manhattan doesn’t mean you won’t get co-op. Almost every college supports co-op but NEU guarantees it. Co-op can also be looked at as a job guarantee.</p>
<p>Ok, thank you, that was really insightful. And yeah, that’s alright, male to female ratios don’t really matter to me. Like you said, that’s just how it is for most engineering schools. </p>
<p>Looks like I’m still going to have some thinking over to do before making my final decision, but thank you to everyone for your input! You’ve all been really helpful</p>