RPI vs. Rose-Hulman vs. WPI

College Majors Engineering Majors
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<p>I got accepted into RPI, WPI, and Rose-Hulman, and I am having a hard time deciding between the three of them. Does anyone have any advice or thoughts on any of the schools? I plan to study either computer engineering, optical engineering, or electrical engineering. </p>

<p>I am pretty^H^H^H^H^H really nerdy, and don't care very much about the location. I am in Alaska, so no matter where I go, the weather will be an improvement.</p>

<p>Below are some perceived advantages and disadvantages:</p>

<p>WPI
+ mandatory projects looks interesting
+ best location out of the three
- not as well ranked as RPI</p>

<p>RPI
+ seems to be the best ranked out of the three
- relatively bad location
- from my research, students tend to be unhappy</p>

<p>Rose-Hulman
+ the cheapest option
+ offers optical engineering
- PHD not offered
- relatively unknown</p>

<p>So, does anyone have any thoughts, experiences, or advice on the three schools and their engineering programs?</p>

<p>Thanks</p>

2

<p>slackware:</p>

<p>My son has those three choices too plus a few others. So far RPI is coming in the "cheapest" for him, although WPI is very close (and that may change when RPI releases its tuition and fees for 2007-2008). We have not heard anything from Rose Hulman about money, so either it's too early or he isn't getting any.</p>

<p>Personally I think Worcester and Troy are equally bad towns. We haven't even visited RH, although from what I hear there is nothing walking distance from the campus. </p>

<p>My son is pretty (OK, very) techie. He does not seem concerned about the seemingly generally low level of happiness among students at the tech schools. (I do not believe kids at RPI are any less happy than kids at WPI or RH.) He has a girlfriend at home here, so maybe he thinks he doesn't need any girls at school. I also think he's underestimated the Greek scene at both RPI and WPI - and he abhors the idea of frats. He also plays an instrument, and I think WPI probably offers the best music opportunity - although I'm sure that will be limited. He does theater now, and RPI seems to have nice theater thing going on.</p>

<p>Anyway, you can probably tell I have some reservations about his schools, but, of course, the decision will be up to him (depending on money too). He is also looking at Northeastern, Ohio University, U Pitt, and RIT as choices. He is about to go on a trip out to OU and then Northeastern. So that will give him a close up look at two "regular" universities.</p>

<p>I would not be concerned about Rose Hulman not having a PhD program - in fact, that may actually work to the undergrad favor - fewer TAs. Also it is certainly not unknown among people hiring engineers or grad schools - and that is all that really matters there!</p>

<p>We liked the grading system at WPI, but the quarter system seems pretty rushed. We liked the no GPA requirement for teh scholarships at RPI, and the fact that they have a very nice retention rate for freshmen. When we visited they seem to have figured out how to offer a highly supportive environment.</p>

<p>I'm not sure the projects at WPI are as good as doing co-ops. I suppose some are and some aren't. Of course they are unpaid, which I think is a drawback. That means that it will be harder to find paid co-ops and so summers may be spent at McDonalds rather than IBM. I don't know. On the other hand, learning to work collaboratively is so important.</p>

<p>Well, I'm probably just muddying the waters further for you! Just thought I'd let you know somebody else out there in cyberland is weighing many of the the same things as you.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

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<p>None are bad chocies. However, you have some misconceptions about "unknown" Rose-Hulman. It is actually well-known in the engineering industry. As far as "rank" goes, it is really ranked as high as any top ten university that has engineering and a Ph.D program and in USNews is consistently ranked No.1 in engineering for colleges not having a Ph.D. program. Its focus is to teach engineering and thus tenure for profs does not depend on research. There are textbooks created by its profs that are used at many universities. Though a small college, it gets large numbers of recruiters from companies from around the nation annually and has close to a 100% placement rate for graduates seeking employment upon graduation and about 1/3 go on to grad schools and those include such places as MIT, Stanford, Caltech, Berkeley, Illinois, Cornell. </p>

<p>Its campus is very nice. A downside is location, Terra Haute, IN, a small city in the middle of Indiana far from anything else and not much in the way of excitement. It also has a 4 to 1 male to female ratio (as would the others you mention), which is somewhat (but not much) alleviated by the existence of two other colleges in the town (Indiana State and all-girls St. Mary of the Woods).</p>

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<p>Rose-Hulman is VERY well known and respected in engineering. I believe Rose-Hulman is the best place for undergraduate engineering in the U.S. They focus on teaching undergraduates, while those other two schools focus more on research and graduate education. But you must be comfortable with the fact that Rose-Hulman is small and won't have the options of a bigger school. If you are not comfortable with this, go to a bigger school and you will be happier.</p>

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<p>Rose-Hulman is one of my top choices between the colleges I've been accepted:</p>

<p>U of Mich
U of Ill
Purdue</p>

<p>I've visited Rose twice and was very impressed by the campus, dorms, students and staff. Based on talking to the students there is plenty to do on campus to keep you busy. The athletic building is awesome and used can be used by the students. </p>

<p>The facilities in general were excellent and the professors seemed wonderful too. I'm visiting U of Mich in a couple weeks for the third time. But I am really thinking that Rose is my number 1 choice due to the small school and personal attention.</p>

<p>Good Luck in your choice. Be sure to visit Rose...I think you'll love it as much as I do.</p>

<p>Oh, and by the way it is very well-known in the industry. I've talked to a lot of people in the field and they all know Rose.</p>

6

<p>Thanks for all the replies! I will keep this information in mind.</p>

<p>I am considering Rose-Hulman a little more now, I am going to visit them in a few weeks (and RPI/WPI in about a month or so).</p>

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<p>slackware, as weenie mentioned the fact that Rose-Hulman does not offer PhD's is actually a great benefit for you, because it means you will never be taught by someone who does not have their PhD. There are no TA's teaching class. The professors' number one priority is to teach and it shows.</p>

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<p>My husband graduated with a mechanical engineering BS from Rose Hulman. He followed that with a graduate degree (Ph.D) at Purdue. He found that Rose Hulman was extremely highly regarded. He's worked in academics (Texas A & M) and in industry (Westinghouse/Siemens). After Rose Hulman he was recruited from several places. He chose Westinghouse, working there for a few years before going back to grad school. Today, he encouraged a friend of my son's to apply to Rose Hulman (which he did get into) because he said it's still so very highly ranked as far as engineering goes. </p>

<p>Zebes</p>

<p>But Terre Haute ... not so hot. Luckily, he's from Chicago, so he just went home a lot.</p>

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<p>Terre Haute may not be the perfect college town....I thought that too. But how much time to you spend in town. It seemed like there were enough social activities to keep you busy. The nice part about Rose hardly anybody leaves on the week-end.</p>

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<p>my son is targeting aerospace engineering: he was accepted by RPI, Rose, and U of Md; U of Md is close by and does have a pretty good eng program; he is not thrilled by the very small student body at Rose and he is a bit intimidated by RPI; big difference in $$ between Md state school and RPI; is it worth it ???</p>

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<p>slack, i am a wpi alum.</p>

<p>positives:</p>

<p>i think a big advantage that you might not have noticed is WPI's "location factor". Boston is one of the great high-tech centers of the country (possibly best after San Francisco) so WPI is only a short drive away from many prestigious and interesting tech jobs...that means easier interviewing, and a strong showing at career fairs.</p>

<p>the projects are kinda "fluffy" but employers TOTALLY dig it. </p>

<p>many entry level interviews ask questions like:</p>

<p>"Tell us about an experience you had on a team"
"What was your role on that team"
"What did you accomplish"
etc etc etc.</p>

<p>ok so now the negatives.</p>

<p>the male/female ratio can come into play. any guy at wpi can attest. </p>

<p>also, there is a striking lack of diversity in the student body. i am not talking about #of minorities. I am saying most students are Middle Class, Nerdy, Want to be an Engineer, Pretty good at math/science, Hate liberal arts. And while you may think "HEY! THATS ME! I BELONG THERE!", after a while it can get boring.</p>

<p>as an alum, i would say go for a similar level school that is bigger and more balanced. Example, Boston University. many recruiters come to both schools, and trust me the fact that you went to a tech school doesn't give you that much of a legup on the competition. the only downside to this approach is that you would be stuck in the "core curriculum" found at the vast majority of schools (english, history , etc) for the first two years as opposed to mostly tech classes at the 3 schools you mentioned. However this (in my opinion) is definitely worth the more balanced and interesting experience you would get. as far as being nerdy, you would still find PLENTY of nerds at BU or any other "normal" school. (imagine taking WPI/RPI/RoseHulman and plopping it in the middle of a liberal arts school).</p>

<p>at any of these schools, you are going to get a challenging engineering education, and good placements after graduation (grad school or work). i imagine you are also going to experience the negatives i mentioned (m/f ratio and lack of diversity) so keep that in mind.</p>

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<p>drusba, can you show me the link to Rose-hulman's graduate placement site?</p>

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<p><a href="http://www.rose-hulman.edu/admissions/facts/facts.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.rose-hulman.edu/admissions/facts/facts.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>That's the closest I can find on the website. I know the number's 99% or so for 6 months after graduating. But most people do an internship or co-op after their sophomore or junior year and often lock up a job then.</p>

<p>I also asked the admissions office for some data on graduate schools that students go to, so they sent me a flyer on that. They're very friendly people, so if you give them a call or an email I'm sure they will give you all the info you could want on that stuff.</p>

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<p>Thank you nic. I will call them tomorrow to find out about it.</p>