<p>My son was accepted to all three for Comp Sci and wants to be a Game Developer. Any thoughts on advantages of one over the others? Also, if he decides to go to grad school, is there a preference by CMU / MIT as to the undergraduate program?</p>
<p>BTW, RPI comes with a nice merit scholarship that actually makes it less expensive than the other two...</p>
<p>I would go with RPI. Good engineering program.</p>
<p>RPI all the way.</p>
<p>All three are world class engineering schools. Rensselaer's advantage is that it is small enough so that you wont feel lost in the crowd. Go with RPI.</p>
<p>So the answer is RPI because it's smaller? When I look at faculty, the ones at UIUC (computer science) seem to be from more prestigious schools than RPI. When I look at career placement at Illinois it seems to be amazingly strong. </p>
<p>I'd love to think RPI is better, since it's cheaper and a lot closer to home. But I don't see the reasons. And it's hard to know just from visiting each for 2 days. </p>
<p>Please provide any enlightenment that you can.</p>
<p>Thanks!</p>
<p>UIUC may have a better research faculty, but the undergrad classes are packed and the school is basically what I like to call a "degree factory." You have a lot more graduates, thus creating more competition for getting a job after grad school.</p>
<p>RPI all the way.</p>
<p>Is there any more / less chance to get into a grad program at CMU / MIT / UPenn after either?</p>
<p>You'll probably have a better chance at RPI to get to know your professors and get reccomendations for grad school that you probably couldn't get at a large state school. There's also more opportunity for undergraduate research and I <em>THINK</em> the average engineering gpa is higher at RPI... not positive on that one, though...</p>
<p>My S has a similar decision, but he also has Rose-Hulman, VA Tech and U. Florida on his list (no Ga Tech). He is struggling with the decision while taking a full load of classes including 3 AP's next month.</p>
<p>RPI ans Rose are both top smaller schools, but very different.</p>
<p>UIUC is one of the best big State U's</p>
<p>FL and VA Tech are both good (not great) and less expensive.</p>
<p>He is also considerring U. AZ which is a lot cheaper, but lower ranked.</p>
<p>As marines said, you get great opportunities at Rensselaer for undergrad research. Also, Renssleaer's small size let's it do very innovative things such as their interactive learning programs (likely best in the country):
<a href="http://www.rpi.edu/academics/resources/interactive.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.rpi.edu/academics/resources/interactive.html</a>
RPI also has other intangibles that don't figure directly in the "rankings" that everybody takes as gospel: </p>
<p>Oldest degree granting engineering school in the entire english speaking world.
Over two thirds of the way to completing 1 billion$ capital campaign.
<a href="http://www.rpi.edu/campaign/campaign_at_a_glance.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.rpi.edu/campaign/campaign_at_a_glance.html</a></p>
<p>This university provides on of the best undergraduate learning experiences anywhere. It's THAT good.</p>