Hello everyone,
I am currently trying to decide if I should go to Stevens or RPI. The cost is the same for both so that is not a deciding factor. If you are attending one of the schools please tell me the pros and cons of that school. Also I am majoring in EE if that makes any difference.
You’d definitely be better off at RPI. I’m currently a CSE (roughly the same as EE) and I can say without a doubt that you’d be making a better decision going to RPI. There’s a lot more research going on by a factor of tens of millions of dollars and employers look with higher regard of RPI graduates (I’m talking about Google, IBM, Bloomberg, GE, etc.) Granted, Stevens is an easier school than RPI and ranked lower. If you’re gonna pay the same price to attend Stevens as RPI, you’d be making a mistake choosing Stevens. RPI is ranked top 30 for engineering and I believe top 20 for EE/CE. Stevens barely makes the top 80 mark, not that it means anything but an RPI degree would pay way more than a Stevens degree by any measure, especially if they’re the same cost. I’m pretty sure the job placement rate for the ECSE department at RPI is close to 100% and the average starting salary is close to 80k. Stevens is also a pretty decent school and I wish you luck in whatever decision you make, but in my opinion you’d be wasting your money at Stevens if RPI is the same cost.
On a side note, RPI’s gender ratio is also slightly better than Stevens and there’s much better Greek/Night Life considering Stevens is in a more urban setting. You’d probably have more fun at RPI assuming you can manage school and a social life.
I have family who went to Stevens and my son goes to RPI. I feel like he is safer in Troy than Hoboken. I also think RPI is a better school (aforementioned family got into Stevens last minute, like July, with a terrible GPA).
The only thing going for Stevens in my opinion is how close it is to NYC, if that’s a deciding factor to you.
My son got into both and picked RPI for many reasons.
It wasn’t even close, but I really liked both schools as a parent.
Hoboken is a nice place to live, great views of the Hudson and access to NYC life.
But academically RPI is a notch above, much more rigorous, and employers know it.