<p>OK, it looks like, although not certain yet, that my son's final list will likely narrow to 4, WPI, RPI, Case Western and Cal Poly SLO. For those of you who know these schools, it's pretty easy to understand why they are all there, undergraduate focused, early hands on, innovative programs on medium to small campuses (Cal Poly, the behemoth of the bunch).</p>
<p>So, tear the list apart. What are your perceived strengths and weaknesses of each. No need to include finances in the mix. </p>
<p>The three private schools all use “level of applicant’s interest”. Cal Poly is quite selective, and selectivity varies by major, so it is hard to rely on overall admissions stats to see if it can be a safety.</p>
<p>He has three, Oregon State, Colorado State and Utah, and, there’s a possibility that any of those three could end up as first choice.</p>
<p>Cal Poly cannot be a safety as last year’s ME GPA average was 4.08. They are fully objective and his GPA, SAT and rigor all surpass the average for ME last year, but you never know. They have no readers. It’s all formula based.</p>
<p>He’s visited WPI, SLO and RPI and is a Medalist. He added Case late, so he’s been corresponding by email.</p>
<p>My son graduated from CalPolySLO about 3 years ago. He got his degree in ME. My daughter is in her senior year at WPI, also a ME major. They both love their schools and would want to go any where else.</p>
<p>From my parent’s perspective, however, my son did get a little lost at SLO as he is somewhat introverted and it is such a large school. SLO didn’t seem to be as hands on as they make it out to be. Sure, there are opportunities, but a lot of people trying to take part makes it tough to really participate. He ended up just doing a required senior project. He also needed 5 years to graduate as class availability was an issue. He shared a house with 3 others his upper class years and they all also took 5 years for the same reason. Housing is also somewhat expensive in the SLO area.</p>
<p>Daughter is going to graduate in 4 years from WPI. She did an independent project in London her junior year and is doing a project in her major (with DOE funding) this year. Smaller school has a more personal feeling about it. Got a pretty good merit scholarship that made it cheaper than 5 years at a UC that she was trying to decide between (and the UC had a terrible 4 year grad rate, so it was probably going to take 5 years). Her share of her apartment rent is less than half my son’s share of the house he rented.</p>
<p>I went to college at a school with a terrible 4 year graduation rate then (under 40%). But I had no trouble graduating in 4 years, and probably could have graduated a semester early if I wanted to (although I went in with some AP credit, I did take more than the normal 120 units anyway during the 8 semesters). What I observed was that a lot of students were voluntarily taking light course loads, or they needed remedial courses (over 50% of entering frosh then needed remedial English composition).</p>
<p>The 4 year graduation rate is much higher now, but that probably reflects higher admission selectivity and higher tuition giving students more incentive not to delay graduation.</p>
<p>East coast student here. I’ll weigh in on the impressions I got of WPI and RPI.</p>
<p>Applied to both 2 years ago, accepted at both with ~1/2 tuition scholarship for four years. Decided not to attend either because the cost didn’t seem worth it. With regards to academic rigor and overall strength of the engineering department, RPI wins hands down. Even if you ignore the rankings, you could tell by visiting their research buildings and talking to their students that it was a stronger school. The education relies heavily upon the time honored tradition of weeding out students through sheer difficulty. With regards to hands on projects, I got the impression that it was only slightly better than most schools. I believe they had more lab classes and got experience earlier, but nothing that stood out too much. Most of RPI’s appeal relies on the fact that it was one of the first institutions in the US to award engineering degrees, and it’s had a powerful engineering department despite its relatively small size ever since.</p>
<p>WPI felt like a much more project oriented education as mentioned above. It didn’t really come off in a good way, however. It almost felt as if the projects were something that should be supplementing your education, not forming the foundation of it. Certainly getting hands on is great, but how much can you really do when you haven’t taken a single engineering class/lab? Again, these are just my impressions, but the projects they did in earlier years just seemed so watered down that you’d be better off forming a strong academic foundation and then getting industrial experience over the summer.</p>
<p>Because of this, three of my friends went to RPI and no one that I know of went to WPI. From what they’ve told me, it lives up to its reputation of an excruciatingly difficult undergraduate that turns out impressive engineers.</p>
<p>With regards to social life (if you’re interested), it felt like RPI was more of your stereotypical tech institute. Of course there are exceptions, but a large percentage of the students are simply extremely focused on their studies. The overall school spirit/atmosphere wasn’t so obvious. WPI felt like a more fraternity based/generally social school. Not to say their students don’t work hard, but they seemed a lot more laid back generally. I felt like the people at WPI were more eccentric than the standard engineering majors you’d find at RPI. Put that together with the fact that there’s lots of other colleges in Worcester, and you get a much more social atmosphere. This can of course distract from your classes/projects, but maybe that’s something you want.</p>
<p>Taciturn, I am curious about your review of WPI. Was your impression that it wasn’t rigorous, or just not as rigorous as RPI? Also, how did you make this assessment?</p>
<p>My son is at RPI, and we both like it a lot. He considered Case Western, Georgia Tech, and UMD CP, our state flagship. I have been really impressed with everything RPI related, but we didn’t even visit Case, so I can’t compare. The one complaint might be the male to female ratio, and that does seem to be improving slightly. The other “complaint” is they only let you bring in 32 credits, and some high achieving students have more than that before college. Good luck. I think they are all great schools and you can’t go wrong.</p>
<p>RPI, Case Western - We visited both with DS. Both have a techie vibe, RPI more so. We liked them both more than expected. DS had top stats, and Case merit award was much higher. He liked Case, but the campus was not as compact as he’d like. Can’t recall if RPI had same issue. Both tours impressed me. </p>
<p>WPI - We did not visit, but I’ve been impressed by info online. Seems to have a lot of project / team emphasis. </p>
<p>Cal Poly SLO - I know the least about this one. But per my research it is a good school and a good value if you are CA resident.</p>
<p>“Certainly getting hands on is great, but how much can you really do when you haven’t taken a single engineering class/lab?” - A lot, especially when most students already took AP calc and physics in hs. I have some bias - DS is at Franklin Olin College of Engineering, an especially project-y school. The project approach is great for the right-fit student, but for many students a more traditional engineering program works better. </p>
<p>It does seems that all engineering programs have more projects emphasis than mine did 30 years ago - that I think is a good thing.</p>
<p>Olin is a niche-fit. With total under 350 students, I think it is too small for almost all students. (Cross-enrollment at Babson, Wellesley or Brandeis expands class options. But the student population on campus is smaller than many hs grades). Another concern is that it only offers engineering degrees. But for a small subset of students, it is the ideal school ;)</p>
<p>I actually believe that WPI is underestimated. As said in another thread, Lake Jr. enjoyed his visits to both WPI and RPI and was admitted to both. Chose another school but likely would have been happy at either WPI or RPI. Of the two, I’d guess that the project-oriented aspect of WPI was very appealing to him. And I noted that the students we met at WPI were quite friendly. On the other hand, I was knocked over by the high quality and newness of the facilities at RPI.</p>
<p>In my opinion the environment at RPI just felt more like the traditional all nighter 50% drop date engineering school. Certainly you learn useful skills during the projects, but I just felt at a certain point you’re sacrificing in depth study into the more complex subjects. I know they work around it somehow at WPI so you’re supposed to get the best of everything, but if just felt like exams took a serious back seat, and that’s not really what I wanted. Maybe it’s a good thing, but the students overall seemed less concerned about exams or finals or whatever. I just got the impression if their lecturers were really pushing them like they do at RPI, they would be more tired. I suppose of exams aren’t your preference, WPI is another way to learn engineering. Is it better? I don’t know. I’m pretty good at exams so I like a traditional education supplemented with clubs and activities outside of class.</p>
<p>I ended up attending my state flagship because it’s about $100k cheaper. Also I think I want go to graduate school anyways so my undergraduate institution won’t matter so much.</p>
<p>RPI did seem intense, but no longer cut-throat like when DH took classes there years ago. I was impressed when the info session presenter told us a few years ago that students don’t risk loss of scholarship due to low GPA… floundering students already have enough stress. (RPI applicants should double check to ensure still true.) </p>
<p>From what I’ve read, the WPI approach sounds appealing. But it’s all a matter of fit. </p>
<p>State flagship is usually a fine, fiscally wise option.</p>