<p>I am interested in studying physics at RIT but I am concerned that the students may be too focused in technology and academics. When I visited I was wowed by the school and the physics program but concerned that I did not see anyone playing Frisbee or just hanging around outside (it was beautiful out). In fact there seems to be very few students "hanging out" at all. Any thoughts?</p>
<p>This was my worry to some extent. I keep hearing that people in the computer science department (where I applied and got into) students are obsessed with video games and spend their weekends mostly inside (not sure if this applies to good weather weekends though). Call me an abnormal computer person, but I despise video games and would rather be the guy playing frisbee outside on a good day when I am not busy.</p>
<p>we were there on a good weather weekend and nary a person playing frisbee and almost no one outdoors. Perhaps the rumors are true.</p>
<p>Well, I guess I’ll have to play frisbee by myself then ;)</p>
<p>In all honesty, though, that is a large downside. I would love to be in a challenging environment, but I feel that it is also important to have some relaxing time as well to balance the stressful work.</p>
<p>I got into the Computer Science program and I don’t really play any video games at all, except on my iTouch. I’m hoping to make a lot of friends, so I get out more rather than stay stuck in my dorm.</p>
<p>@caliskimmer, I think I saw a Frisbee club under RIT’s clubs and organizations. I’m sure there are plenty of people to play frisbee with.</p>
<p>It all depends on what you want to do with your spare time. It is probably true that we have more than the average number of kids who like to stay inside and play video games, but there are tons of clubs that do all sorts of fun things. It’s just a matter of finding people with similar interests. On warm days I see people out all the time, I am not sure where everyone was when you all visited. Depends on when in the quarter and how you define “nice weather” i guess. I see people all the time playing frisbee and other fun stuff.</p>
<p>It is true that on average RIT is pretty nerdy and the difficulty of the classes here give us less free time, but we still find ways to have fun :)</p>
<p>Haha, yes, the clubs on the other hand, looked excellent! I’m definitely not doubting that there are other people who do like to go outside, I’m just saying that the school seems to have a reputation that says otherwise. Of course, those don’t come true most of the time.</p>
<p>I visited RIT in November and I saw a lot of people out on a sunny day, but I wasn’t sure if that was out of the norm or not.</p>
<p>@Thomas94: Yeah, those iPod Touch games…I can’t get enough of them 
However, when I’m working on one myself, then that’s where the fun really begins.</p>
<p>You guys are great! I appreciate all the replies. I am choosing between UC Boulder, Virginia Tech and RIT. Do you have any thoughts on those other programs. Thanks.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that everyone gets busy in mid november, late february, and mid march for finals. People have been pretty active lately especially during the heat wave.</p>
<p>@Wormula It depends on your program. I am an RIT student but I’ll be the first to admit that VT is a great school with a great reputation. I don’t know much about UC Boulder. Is weather a factor? It should be, because the weather is VERY different in Virginia vs Rochester Since you are looking at three colleges far away from each other clearly you don’t mind being far from home</p>
<p>@Wormula, I’m from Virginia and I applied to VA Tech as a backup. RIT and UCF were my top choices. My counselor told me to apply to VA Tech if I wanted to study Computer Science because he said it was an amazing technical school. My parents were also told very good things about VA Tech and they wanted me to go there so I could be close to home.</p>
<p>But I didn’t get accepted, only added to the “waiting list.” I’m not too disappointed, because Blacksburg doesn’t have much to do at all. And I want to get out of VA.</p>
<p>And VA is going to be so different compared to Rochester. I need to buy two coats for RIT, more jeans, sweaters, long sleeve shirts, etc. </p>
<p>Around Fall, Spring and Summer I usually only wear shorts and tshirts. During winter, I wear jackets. I hardly wear coats although it does get cold.</p>
<p>Virginia is too HOT and sticky in the summer. My theory is if it’s too cold you can always just put on more clothing. When it’s too hot even in shorts, there isn’t much else you can do. Regardless, when you stay in one place for a while you adjust.</p>
<p>My daughter is looking at RIT too (fall 2013). We, too, are from VA - only about 30 minutes from Virginia Tech (great school). I think (hope) she could handle the cold, but wonder if upstate NY would be a huge culture shock for a Southern girl. What do y’all think?</p>
<p>My daughter moved to Va from the Rochester area…she has had no reverse culture shock! Don’t know if that is helpful or not. It can definitely be colder up here, although we had a very mild winter this year. I only wore my heavy winter coat a handful of times. We have a diehard friend (adult) who wears short year-round.
Actually, I think you will find that there will be kids at RIT from all over the place. Even though RIT does not have the “Southern culture” that my sister-in-law (grew up in extreme Southern Indiana, currently lives in Ga) talks about in colleges down there, I think you will find many southerners, midwesterners, northerners, and internationals…hey maybe even a few west coast!</p>
<p>Yes our president loves to joke about how we have a dis-proportionally large number of applicants from California.</p>
<p>The weather, at least lately, has been no worse than anywhere else in the northeast.</p>
<p>Thanks! The replies do indeed help. We started looking at RIT for Film & Animation, but I think they have some pretty cool sounding and quirky majors. Sorry for slightly diverting from the OP - the conversation just seemed to fit my question!</p>
<p>That’s what drew me to RIT. They have three main things they are great at - Imaging Arts, Engineering, and Computing. Within those three core strengths, they have an amazingly wide variety of paths to pursue. The selection of majors is above and beyond most other universities.</p>
<p>@ctrlaltdel - don’t forget the fine arts and business programs!</p>
<p>I’m shocked that you saw no one outside on a sunny day. In my experience, RIT kids can’t wait to get outside when the weather gets nice. For the record, I played a ton of Ultimate Frisbee my freshman year.</p>
<p>Social scene? Common question about RIT. I posted this a few months ago.
</p>
<p>I recently returned from a two day visit. One day was an accepted student open house – so you have to figure they were putting their best foot forward. But the other day was a regular school day. My son attended several classes, and on the open house day I didn’t go on the tours, so I spent many hours just hanging out and watching students.</p>
<p>I have to say I thought the student body was the happiest, most vibrant, exuberant, interesting, lively, diverse, nerdy and artsy campuses we visited. </p>
<p>I lived almost 20 adult years in and around Rochester and I credit the gorgeous weather partly for this… it brought out the skateboarders (some wearing suits?), the hand holders, the unicyclists. There was a weekend long juggling convention starting that night. At the activities fair I hung out with the knitters (both young men and women) and heard how happy they were in their tech, science, art and media fields, and we also chatted about sci fi, feminism, crafts and other hobbies. My son visited the electronic gamers, but they are division 1 hockey and known throughout the city they way other cities follow a local college basketball or football team.</p>
<p>Having eaten my way across midwest lacs, I have to say the food was really good! Important to my son: sushi and an international market that sold much asian food.</p>
<p>RIT is a combination of programs that by definition attract nerds (in a good way): all the usual stems, and then ones you would never think of, but they have BFA and MFA programs, so they also have uber creative types, so the nerdlettes and the artsy types are all mixed together. </p>
<p>I went to MIT in the 70’s, and it was the closest I have ever felt to the best of MIT spirit – a party in the MIT media lab with the EE and physics department, the architecture grad students and the poetry magazine staff all invited.</p>
<p>Folks, don’t let RIT fool you. It is a very demanding, tough school. Be aware of this.</p>