<p>So, pretty much my decision has come down to tufts or rpi. I'm planning on majoring in biomedical engineering. Overall, which one has a better program for engineering? and which would offer the best "college experience"?</p>
<p>Better engineering? Probably RPI (although I am not sure that necesarily means Tufts won’t be as good for ultimate job placement)
Best “college experience”? Not even close: Tufts by a country mile.</p>
<p>For my money (and I appreciate that this is very subjective), you only get to go to college once in your life, and that experiece should be about more than just the “better engineering” program. It should be about the total experience. If you agree, I would pick Tufts in a heartbeat. RPI offers a narrower academic experience and a limited social experience (in comparison to Tufts) in a city which is the armpit of NYS.</p>
<p>RPI has a much better engineering program, but Tufts offers the more normal “college experience.” (RPI’s is definitely not “normal.”)</p>
<p>Have you visited the two schools? Which do you feel is the better fit for you? Speaking as a grad of the 'Tute myself, and having visited both RPI and Tufts in the past few years when my sons were applying to colleges, I can tell you that the student bodies could not be more different.</p>
<p>I visited both schools and liked both of them. I’m just wondering why Tufts “by a country mile” has a much better college experience? Is it the location, the social life, the people? I saw that the student bodies at each school were very different but I’m just not sure which one i fit into more</p>
<p>Because Tufts offers a more complete college experience (except Division I sports): a great social life; intellectual cross-pollenation with students who are pursuing the arts, literature, social sciences, etc., instead of the narrow sampling you’ll find at RPI. And, as I said, while Tufts offers Cambridge and Boston, RPI’s location is the absolute worst; I can hardly think of a more depressing city in the northeastern U.S. You couldn’t pay me to spend 4 years there.</p>
<p>RPI is a place for people who’s true passion is engineering. To some people, gaining the skills to change the world through science/technology is more important than fun or the “total college experience”. I think MIT picked up on the spirit at RPI when they choose them along with CalTech, and UIUC for the annual Lemelson - MIT $30000 annual prize for student inventiveness:</p>
<p>[RPI:</a> News & Events - Helping Hydrogen: Student Inventor Tackles Challenge of Hydrogen Storage](<a href=“http://news.rpi.edu/update.do?artcenterkey=2690]RPI:”>Helping Hydrogen: Student Inventor Tackles Challenge of Hydrogen Storage | News & Events)</p>
<p>[Lemelson-MIT</a> Program: Student Prize](<a href=“http://web.mit.edu/invent/a-student.html]Lemelson-MIT”>http://web.mit.edu/invent/a-student.html)</p>
<p>I spent 4 years on the beautiful R.P.I. campus and honestly didn’t spend a lot of time in the surrounding Troy area. Albany is not to far away and is better for cultural activities.
R.P.I. is a tough school but I would do it again without hesitation if I could go back to age 18.</p>
<p>RPI is arguably one of the top 5 schools in the US for teaching undergraduate engineering. It is a rigorous, high quality education, and the job opportunities for graduates are outstanding. Everyone comes to campus to recruit, and RPI Engineers are highly regarded.</p>
<p>Troy is not a great city (even though it has the world’s most acoustically perfect music hall). However, that is totally irrelevant to the RPI experience. There is so much classic college stuff going on on campus - frats, movies, plays, radio station, parties, etc, etc. It is rated #13 for “More to do on Campus” by Princeton Review. You really never need to go off campus, except to go down to RSC or elsewhere (if you are a guy, seeking women).</p>
<p>Agreed that the humanities and social sciences aren’t fleshed out anywhere close to Tufts, but there are some very interesting, leading areas of amazing depth. One is Electronic Media, Arts, and Communication, which is a unique major in the US at RPI. The school just spent a small fortune on a huge Electronic Media and Performing Arts Center which is attracting worldwide attention.</p>
<p>You don’t have Boston, but you do have Saratoga, the Adirondacks, Lake George, skiing in Vermont, climbing at the Gunks, etc. all easily accessible at RPI.</p>
<p>Really just going to echo everyone else here. RPI is a better academic engineering program, and I know Tufts engineers who wish they’d gone. However, I also know RPI engineers who regret not having any exposure to a broader liberal arts education, and who really hated the years they spent at RPI. That being said, college is going to be a lot of what you make of it. Many Tufts engineers go on to extremely successful careers (and it should DEFINITELY be noted that biomedical engineering is one of the best, if not the best, engineering specialty at Tufts), and many RPI students have a great experience there. Finally, a lot of engineers I’ve encountered really prefer the extensive depth in their area of expertise that RPI offers to the breadth and exposure to different ways of thinking you’d get at Tufts.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t stress over it. You can’t make a bad choice here.</p>
<p>My dad use to be a professor at RPI in biomedical engineering! With that said I definitely love the program there and I’ve been to a lot of the classes but I am actually going to Tufts. Program wise I would say RPI but anything else like people, campus and atmosphere I would say Tufts. It depends on what your priorities are. Like everyone else has said, both are great!</p>