<p>Sounds like you already had it all figured out. What was it that you wanted to know?</p>
<p>And to clarify, I am the “biased” poster towards NU who prefers UR to NU. Go figure.</p>
<p>No I dont have it figured out. But id like to recieve balanced and the least biased responses that dont relate to your kids or yourself.</p>
<p>So you want an independent panel?</p>
<p>I think UR and NU are both great. I don’t know anything about RIT, so I couldn’t comment but I assume it is perfectly fine as well and depending on the particular area for study may in some cases be preferable.</p>
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<p>there’s no such thing, we’re not evaluating a math theorem here. the best you can do is learn all you can about the three schools, visit, attend some classes, talk to students and alumni, think about fit for you and make your choice. It would be great if you could post here eventual decision and what led you to your choice.</p>
<p>Congrats on having three great choices and luck with your decision.</p>
<p>OP, if you want to go to RIT, go. 
As I mentioned before, I know grads from there who are happy with their choice. Personally, we didn’t even look at the school (nor NU) because my guy is Brain & Cognitive or Neuroscience and potentially Pre-med, not quite what RIT specializes in, but great for UR. We didn’t consider NU because my guy had no interest in heading to MA. UR is the only school north of PA (where we live) that appealed to him enough to apply.</p>
<p>We do have a student at our school who was accepted to NU this year, but I’m pretty certain she’s going to choose Wake Forest instead. I think there might be an RIT student too, but I’d have to check the list of acceptances again and I don’t have it at my fingertips.</p>
<p>Any of the schools are a great choice for the right fit - which is why YOU need to determine your fit. If it’s RIT, enjoy! If it’s either of the others, enjoy!</p>
<p>
You’re on the University of Rochester forum. Why are you surprised that the people who post here are biased towards University of Rochester??</p>
<p>Besides, most of what we all know is related to ourselves or our kids. </p>
<p>If you want unbiased opinions, check out the Princeton Review or US News or the Fiske Guide books. They’ll give you all the data you need. If you want personal knowledge, you’re in the right place but you’ll get personal biases.</p>
<p>I don’t know anything about RIT, so I won’t comment on it. </p>
<p>However, I visited both UR and NU, and while both are fantastic universities, I feel that UR is a stronger university overall.</p>
<p>Of course, NU wins when it comes to campus environment. Boston vs. Rochester. We all know who wins that battle. </p>
<p>NU also has the co-op program, which really caught students’ eyes during the recession. I have a few friends at NU and they are mixed about it; for some majors, it is a blessing, but for others, it is detracting from other important subject matters. </p>
<p>Other than these two categories, I feel that UR’s open curriculum really sets it apart from the majority of colleges in the country. Combined that with the beautiful facilities, the overall strength of the academic departments, and the abundance of research opportunities, I feel that UR is just overall stronger than NU, which is why I will be attending the UR in the fall and not NU.</p>
<p>Emulel:</p>
<p>I evaluate executives for a living. Here’s my thoughts from looking at people 20 to 30 years past graduation:</p>
<p>1) I’ve seen very successful people graduate from all three of those schools. I’ve seen great people come out of schools that don’t have tremendous reputations, as well, but I’ve seen far more come from schools with strong reputations. All three schools will have more academic options than you will be able to take advantage of in four years.</p>
<p>2) U of Rochester probably has the strongest reputation of the three schools, but I’m not sure by how much when it comes to engineering. Probably some. None have the marquee of an MIT, but all have solid reputations in the marketplace. Employers will be likely to hire you coming from any of those three schools. These three schools are far better known regionally than nationally (I know this will start an argument, but that’s what I’ve seen outside of the Northeast). My sister, an RIT packaging science grad, said the school wasn’t known in the West Coast. RIT and U of Rochester are frequently confused for being the same school, and RIT and RPI are frequently confused. Even employers confuse these schools, surprisingly.</p>
<p>3) U of Rochester is known as having a more theoretical engineering department. RIT is known as being more hands-on and practical. I don’t know for certain about Northeastern, but would assume that it is less theoretical than U Rochester, because they have to prepare kids for co-ops.</p>
<p>4) Don’t pay a lot of attention to rankings. An intro statistics course will teach you not to compare unlike things, and that’s what these ranking systems do. The BusinessInsider ranking seems geared to information technology, from looking at it. US News’s system has all kinds of failings as well (and they always rank my university #1, so I’m not playing sour grapes when I say this). Comparing a technical school (like RIT) with a university that offers a full range broad majors is nonsensical. It’s like asking whether Pavarotti is more talented than Barack Obama, and that’s essentially what US News does.</p>
<p>5) These schools have very different locations. RIT is in the suburbs. It has that sprawling perfectly landscaped campus, but no college town. Northeastern is in Boston. I haven’t been to U of R, but I hear it is near a seedy side of Rochester. You will find plenty of things to do in Rochester, but even more if you go to Boston. RIT would be the safest campus, obviously. The weather will be much, much different than Barcelona at both places. </p>
<p>6) Co-ops and summer jobs will be important for an international. RIT and Northeastern pretty much require co-ops. At most schools, you can turn the school into a co-op school simply by applying for and getting a co-op job, and taking a semester off. The only time this is a problem is when the course sequence doesn’t allow you to take a semester off. I’m guessing that it would be possible to do a co-op or two at U of R, and I’m sure that nearly all of their engineers get summer jobs in engineering before their senior year. I would check with all three schools to see how much help they can give you as an international student help or support or advice in landing a co-op.</p>
<p>7) I’d recommend you make your choice based upon where you feel you will be the mot comfortable, and will have the most fun, in and out of the classroom. </p>
<ul>
<li><p>Which school has students with whom you best connect?</p></li>
<li><p>Do you want a technical school with artistic flair (RIT), or a university that has people studying a much broader range of topics?</p></li>
<li><p>How do the locations compare?</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Other standards to consider:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>How large are the classes?</p></li>
<li><p>How many classes are taught by grad students, as opposed to professors?</p></li>
<li><p>How many classes are taught by adjunct professors? Some schools are using adjunct professors to save money; others use them, usually in small amounts, to bring in some real world experience. </p></li>
<li><p>How do the engineering facilities compare? </p></li>
<li><p>Are the professors concentrating on teaching, or is teaching secondary to research for a lot of them? At some schools, the name professors don’t like teaching undergraduates, and use grad students as slaves who do teaching and research for them.</p></li>
<li><p>How easy is it to change majors? 60% to 70% of the college students in the US change their major after starting. You may think that is not going to happen to you, but it does happen frequently, and you should bear that in mind. Will you have to transfer if you want to change majors?</p></li>
<li><p>How easily do the schools spend money? Are they tight financially, or do they comfortably throw money around?</p></li>
</ul>
<hr>
<p>I think you can only go wrong here if the school you choose is not a good personal fit for you.</p>
<p>Not that lergnom needs defending, but if you look at his posts he is always very honest and balanced, and I think he has even compared Boston and Rochester in what you would likely consider a very objective manner in an old thread. He graduated from Top 5 schools for both undergrad and law school and does not really have an agenda except he has a daughter who is very happy at Rochester (and I believe a second daughter either at or graduated from a school in Boston, can’t remember which one) and he is quite helpful in this forum. I think since he has lived in Boston for several years he was trying to give that view of Northeastern. To me (maybe since we graduated from law school together) he has a lot of credibility. You may disagree with his opinion, which is fine, but no need to be snide. Most appreciate his comments.</p>
<p>^^^^I think you’re off-base here. Lergnom usually does provide very good information. I have benefited myself. But this was not one of those instances. In addition to shutting down, he shut down AFTER instigating with “being amused” about others’ concerns about prestige. Perhaps he thought someone was trolling or “marketing” as he put it but that wasn’t the case. And now, within hours of each other, you both have managed to interject that he went to a top 5 undergrad and law schools.</p>
<p>Lergnom, Chedva, and others are definitely the balanced voice of reason on this board.</p>
<p>Usually…</p>
<p>I think WOW mom hit on the head. RIT and NU require coops. An international student needs to explore whether they can participate easily in that first. UR leans towards more research opportunities which I would think an international student can do.</p>
<p>If an international student would have trouble being able to participate in coops then the decision leans toward UR.</p>
<p>Hi emelul,</p>
<p>Congrats on your acceptance to three fine schools. Enough people have weighed in on academic stuff. I got nuthin’ more to add there. But some random here and there points more about the tertiary things. </p>
<p>Truth in advertising: My S, a senior in HS, wants to start as Comp Sci. Accepted to NEU, RIT and still waiting for URoc. We live in an inner ring suburb of Boston so I am probably biased in that regard.</p>
<p>Firstly one issue I believe hasn’t been brought up wrt RIT is the gender imbalance, typical of the PI/IT schools. If you’re a gal que suerte! but if you’re a guy, that could be a significant down side.</p>
<p>One of the earlier posts touched on the issue of prof’s who just wanna do their research. A data point there. When we visited URoc the guy giving the talk at the info session said something like, "The University of Rochester is a research university. Here, a professor’s priority is their research, not their teaching. Any research university that tells you anything else is lying to you.”. Eye opening for sure yet refreshing too. But then of course he tried to have it both ways by saying how wonderful the prof’s were at teaching. When we toured URoc after the fellow had made his statement about prof priorities I asked the kids touring us around if they’d ever felt like the instruction they got from a prof was less than stellar and one of the kids (a junior) said only on one occasion was a prof obviously “distracted” by his research. That afternoon we were eating in the student dining commons and a student sat down next to us and we chatted. The kid commented that there was a very low “jerk” quotient at URoc which was encouraging. The vibe we got was the kids worked hard but weren’t cut throat, would help each other out.</p>
<p>When we visited RIT we had an audience with the king so to speak. The head of the software engineering department sat down with us and spent at least 45 minutes with us. Later he walked us around the building and he knew two of the kids that passed us in the hall by first name. Later he took us to what amounts to a comp sci help / work / hangout area and he seemed to know most of the kids there. The point being that just cuz it’s big doesn’t mean you have to be a number.</p>
<p>The RIT campus is probably the most isolated of the three. I believe they let freshman have cars and that’s probably because you can’t do anything w/o one. It’s American Car Culture. Few or no sidewalks. Everything strip zoned. If you like to be able to walk. RIT might give you issues. That actually might be an issue for my kid.</p>
<p>On the other hand Boston is a great walking city and NEU is in the heart of it. Stuff is close and no car is required. Like art? The Museum of Fine Arts is literally across the street from NEU and the Isabella Stewart Gardner is a few minutes away. Like sports? You can walk to Fenway park. (Yeah, as a Spaniard you probably are unfamiliar with baseball, but just sayin’. Hey. Maybe you’ll become another Red Sox fan.) Basketball and hockey are a short subway ride away. Like music? Too many venues to count. Boston really is a happnin’ place. How many jillions of students live here? Sheesh. A lot.</p>
<p>If you like outdoor activities Boston might leave you feeling like a dog scratching at the door to get out of the house to run around. That’s the price you pay for the city life though. It’s at the heart of a sprawling American megalopolis. That being said skiing, hiking, etc is a few hours away. If you like boats you’re in a place where lots of boating is done. I don’t know Rochester/Henrietta (where RIT is actually located) well enough to comment wrt outdoor activities. </p>
<p>Our sole experience with Rochester was our two day visit to the area when we toured RIT one day and URoc the next. (Admittedly a small sample.) During our visit we walked around in downtown Rochester for an hour or so, among other places, and found it to be eerily dead. We were there during the early afternoon on a work day and there was almost nobody walking around. Nothing happening. I can honestly tell you I was contrasting it with what the NEU campus area would look like at the same time. I swear I was! At one point we walked down some steps into a glassed in mini-mall in the ground floor of one of the sky scrapers in downtown. Inside all of the store fronts but one (a lonely convenience store) were empty. We rounded a corner and there was a guy in quasi military garb with a German Shepard on a harness style leash. Sheesh, I thought, is this Stalag 7? Now those that know and love Rochester will say there’s stuff to do if you look. It’s very likely true. I’m just saying what we saw. Anyway, in Boston the stuff to do is right there. No looking needed.</p>
<p>Hey to you Rochester gurus. What is the public transport like there? Also, how is “walkability” in the URoc environs?</p>
<p>The weather is something that could be a shock. Both places get far more rain than you’re accustomed to. Boston actually gets more rain per year than reputedly rainy Seattle but here it rains hard and sometimes you can go a week w/o seeing the sun but you can also go that long and longer w/o rain. Rochester is more consistently overcast and gets more snow due to its proximity to lake Ontario. Our family dentist is a URoc graduate and last time I saw him he joked that his father had told him once that he had never come out to visit him when it wasn’t raining.</p>
<p>So, hope the ramblings helped.</p>
<p>¡Que le vaya bien!</p>
<p>Wow. You cc name is fitting :)</p>
<p>You clearly love living near Boston. But it is not a sprawling American megalopolis, Los Angeles is. </p>
<p>But back to the quality of eduction. If you want to “dis” research universities then you must never suggest anyone go to one of these.</p>
<p>[List</a> of research universities in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_research_universities_in_the_United_States]List”>List of research universities in the United States - Wikipedia)</p>
<p>Oh my, look at all the Ivies and state flagships schools on this list, even your own state’s flagship. </p>
<p>If a student “needs” to live next to a busy city, one of my son’s friend did, then by all means never consider a suburban school.</p>
<p>UR is up front about the demands of a research institution. The typical patter is that professors have a vested interest in their research and that all research schools know this but most pretend it isn’t true. This is my experience. Lots of lying about how things work. UR decided some time ago to look at the problem and they identified distribution requirements and the like as a core issue: these requirements drove students into classes they didn’t want to take and that affected the quality of the teaching and learning experience. So they got rid of them. That is why UR has “clusters” instead of distribution requirements. The idea, as they freely say, is to increase overall satisfaction, particularly among faculty, by making sure the people in the classes want to be in those classes. The professors I’ve known at UR say this is true, that they enjoy teaching because their students want to be there and want to learn from them. I’m putting aside of course pre-reqs for pre-med and the like because obviously that is an issue at any school anywhere in the world.</p>
<p>As for Northeastern, I live nearby. I know faculty. It is not the same caliber of school as UR. It just isn’t. I have no idea why they have such a need to sell, sell, sell on boards like this but I honestly don’t care where a kid goes. Feel free to go there. I’m done with that conversation. RIT is changing but it is still at core a trade school for people who want to technical fields. You can see this if you go through the list of majors. I expect they will remain that way; it’s a good niche. </p>
<p>As for campuses, your life at UR is mostly on campus and the rest of it is oriented toward the parts of the city toward Eastman. They run shuttle buses to the malls, to Eastman, etc. There are zip cars. And bluntly, lots of kids have cars so after a while you know people and go places with them. I like Rochester; it’s a funky place with good restaurants, nice cultural amenities and some charm. You can drive anywhere in 10 minutes and park when you get there. But it’s not Boston, which is one of the few European-like cities in the US. As to danger, the area around Northeastern is substantially more dangerous - I can look at the crime reports - but I don’t worry about either place.</p>
<p>Lakemom, I think you completely misread grouchygrownup. He/she was not dissing research universities, merely anecdotally repeating what a UR professor said during a visit, and even pointed out that a particular UR student they spoke with has had quite the opposite experience. The observations on downtown Rochester were identical to ours when we stayed overnight. The observations on Henrietta and Boston are also spot on, based on our experience (my son applied to all three schools). About the only thing I would add to the Boston experience is that it (like many northeast cities of its size) can be dangerous if one is not careful. </p>
<p>Bearing in mind that the advice is intended for a student coming from Spain, I found the post very useful. All three are terrific schools, yet each would give the student a very different American experience. The post does a lot to help explain what those experiences could be like.</p>
<p>My son may go to UR, at which point I no doubt will become a UR cheerleader myself, but I see no reason for the UR stalwarts to be offended by an honest and refreshing assessment of this student’s options.</p>
<p>Perhaps you are right, I had trouble dove tailing back and forth through his/her observations that sounded objective and his/her more judgmental delivery. </p>
<p>The dividing line on these 3 schools is to Coop or not to Coop since RIT requires Coop and 90% of NEU students Coop. </p>
<p>Once that question is answered for an international student, the other variables come into play.</p>
<p>I agree U Roc is a Research U. That was the BIG draw for my guy… but he’s also found he’s really enjoyed his profs so far. ;)</p>
<p>He’s been really busy with the combo of academics, work (work study), clubs (dance, sign language, chess), and doing things in his “spare time.” He’s been to concerts, movies, malls, the farmer’s market (in season) and has just plain enjoyed time with his friends. He hasn’t once complained about there being “nothing to do.”</p>
<p>YMMV.</p>
<p>This thread really amuses me. There is no real audience. The OP literally has not posted in 3 weeks.</p>
<p>Grouchyman, you were grouchy. I just re-read your post. There is no way an info-session guy said what you said he said. You distorted what was said to distort. You also tossed in other stuff about a dentist and bad weather that was completely gratuitous.</p>
<p>Sure, Boston is a great college town. It is a better college town than Rochester. That said, I think Rochester as a city is very underrated. You may have to know a little more about what you are doing, but there is plenty to do. I’ve been to as more plays (1) in the past year in Rochester than I’ve been in Boston and I live 45 minutes from Boston. There are areas in Boston to avoid just like Rochester. I actually liked the city of Rochester a lot, and you cannot underestimate the ease of getting around, lack of traffic, and being able to park. Boston is a nightmare in that regard. </p>
<p>All that said, MOST kids on college campuses stay on their campuses. I wish UR students did more in and around the city than it sounds like they do, but I also know the school and the campus are the most important things.</p>
<p>Lergnom strikes me as angry. Don’t know what the deal is there. Northeastern is a very good school and it does have a great location. There are few schools in the country that have risen as fast as Northeastern. I do not think it is equal to UR but the gap is not huge. I think UR also is rising but probably not at the clip that Northeastern is. All of us are protective of the schools our kids choose. I get that. My kid is on the verge of picking UR. I think UR arguably is the best sleeper school in the country among the elite schools. I personally have put UR on the radar in our little area as a great school. All of these schools are fighting to maintain or move up in terms of peer group. I get it. UR wants to be considered on equal footing with Wash U, Emory, CMU, etc. We (meaning UR) don’t need the Northeasterns of the world on our heels.</p>
<p>And, apologies to RIT where for some things it may be preferable, but I do think there is a big gap between RIT and Northeastern and an even bigger one between RIT and UR.</p>