What can I say about this school?

[Eng_Mom]

<p>I have a son who attends WPI and is an upperclassman. Overall, this school has been a disappointment. I think his classes are OK and I think he is getting a good education, but it falls down in so many other ways...</p>

<p>The much-hyped "project" focus has yet to really amount to anything. Even he agrees that in hindsight he should have looked more seriously at Northeastern.</p>

<p>On campus housing is truly icky -- seriously, look beyond the two big freshman dorms. Their options for sophomore year on are really bad (unless they get lucky enough to move to the new dorm and even that isn't fabulous - it still has double rooms in some of the apartments!)</p>

<p>Socially it is really bad. But then again, I think all the "techy" schools are social nightmares. I'll be honest -- I wanted him to do engineering at a regular university because I could see the social scene at this type of college was pitiful. (He also considered RPI and Rose Hulman.)</p>

<p>He hates drinking and partying, so that option is out. He claims the only thing kids do on weekends is go off campus and get drunk.</p>

<p>He did not want to join a frat, but I sort of wish he had. It seems the frats skimmed off most of the kids he met in his freshman dorm.</p>

<p>He really misses girls. He claims the attractive/normal girls are all freshmen and they flunk out quickly. (Obviously a generalization -- but this is his perception, not mine.)</p>

<p>He has found the few clubs they have to be very cliquish and not very welcoming. (Especially drama. He explored them as a freshman, felt rebuffed, and never went back.) </p>

<p>There are virtually NO campus sponsored activities or cultural events. (Who ever heard of a school that has no comedians, no (classical - his interest) music groups visiting, no interesting speakers, no fun parties or barbecues...)</p>

<p>There is no co-mingling with the students at the other Worcester colleges.</p>

<p>He hates hates hates! the ever-present Larpers and assorted other socially challenged odd balls. (Furries!)</p>

<p>Now I should state - he is not miserable there. He has not considered transferring. But whenever I ask him, "Did you do anything fun last term?" - his answer is always "No." </p>

<p>Whoever heard of having No Fun at all in college??? He can't wait to get home and hang around with all his friends here at home. </p>

<p>It's ridiculous.</p>

[IndianPwnerDude]

<p>I don’t think it is wrong to have fun and be educated at the same time, although I am also opposed to drinking and excessive partying. There are many other options of recreation and fun here than partying. There is an ACM chapter and an IEEE chapter that have various events and there are lot of gaming nights/weekends here as well as numerous student leadership positions that are not hard to attain if you are motivated. There are a lot of cultural events here, although most are admittedly targetted towards nerds. However, if he really isn’t having fun at WPI and he has tried these events, maybe he should consider transferring to another school where he fits better. WPI is definitely not a fit for everyone and the “Tech” name doesn’t really always correlate with the best engineering education for everyone.</p>

<p>Northeastern is also a great option for college and I don’t know too much about how the project-based curriculum on a day to day basis is too unique. Most courses have projects; there are certainly projects at UMass Amerst, Boston University, Northeastern, and many other schools. However, the IQP here are quite different because of the focus of applying technological knowledge in a social context. The MQPs are available at most schools in the name of Senior Thesis or Honors Projects or a “Capstone”.</p>

[al6200]

<p>

The much-hyped “project” focus has yet to really amount to anything. Even he agrees that in hindsight he should have looked more seriously at Northeastern.</p>

<p>On campus housing is truly icky – seriously, look beyond the two big freshman dorms. Their options for sophomore year on are really bad (unless they get lucky enough to move to the new dorm and even that isn’t fabulous - it still has double rooms in some of the apartments!)

</p>

<p>They’re not that bad in my opinion, and I don’t think Northeastern is any better. </p>

<p>

Socially it is really bad. But then again, I think all the “techy” schools are social nightmares. I’ll be honest – I wanted him to do engineering at a regular university because I could see the social scene at this type of college was pitiful. (He also considered RPI and Rose Hulman.)

</p>

<p>That’s a reasonable position. Over the past decades, Americans have increasingly come to prefer broad, well rounded universities over specialized ones. In response WPI is increasing the size of its freshman class to reduce the diseconomies of scale from offering diverse course options to engineering focused students. </p>

<p>

He hates drinking and partying, so that option is out. He claims the only thing kids do on weekends is go off campus and get drunk.

</p>

<p>I think that that is a trend among all engineers, not just WPI students. </p>

<p>

He did not want to join a frat, but I sort of wish he had. It seems the frats skimmed off most of the kids he met in his freshman dorm.</p>

<p>He really misses girls. He claims the attractive/normal girls are all freshmen and they flunk out quickly. (Obviously a generalization – but this is his perception, not mine.)</p>

<p>He has found the few clubs they have to be very cliquish and not very welcoming. (Especially drama. He explored them as a freshman, felt rebuffed, and never went back.)

</p>

<p>I sort of agree with these points. </p>

<p>

There are virtually NO campus sponsored activities or cultural events. (Who ever heard of a school that has no comedians, no (classical - his interest) music groups visiting, no interesting speakers, no fun parties or barbecues…)</p>

<p>There is no co-mingling with the students at the other Worcester colleges.

</p>

<p>Now a few of those points are not true. We have two big comedy groups on campus and we have interesting speakers (if you think mathematicians and engineers are interesting). In fact this last year we hosted a regional conference of the American Mathematical Society, which had tons of guest lectures. </p>

<p>

He hates hates hates! the ever-present Larpers and assorted other socially challenged odd balls. (Furries!)

</p>

<p>WPI has an organization for Furries??? </p>

<p>

Now I should state - he is not miserable there. He has not considered transferring. But whenever I ask him, “Did you do anything fun last term?” - his answer is always “No.”</p>

<p>Whoever heard of having No Fun at all in college??? He can’t wait to get home and hang around with all his friends here at home.</p>

<p>It’s ridiculous.

</p>

<p>To be fair - there are tons of students in the same situation at lots of universities, especially engineering schools. Engineering is not as “fun” as English or philosophy, to the vast majority of the population. People study engineering because it allows one to gain the means to support one’s family and provide for one’s society.</p>

[CBBBlinker]

<p>Not clear to me who dislikes WPI more, the student or his mom! Honestly, if your son is that unhappy, why wouldn’t he consider transferring? No school is the perfect fit for all students – sometimes transferring really is the best option.</p>

[phanatic]

<p>What’s wrong with the WPI LARPers? I happen to know several of them, and they are some of the nicest people I have met. </p>

<p>I agree with CBBBlinker. I think the real problem expressed here seems to be that the son isn’t having the experience that the mother wanted him to have–the disappointment seems to be primarily hers, and secondarily his.</p>