<p>Very good points, Sandpit.</p>
<p>Next year you are going to have two going to RPI, correct? First, that’s very impressive - congrats on the great parenting job. Second, your name must be either Gates, Buffett, or Rockefeller to afford it! I keep waiting to her what tuition will be next year…and you have to pay it twice over!</p>
<p>Yes, RPI does reject applicants. The valedictorian of a neighboring HS (who was also a Rensselaer Medalist) was rejected last year. High 90s GPA, active in her school, honors and AP curriclum, great recommendation letters. Her problem: sub-600 scores in all three sections of the SAT. Excellent SAT/ACT scores may not get you admitted to RPI, but minimally above average scores can definitely keep you out.</p>
<p>Dadinator - we actually will have three in college next year! Each pays part of their tuition so they are invested in their education. The oldest is at Cornell studying engineering. Both kids at RPI have the medal, which helps SO much (so did the Cornell one but she had her own opinions about college). We also bought a house in Troy that our son and friends will live in for two years, then daughter and friends for the next two years. It is part of our retirement portfolio since a good time to buy real estate now and much cheaper rental rates than on-campus housing. (Troy is much more affordable than where we live). When they ask for help attending grad school, we say “only if we can live with you when we are older” and that shuts them up really fast (every teenager’s nightmare!)</p>
<p>So, in essence, two RPI Medals paid for a house in Troy. That’s fantastic. Shirley should promote that as part of a new urban renewal plan for Troy.</p>
<p>Padre13 - Never thought of it that way! Not sure they’d encourage it, they have good profit centers going with the dorms IMHO. True the nicer Troy is, the better for RPI. One of the reasons we bought the house was seeing pictures of some off-campus apartments where nice old big houses were chopped up into space-impaired apartments with minimal efforts at looking decent. There’s no reason for that type of landlord greed, the houses are cheap enough to buy and make $$ with market rate rents.</p>
<p>DD was accepted but will (in all likelyhood) not matriculate. </p>
<p>With so many “highly qualified” applicants I guess that’s why they offered no merit beyond medal</p>
<p>IMHO; $40K/yr is simply too much to become an engineer. Figure 5 years of school to make $80K/yr. At that salary your take home pay would be about $4500/mo. Your loan payment would be over $2K; over 40% of your pay check would be going to pay off your student loans. Maybe it would make sense for law school of med school (even then doubtful !!!) but engineers top out a lot lower than either of these professions.</p>
<p>osdad - not sure where you can get a cheaper education than RPI with RPI medal except with in-state tuition. My daughter would owe Penn State (out of state) with Schreyer’s Honors scholarship about the same tuition/living expenses as RPI. Financial aid calculations can be all over the map, but almost all have loans included except for the most elite schools that have grant-only policies for lower income families. I sure wish we lived in a state with a great in-state tuition university for engineering, but NY is the wrong state.</p>
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<p>Alabama offered full OOS tuition and another $2500. Total out of pocket will be about $6K per year or said another way; DD will get a MS (completed in 4 years because of AP credits) for less than one year at RPI. Lots of schools will do similar for kids who can get into RPI - just have to look around.</p>
<p>The first thing they look for when they open your application is your math SAT score</p>
<p>i guess they were dissapointed when i didnt submit sat scores :P</p>
<p>osdad- power to your daughter for getting such a great offer! One thing to look at is where graduates of that program go and see if it matches your daughter’s goals. i.e. quality of graduate schools, corporations hiring, etc. I went to a state school and then on to one of the top engineering grad schools so I completely understand. But not all state schools were represented at this top 3 grad school. I’m not at all familiar with Alabama so am not commenting on it specifically, just make sure you are keeping the right doors open.</p>
<p>Does anyone know if the actual number of acceptances dropped? Or was it just that more people applied?</p>
<p>“the first thing they look at when they open your application is math SAT score”</p>
<p>hahahaha that’s very true…i think the only reason i got in was bc i got an 800 in the math…</p>
<p>Thread necromancy at its finest</p>