Why Rose-Hulman?

<p>So out of curiosity, why go to Rose-Hulman when I could go to UIUC? This isn't supposed to be any sort of dis to RHIT, but I just want to know what makes this school seem so great. </p>

<p>Now, the reason I would probably choose RHIT is because I love small classes and knowing that I can talk to the prof. Also, I am not big on partying and I plan to go into engineering.</p>

<p>Would my education suffer from going to RHIT instead of UIUC, or do you think it would be just as good?</p>

<p>Also, I told my brother, who is an engineer, that I was thinking of RHIT and he said that it was probably very over-rated and not nearly as good as the rankings make it out to be. Also that he has never even heard of it. This sort of discouraged me from the school. He goes to IIT, but how do you think Rose compares? </p>

<p>Thank you for any help!</p>

<p>I don’t know very much about UIUC, but I’ll tell you what I do know about the two schools. Like you mentioned, at Rose you will have small classes all taught by a professor, and almost all of the professors have a PhD in their field. Also, since Rose is all math, science, and engineering, everyone around you will be taking similar classes. You will get to know the other students quickly, especially those in your major (I knew more than half of the students in my year by the end of freshman year). Rose also does not have “weed out” classes and a very high percentage of students return for sophomore year. Basically Rose focuses on helping students to succeed in many ways.</p>

<p>As far as rankings, the US News rankings have been criticized in a lot of ways, but Rose consistently ranks high in rankings by many reputable organizations. It’s true that Rose is not as well known as a school like UIUC, but it is pretty well known considering it’s size and is gaining notoriety every year. From my experience the people that have heard of Rose are the people that matter (engineers looking to hire Rose graduates), and they all have a very high opinion of the school.</p>

<p>All that said, it sounds like you would fit in better at Rose than a larger school, and I think that’s more important than rankings or notoriety. If you haven’t come for a campus visit, I’d highly recommend it so you can see for yourself how you’d fit in here.</p>