Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | Student Reviews | Best College

Student Profile

Kristin

Class: Freshman
Major: Engineering
Gender: F

High School: Columbus School For Girls
Transfer Student: N

Big Picture

RPI is a small school, mostly male (right now), but that is changing as the admissions is working to make it a more evenly distributed class. People on the east coast know the school well, and are stunned that you go there (especially if you are normal). On campus time is spent at the library, union, or DCC. The school is located in Troy, NY which isn't very nice to the students on campus, so you feel confined sometimes to only the campus area, but you can go into the town and not be scared (unlike they tell you the first year). RPI's administrators aren't helping the situation with downtown Troy and aren't doing a good job at encouraging students to go and support the town much.

Academic Life

Academics at RPI are hard. What do you expect? The school is one of the best places for an engineering degree and their hard work ethics spread through every discipline. Your professors will know you and you will know them fairly well by the end of the semester. If you take the time to email them and communicate with them, or talk to your TAs about your class performance you will do better. The school is very big on networking, so use that and network throughout campus, find back tests and information on professors- it is useful. Students aren't necessarily competitive, but they all strive to do well. Some it comes easy for, but most work for the grades the get. The requirements, at least for engineering, don't leave time for much, but you are required to have some electives in there so a Psyc minor is always one people tend to lean towards. RPI is geared to what you will need in industry, not just theory stuff. Even in Calc II and Diff Eq it is set so you use your math skills towards real life engineering problems you would solve.

Student Body

RPI's student body is mostly from the east coast. MA, NY, NJ, CT, VT. Most students range in wearing sweats or jeans, sometimes people will be dressed up. Layers is always good especially in the winter because it gets nasty cold and windy and then classrooms are pumped with heat. First year most of the students live on Freshman Hill (in the Freshman Five) and eat in commons, but some upperclassmen eat there too.