Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | Student Reviews | Best College

Student Profile

Sage

Class: Sophomore
Major: Computer Science
Gender: F

High School: Bishop Guertin
Transfer Student: N

Big Picture

The best thing about RPI is that everyone is smart and usually willing to help you out for nothing in return. Supposedly its easy to find a job after you graduate (unless you do a fringe major like Philosophy). There are enough people here that you can find your niche, whatever it is, but not so many that you get lost in the crowd. I see at least one friend, and tons of familiar faces every day on my way to class. But it doesn't feel crowded. The kids here take up projects voluntarily for stuff like going green, and theres papers and grafiti taped up around the student union and bridge with slogans and causes, but people don't hound you about them. The administration are greedy bastards who are trying to turn this school into a pure IVY league school with a strong liberal arts program, and feel that yearly 7% increases in tuition that you never see in scholarships or school programs is a good idea. This is supposed to be a tech school. I suppose that kind of sucks, but at least so far it hasn't seemed to have effected the science and engineering programs in too negative a way. Students routinely make fun of the EMPAC building (Experimental Media and Performance Arts Center) by calling it the "EMPAC spaceship" because its ugly and useless and taking years longer than it was supposed to to be built. RPI is also building a new Sports center that less than half the student population will use, but what is supposedly responsible for the huge tuition increases. The tuition here is too ***ing much, but the return on investment makes up for it.

Academic Life

In the liberal arts classes, the professors know your name. In the first two years of major related classes they don't, but i don't think that really affects how much you learn or how well you do. The liberal arts classes here are a joke, but the engineering and science classes are tough. You have to both be smart AND work hard to succeed. Everyone here has an IQ of 130 or above, and many of the kids here already can (or do) work full time in the industry of their major, so if you're just starting out its tough. (excluding lab sciences... most people dont have a chemistry laboratory in their basement) The students here are not competitive. They'll always help you out and i haven't had a class yet where competition would increase your grade. RPI students frequently have intellectual conversations out of class to the point where unless you're highly knowledgeable in the subject you wont be able to follow it. They also take up extra projects (such as writing scripts, managing linux memory, taking apart computers) with no class basis. The education here is geared towards getting a job. its almost never for its own sake.

Student Body

Very diverse student body. Despite there being many more nerds than in other schools, there are still many "normal" people here, who get smashed on the weekends and throw parties. For that, go to the Frats. Everyone here knows that. But everyone else is here to work and get a good job, so most people (with the exception of frat kids) usually are very serious about their grades, studies, or technical hobby. There isnt really a social class here, everyone can talk to everyone else. Even though there are some dirt poor kids here, most kids are affluent, but i cant say it ever comes up. People don't talk about what they'll earn, and they don't talk too frequently or seriously about politics, most people are apathetic. But unlike what i've heard about liberal arts colleges, if the students chose, i believe most would be conservative. I think the kind of student who would feel out of place here, is someone that isn't wicked smart. You could still probably pass the science classes if you weren't smart, but they'd be wicked hard and people would constantly be talking over your head.