Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Located in Troy, NY; RPI is the pre-eminent engineering school in the United States.  Established in 1824 for the application of science to the common purposes of life, RPI is the oldest technological university in the world.  50% of all 6,000 plus students major in an engineering discipline.  RPI graduates currently hold 1,824 patents.  The brand new Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) boasts a concert hall with the state of the art acoustic finishes on every surface.  The Admission Director was eager to share the news that a recent alumnae created the Guitar Hero III video game and another designed a green packing material grown with mushroom protein featured on the TV show CSI. 

Many of the 11 concentrations in engineering have their own building, concentrating on research exploration.  Each discipline offers their own Bachelors, Masters, and PhD diplomas, so you need never leave RPI for any advance degrees.  Students work in teams on real life projects sponsored by Bell Labs, Lockheed Marin, IBM, GE, and Boeing.  As competitive as the curriculum is, the retention rate from freshmen to sophomore is a whopping high 92%.  Bear in mind that over 15,000 applicants apply for only 1,200 seats.  As in any engineering school, the gender ratio is heavily weighted towards men, in this case, 3:1.

Students who applied to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, also looked at California Institute of Technology, Harvey Mudd College, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.  For more information on Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, visit http://rpi.edu/

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is located at 110 Eighth Street, Troy, NY  12180 (518) 276-6000

Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Located in Worcester, MA; Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) was founded in 1865 as Worcester County Free Institute of Industrial Science.  It is the third oldest private independent technological university in the U.S.  With internships, co-ops and a vigorous career development center, over 90% of graduates have jobs lined up upon graduation.  Keep in mind, more than half of all WPI students are majoring in some type of Engineering.  So it comes as no surprise that the men to women ratio is skewed 4:1. 

WPI is a world renowned engineering school.  Fans of the Segway PT will be pleased to know Dean Kamen attended WPI (but never graduated).  What sets WPI aside from the other world renowned engineering schools is its founding motto of Theory and Practice.  Students must complete three projects, one in each of their sophmore, junior, and senior year.  A Humanities Project must encompass a Humanities concern in their sophmore year.  An Interactive Qualifying Project (IQP) in the junior year is WPI’s most distinctive academic requirement, and is unique in higher education.  Each student’s IQP must relate technology and science to society or human needs.  Many of the projects are sponsored by external agencies and done in teams of 2-4 students.  The Major Qualifying Project (MQP) where all students must complete in their senior year has many of the students completing their projects abroad.  By the time students complete their bachelors degree they already have real world work experience.  

WPI also has a unique academic system, instead of the traditional two semesters, it has a quarter system.  Each of the four terms is seven weeks long and each student takes three courses each term, with some taking four.  With this quickened pace, an exam occurs every few weeks for each class, so it keeps you constantly on your toes.  The grading system is similarly unique.  There are only four grades available: A, B, C, and NR for No Record.  This is to promote team building, since students are no longer competing with each other over modifiers such as plus and minuses.  Any grade less than a C are an automatic NR, where students may elect to take the course over again.  There is no record of the first attempt on the transcript.

Admittedly, there is much less press on WPI then it’s peer engineering schools of MIT, RPI, and Columbia University.  It is located close enough to the bigger cities of Boston (less than one hour away) and New York City (two hours away), but housing is only guaranteed for freshmen.  Most upper classmen live off campus.  WPI also did alway with open lawn space.  Evidently, engineers tend to hole up in their dorm rooms playing computer games rather than spend time outdoors.   At any liberal arts and science colleges you would expect to find dozens of students outside taking advantage of good weather.  On the day of our visit it was warm and sunny.  We counted two students out on the small lawn adjacent to the Admissions Office. 

Students who applied to WPI also looked at MIT, Cal Tech, and Columbia University.  For more information on Worcester Polytechnic Institute, visit http://www.wpi.edu/

Worcester Polytechnic Institute is located at 100 Institute Road, Worcester, MA  01609 (508)831-5000

Rochester Institute of Technology

Located in Rochester, NY; Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) was founded in 1829 by Colonel Nathaniel Rochester and other Rochester community leaders as the Athenaeum, an association “for the purpose of cultivating and promoting literature, science, and the arts.”  The campus now occupies 1,300 acres in suburban Rochester, the third largest city in New York State.  With over 14,000 undergraduates and almost 3,000 graduate students on campus, RIT is one of the largest universities in the country, conferring Associates, Bachelors, Masters Degrees, Doctorates, and advance certificates.

Rochester Institute of Technology is a privately endowed, coeducational university with nine colleges emphasizing career education and experiential learning.  RIT has the fourth-oldest and one of the largest cooperative education programs in the world, annually placing more than 3,500 students in more than 5,500 co-op assignments with nearly 2,000 employers across the United States and overseas.  Interestingly, RIT is also the home campus for the federally sponsored National Technical Institute for the Deaf, which had been established in 1963 by Public Law 89-36 and signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson.

At both the graduate and undergraduate levels, RIT is ranked among the Top 10 Schools for Video Game Design Study in the 2011 Princeton Review/GamePro Media second annual rankings.  So it comes as no surprise that the men to women ratio are skewed 2:1. 

Strangely, RIT is in the process of converting its quarter system back into the typical semester system with fall and spring.  One wonders at the reasoning behind the change.       

   

Admittedly, there is much less press on RIT then it’s peer engineering schools of MIT and RPI.  It sits on Lake Ontario and is six hours away from the bigger cities of Boston and New York City.  Housing is only guaranteed for freshmen.  Most upper classmen live off campus.

Students who applied to RIT also looked at MIT, Alfred University, and Clarkson University.  For more information on Rochester Institute of Technology, visit http://www.rit.edu/

RIT is located at One Lomb Memorial Drive  Rochester, NY  14623

(585) 475-2411

Clarkson University

Located in Potsdam, New York; Clarkson University is one of the smallest nationally ranked research university, with a total student population of around 3,000.  Clarkson was founded in 1896 as a memorial to Thomas S. Clarkson whose favorite biblical verse, “A Workman That Needeth Not to be Ashamed” became the school’s motto.  The school’s colors, green and gold, came from Clarkson’s favorite flower, the goldenrod. Clarkson is an engineering school, boasting a whopping 95% job placement rate for its graduates.  The ‘Hired By’ video showcased on its homepage presents seniors holding up handmade signs displaying their employer’s names – Hired by GE, Hired by IBM, Hired by Johnson & Johnson.”  The stats are quite impressive. 

Clarkson University also hosts Clarkson School, a bridge between the senior year of high school and the first year of college where 50 to 80 high school students each year complete a year of experiential living and learning experience on a college campus.  Upon completion, students apply and enter into university as a freshman with advance standing. 

Potsdam remains a small town, with little or nothing to do.  On the day of our visit, which turned out to be one of the rare (above 40 degree Fahrenheit) warm weather days in Potsdam, we were able to walk to the two staple establishments in town – Maxfield, a restaurant/bar and the Clarkson book store.  The dorms were another disappointment.  The rooms and flooring were run down, with no signs of any maintenance ever being done. 

Students who applied to Clarkson University, also looked at Rochester Institute of Technology, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and Lehigh University.  For more information on Clarkson University, visit http://www.clarkson.edu/

Clarkson University is located at 8 Clarkson Avenue Potsdam, New York 13699 (315)268-6400.