Troy, New York may lack the excitement of a bustling college town, but Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's reputation in engineering and other technical fields attracts students with specific career goals in mind. “
A few people have even referred to RPI as the step below MIT. It's nice to have that kind of recognition for your college,” writes a senior. The institute is currently expanding its liberal arts programs, but the main focus remains on engineering and the sciences. While one can expect to receive some blank stares when calling the school by its acronym, RPI’s reputation in the technology sector affords students name recognition when seeking employment. “
If you tell your friends or neighbors about RPI, they may not know about it. But rest assured all the big companies know about us,” says an engineering major.
The campus is very tech-friendly, a plus for self-identifying “white geeky men.” Indeed, most undergrads agree with the stereotype that nerdiness runs high among the RPI student body, but not everyone has a permanent attachment to virtual reality. Within the school's programs of studies, stereotypes attach themselves to majors off the typical engineer path: "
Other stereotypes include the hardworking archie major, the idiotic management major and the "Easy-Mac" lazy EMAC major," writes a student. Some think diversity could be improved, both within in the school and the field of engineering as a whole. “
We definitely need more minorities in the field of engineering and architecture,” says a black student. Undergrads tend to bond with others like them. “
To go to this school you have to be prepared to get technical, and pretty much throw creativity out the window,” writes a junior engineering major. But all techies are required to take 24 credits in the humanities and social sciences. To broaden the university’s scope, liberal arts majors, especially those in EMAC, have received more funding and attention in recent years.
An impressive GPA is necessary for acceptance, but that doesn’t translate into overt competitiveness, at least in the smaller departments. “
The liberal arts classes here are a joke, but the engineering and science classes are tough. 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,” writes a computer science major. However, some engineering majors, who make up the largest percentage of the student body, argue the opposite. One writes, “
very very very competitive students here.” RPI's major draw is that most of the professors are well-known names in their individual fields of expertise. Classroom interaction varies depending on size and department. Core courses tend to be larger but typically have fewer than 25 students in the junior and senior classes. While an architecture major writes,“
I am on a first-name basis with almost all of my professors!” a student in the engineering department rants, “
Most professors do not know names AT ALL.” Generally, engineering majors agree professors care more about research and less about personal interaction with students in the large core classes. Even in classes, students seem more intent on soaking up lecture material than engaging one another. Writes one student, "
Class participation is scarce, and people don't talk very much, even when the professor opens up discussions. The only classes that really have a lot of student interaction are the humanities and arts classes."
RPI’s social scene revolves around Greek parties and the men’s ice hockey team. The Engineers are the school’s only Division I team, and they draw a majority of the student body to their games. About 25 percent of students go Greek and throw parties off-campus, as no alcohol is allowed at RPI residences. “
In order to get involved in the social life you are most likely going to have to get involved in some sort of team or fraternities, as most parties are not open to guys. Girls are always welcome into any party on campus as part of the ratio,” says a freshman. That ratio causes quite a bit of social controversy on a campus where men outnumber women three to one. Some more frustrated men call it "
RIBS - ratio-induced bitch syndrome," which, continues one student, has little basis in fact: "
RIBS does have some grounding in truth, but the majority of female students are focused on learning, making friends, and interacting with their fellow students in a normal, non-bitchy manner." And then men admit that the ratio isn't their only obstacle in finding true love at RPI: "
Dating can be tough. Where do you take your date in Troy? The pizzeria? And where are you going to find a date?"
Weekend soirees aren’t limited to athletes and Greeks, however. “
There are groups on campus that aren't Greek that have decent social events,” attests a fraternity brother. Although some students fit the cliché of nerdy hermits, freshmen find that most dorms are pretty social. First-year students are usually placed in housing according to their interest and desire for privacy based on a survey they submit before enrolling. According to a sophomore, “
Freshman year dorms are very social, half the doors are open at any given time and you can just walk in and talk to people. The parties are always at the frats, and it’s easy to find one on Friday night, as juniors and seniors with cars come into the freshman dorms to pick up their friends and will usually let you hitch a ride as well.” Due to limited nightlife and activities in Troy, road trips to NYC, Boston, or ski resorts in upstate New York are common. For those without a car, reliable shuttle bus service is available to take students off campus for free.
Clubs are numerically popular at RPI, but less so in practice. "
The Union 200 is a phrase that is often used to describe the limited amount of people on campus that are involved," writes one student. "
I think this is completely true. I find that I have been taking on roles because nobody else wants to." But students find plenty of time to put their diverse skill sets to work outside the classroom - and have a lot of fun interacting with like-minded kids from around the world. "
The Frisbee team, Trudge, is the closest to 'hippies' we have on campus, though they still all have a beer-chugging, science-oriented flavor to them all," one student explains. "
Ground Zero is our bandana-wearing, Vans-sporting, alternative music club on campus, [which] generally view themselves [as] too cool for the rest of RPI, though in reality, their music is only sometimes marginally more interesting than anyone else's on campus." And RPI students can always be counted on to apply their skills to real-life problems, including blowing off stress in the library, according to one student: "
Last week I was in the library with a friend of mine, and we'd had such a stressful week that she and I just made paper airplanes out of scrap and played with them."
