Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Top Questions

When dealing with a science and engineering school like RPI there is the stigma of the dork, the shut in, and the socially inept. This could not be further from the truth. The kids at Rensselaer are some of the most diverse people I have ever met. Thinking about it the stereotype is right in some respect, we are all nerds. But nerds about everything. We have our Magic nerds, our sports nerds, our party nerds. Everyone here has such a wide range of interests, but the beautiful thing is we all share this underlying framework of nerdhood. RPI is the family that you never knew you needed. Here you can find the social group that fits you best, and even that means staying in on a friday to play video games or making a 4 am run to Pizzabella you are going to find it here.

Nerdy. Yeah, we are studious but that population you envision of anti-social student is very small.

Nerdy. This stereotype isn't accurate. Although we have a fair share of quirky kids, we also have a large population of students involved in athletics, clubs, and Greek life. There is always something to do and the "nerdy kids" tend to find each other and have their own fun.

I would say that RPI students are stereotyped as being nerdy engineers. Well, we are nerds, and we are proud of it! However, not everyone is an engineer and in terms of majors, interests, and personalities, we definitely do not have a homogeneous student body.

RPI is famous for engineering and science graduates. Accordingly, our biggest stereotype is that of a "nerdy" school. I would have to agree to a degree that we're on the track to being nerdier than most schools, but you will surely find people of all personalities and backgrounds at RPI. We also have the stereotype of being a dominantly male school, which is completely accurate when viewing the statistics. For every three male students, there is one female student, but the ratio is becoming more female-friendly with each passing year.

Being a school that has a huge focus on academics, specifically science, most of our students would be considered "nerds." And most of are students actually are nerds, at least to some degree. We have a good amount of "super-nerds." You know, the kids who play video games all day and only go out to the real world when they have to eat. The ones who are either talking about new 'builds' they want to try out or the consequences of nano-particles in everyday activities. These people make do make up a large percentage of RPI's student body, but not all of it. We also have what would be considered more "normal" students. We have people who play sports, and people who like to socialize and those natural born leaders who start all our clubs. We have frat guys and sorority girls. But if you talk to any of these people long enough, you realize that they're all closet nerds. Some hide it more than others, but everyone on campus has at least one super nerdy passion. Whether its astrology, Harry Potter, or Starcraft 2, everyone on campus has something they love that makes them a nerd deep down.

The stereotype at RPI tends to revolve around the high male to female ratio. Therefore, students think that this means that they will not have a social life and that the men will not be able to have any "normal" girl friends. This is completely not true. Sure, there are classes where you will be surrounded by just men, but at the same time, I have had engineering classes where the majority of the class is made up of women. As far as this ratio's effect on the social life, this is just not true. There are plenty of men at the school that do not leave their room. As a result, when it comes to going to social events and parties, the ratio very much even out and you would never know that the school has such an uneven ratio. Another stereotype is that everyone at RPI is nerdy and weird. This is not true! I have found that RPI is full of so many cliques and types of people. Yes, there are nerdy people, and people you will find "weird", but RPI is very diverse. Everyone easily finds a group of people that they get along with. Athletics and greek life is extremely popular, so there are plenty of great people to meet and things to do outside of the strenuous work that goes on at RPI.

The stereotype at RPI tends to revolve around the high male to female ratio. Therefore, students think that this means that they will not have a social life and that the men will not be able to have any "normal" girl friends. This is completely not true. Sure, there are classes where you will be surrounded by just men, but at the same time, I have had engineering classes where the majority of the class is made up of women. As far as this ratio's effect on the social life, this is just not true. There are plenty of men at the school that do not leave their room. As a result, when it comes to going to social events and parties, the ratio very much even out and you would never know that the school has such an uneven ratio. Another stereotype is that everyone at RPI is nerdy and weird. This is not true! I have found that RPI is full of so many cliques and types of people. Yes, there are nerdy people, and people you will find "weird", but RPI is very diverse. Everyone easily finds a group of people that they get along with. Athletics and greek life is extremely popular, so there are plenty of great people to meet and things to do outside of the strenuous work that goes on at RPI.

As a tech school, RPI is usually seen as a geek school. While there are the usual geeky things that happen, RPI is a diamond in the rough. Everyone is their own person. I have found some of my best friends here and I can say that there is no fair way to stereotype this school.

This is not accurate at all; most students are intelligent here but have a wide variety of interests. I have many friends who are on sports teams and involved in Greek life.

The stereotype of a Rensselaer student is that all the students are nerds and stay in their rooms playing video games. This stereotype s not accurate because even though Rensselaer students are studious we are not all confined to our rooms. The typical Rensselaer student knows how to balance academics while still having a healthy social life.

Yes, we are a school full of nerds. But cool nerds. People here put their intelligence to good use-they brew beer, make wine, build keggerators, and are generally creative people. Students here value success. Yes, there are still jocks (football & hockey athletes), band geeks (pep band), hipsters (ground zero/wrpi), pretty girls (AGD/Pi phi & management major girls), but there's still a ton of people who don't fit into any of those stereotypes. Regardless, everyone is above average smart, with some extremely smart kids, and everyone is looking to become successful and expect high-salary paying jobs when they graduate.