Rochester Institute of Technology Top Questions

Is the stereotype of students at your school accurate?

Alex

If you're coming to RIT for engineering or computing majors of any types then yes, it's true. There are very few females in the Engineering and Comp Sci departments. Other majors are pretty even in the male to female ratio. As for nerds, we do have tons of those but there are a great majority of normal, friendly people.

Margaret

Not really. There are some people like that but the vast majority of RIT students are no where near that bad. There are normal people if you look and there are women in building 7.

Jessie

There are students who are in majors that have little to do with computers, however, the majority are in computer related majors and they embody the stereotype of a typical nerd or geek to a tee.

James

For the most part yes, but every place is what you make of it.

Parker

For some people it is pretty accurate, but not the school population in general. And even though a person is a gamer, that doesn't mean he is a nerd/geek.

Christopher

For the most part yes, worst ratio I've seen when visiting schools. If nerds means smart people, then its very true, there a lot of smart individuals. I mixed in with a lot of different types of students, but I do see a lot of clicks and unsociableness.

Andy

It depends on the person, some guys do just sit in their room and play video games all day and as a result are not socially capable. However, there are a lot of people here who do not fit that stereotype and are very different. Also, there are a lot of girls here, and they are not all weird or bitchy. If anything I think people here are more open and friendly than you might see at another larger school. For some reason, everyone is willing to smile and be friendly to one another. At other larger universities I have seen this to be completely the opposite of truth.

Alex

as above

David

1. To a point... The girl to guy ratio was 3:1 when I started here in '03-'04 and it's now closer to 2:1. Still not many females in the technical majors (they tend to stay mostly in Business, Photography, Film, and New Media), but it's getting better. 2. RIT's academics are much different from other colleges. I think that we get exposed to a lot more topics than most schools, but because of the quarter system (10-week semesters), we don't always get the most thorough grasp on subjects unless you really put forth the extra effort to do so. 3. RIT does have a fairly large "nerd" population, but there are also lots of "normal" kids here that like to have fun and party like everyone else. 4. This one's pretty much true. Many people that go here hate it because it's really fast-paced and there isn't a whole lot of time for a social life. Instead of going out with some friends for the weekend, a lot of students are stuck doing projects. The lack of attractive females on campus doesn't help the happiness of this male-majority student body either.

Robin

No.

Lynette

No, when you really look at it, there is so much diversity within the college-we are home to a large number of deaf students, there are students who involve themselves in a lot of things and just try to live the college life. Sometimes the winters are harsh, but I know plenty of students who like playing outside in the snow and are sometimes restrained from doing so, only because of work. It's also not an ugly campus-we actually have a very unique structure-custom made bricks, now how cool is that? Ok maybe not so cool, but still it's pretty unique. We do have school spirit. It might show more at hockey games, but that's because we have a good hockey team (to the other sports-you're not D1, so if we don't have friends on the teams, we're too busy with classes to come and watch-sorry).

Michele

I do believe that some of these stereotypes are accurate because some of them are true. There are quite a few kids who do allow videogames to control their life, however I don't think that this is entirely true. I as well as many kids on campus don't even play videogames but enjoy being outside in the nice weather or doing some other kind of activity. The campus may be full of nerds but that doesn't necessarily mean bad, and also deffintely no pretty girls on campus. I can't even begin to say how many times I have heard from guys and people from other schools saying RIT has no pretty girls and I have to disagree with that. another stereotype is that we only care about engineers and although this is partially true because this school did start out for engineers in general I know that we also have a very competive film and animation program and I'm in the science program and I feel like I have had just as many oppurtunities as the engineers. Also this school has plenty of parties every weekend and plenty of really socially active kids but if you don't take time to get to know these kids or find the parties you will probably miss out.

Kelly

Yes and no. At RIT there are a lot of nerdy students, but there is much more to them than the stereotype suggests. There are also a lot of anime kids...however not the entire student body. One shouldn't judge RIT as a whole based on one section of students.

Casey

Yes and No, a lot of students do only play computer games but not all of them do that they do other things as well.

Daniella

Sure, we get our share of geeks, but there are different types of geeks here: art geeks, computer geeks, gaming geeks, sports geeks, science geeks, etc.

Amanda

RIT is a huge school! If you want it, you can find it. While there definitely are the occasional student that you can't tell if they are male or female and are need of a shower, that isn't everyone. You will find nerdy, jock, preppy, gothic, punk, anything you want, its here. There definitely are parties. While not huge and as overbearing as some colleges, there are more low key get-togethers. We have more computers than students and campus wide LAN parties, for some its a great event, for others its a chance to experience something totally different. There are girls at RIT, more often in the college of science or liberal arts and not as many in engineering but thats most tech schools.

Tristan

The first two, yes and no. Most stereotypes have some basis in fact, but a lot of them become self fulfilling. They do complain, A LOT. The trick is to not complain and enjoy your experience. RIT has amazing things to offer, find them. Rochester has great resources and great thigns to do from art openings at RIT to the Eastman theater, the RPO and the Eastman school of music. Theres always somethign going on at RIT. Our hockey stadium can only hold around 3000 people and yet doesn't sell out despite our constant success. If you don't look and don't participate, then of course theres nothing to do! Weird is the wrong term. There is every range of student at RIT as we populate programs and majors ranging from Computer Science and engineering, to artistic pursuits and fine art photography. As for Anti social, well if you complain a lot you become anti social. There are tons of nice people at RIT and tons to do. But it works both ways, no one is going to be friendly to someone who's not friendly back. Yes there are girls, they unfortunately are often a little wary of some of the guys though. Unfortunately stalking is a major problem (ask my fiancee)...This might having something to do with the fact that there are actually kids dressed (and acting) like ninjas on campus.

Nicole

yes, very accurate

Cindy

To an extent... There's a ton of things to do here!

Julie

Some what, the population is diverse, which is a good thing. But yes there are a lot of nerds/gamers. but there are normal people too.

James

Yes, but improving. There have been more girls enrolled in the school. The weather still sucks.

Jenn

The stereotype about 7:3 men to women is very accurate. There are a lot of men at RIT. The stereotype that everyone is a geek and builds their own computer type of person is not correct. There are many gamers, computer geeks, engineering students but there are also many other students.

Stephanie

Male:Female ratio--YES, but it is an exaggeration. Now it is supposedly 3:1 but the extra females are in photo and art. If you are any math class or class other than photo/art, the ratio is still crazy high males!

Harper

yes

Kai

Partially true. There are some that adhere to the stereotype but others are outgoing, fun loving, guys who also love to be on their computer. There are also girls, who are normal also.

James

90{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} do fall into one of these two groups.

Joshua

for the most part

Alex

Yes.

michelle

very much so

Chris

Not that RIT is only a technical school, there are a lot of art majors that complement the engineering aspect. The stereotype that students do not have much of a social life is not completely true, but largely true. Many students are more of introverts than extroverts. I don't think RIT is boring, as there are things to do if one looks, but I don't think a lot of events are as publicised as they could be. The guy to girl ratio isn't as bad as people make it out to be, but it is worse that 1-1.

Neil

In all honesty, it doesn't take all that much to get into RIT (depending on the particular school). But the level of difficulty is usually determined by the student, as far as the school of film and animation goes. Even though students have the ability to slack off and make less ambitious films, it shows, especially in comparison to students looking to make more difficult projects. And, sadly, yes, there are a lot of overt dorks here. On the other hand, there are a lot of other types of students here, as well. Like every college, it has its art students, athletes, punks (not the physical abuse types), skaters, fratboys, etc. But the dorks _are_ the more noticeable (and smellable is some horrible cases) demographic.

Carson

for a little more than half the population it is true.

Cameron

Yes

Brianne

for some but not all. many students are proficient with new technologies, but also there is a strong liberal arts and art presence here. for the most part though i would say rit students tend to be more of nerds than other schools that i have visited and know people who attend other universitys.

AnnieNichols

No

Kristen

ummm pretty much haha....as a female, i can say that i've definitely managed to find some great guys on this campus who are quite athletic and social.....also, i hate hwen people bitch about the social life here...because i've met plenty of awesome people and can't really complain about my social life...i can complain that i'm too busy to enjoy my social life, but i was still capable of building one here.... ...but there are a SHITLOAD of nerds though...i'm a girl stuck in building 70 all the time..the conversations i've overheard are ridiculous and hysterical! I've heard an hour conversation that started with Star Wars, moved to world wars, dinosaurs, alien contact, the end of the world, and managed to end with Star Wars....it was almost beautiful...i couldn't control my laughter though....i think they saw me....

Gene

for the most part

Greg

Based on the numbers i think yes.

Steve

umm those are. I didn't have to many pre conceptions when I went to school, but I learned that a lot of the stereo types are both true and false. There are a lot of nerdy guys, but there are some that aren't, etc.

Pete

Pretty much. The school does have a large deaf population, although I haven't really interacted with any deaf students since leaving the dorms. The nerds play computer games in their rooms (on any given night) and wear shorts in the winter. The film kids are always strange too. But all in all it makes for an interesting group of people to be around.

Sean

Possibly poll the audience!

Sean

Possibly poll the audience!

ROb

For the most part

Morgan

Somewhat...The school is crawling with very intelligent people, but it is not to say everyone is brilliant. It is actually very handy to have so many smart people around because there is usually a helping hand available when doing your work. As a female, I do feel very safe here because the boys here are not very big or intimidating. The only large guys you will see are the Canadian hockey players. I think there are plenty of girls, but it really depends on the major you are in. If you are in computer science for example, you won't come across girls too often. If you are in advertising, photography, nutrition management or in the interpreting program at ntid you will many mostly girls.

Alex

yes most of the time

Cassie

There are a lot of guys who fit the "WOW/creeper" stereotype, but most guys here seem to just not know how to make friends like normal people. Once you get them out of their RPG shell (assuming this is at all possible) they can actually be great people. As a female, I can truthfully say that the male:female ratio is just fine. Most of the girls here are perfectly normal.

Evan

To an extent. RIT has a large art program and liberal arts school that helps balance out the student population. Most of the business, engineering students and art students dont fit into the stereotype, which is at least half of the population. Also, the school has been doing a lot to increase the female population and were at about 60{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} male, 40{4a082faed443b016e84c6ea63012b481c58f64867aa2dc62fff66e22ad7dff6c} female. Maybe even better at this point.

Kristin

Some of them are, some of them are not. It is difficult because it is all based on perception and from what vantage point you are looking at the campus. I can see where the stereotypes come from, but RIT is working hard to change them and get RIT students more involved in the campus.

Alex

I think there's definitely a good amount of geniuses with a lack of social skills that are a bit obsessive with computers and such, but I'm also sure about the intelligence part of it as well. I think it's very hard to find someone here who doesn't belong academically. Nobody got in as a fluke; everyone has some sort of an idea about the world or life in general...even if it may be a bit crazy. It's just every single person I've met is interesting; we all have our own story, and that's really cool to see.

Donald

There are some kids here who fit that description, but not many more than you're likely to find at any other top academic or tech school in the country. Most of us are normal.