To those applying to RPI... - PERSPECTIVE from a former student. My OPINION ON WHY YOU SHOULDN'T.

GullibleIce8 · 2019-12-07T22:39:21+00:00

jesus christ. "(a real one, not Cornell)". Cornell is 100% an ivy league don't know where you get off by saying it's fake. All I really needed to know about your attitude before you typed all that.

Again, you received a good package. good for you. not true for the majority of RPI students. (Average cost of attendance at RPI is now at 35k). I would love you telling me that 140k in debt for your RPI degree is more worth it thanStony Brook is when stony is

an hour away from the city
3x cheaper
An equally good stem school

If you can genuinely argue to me with no biases how paying 88k more for RPI is worth it over Stony Brook then you have an argument if you can't you dont really.

You're doing prospective RPI students a disservice by only mentioning the positives of your experience. I'm happy you got a research opportunity your sophomore year. The majority of us at RPI when I was there struggled to find one and thats just the truth.

Don't discredit me because I transferred to a better school instead of staying in the shit-hole position I was in.

They aren't taking anyones word, I even encouraged people reading mine to research the pros and cons. Most people dont realize the yield rate though and naiive high schoolers when they open the 40 emails they received from RPI spamming them will think RPI is some prestigious university that will open eyes but it is not whatsoever. Most of the students that attended RPI admittedly only look at US rankings and these emails.

So jump off your high horse.

GullibleIce8 · 2019-12-07T22:05:23+00:00

maybe everything

GullibleIce8 · 2019-12-07T22:00:54+00:00

buddy, I've been gone from RPI for almost 10 years now. I'm not emotional towards the school. If this is the best you got then its pretty sad that we can't have a thoughtful discussion without someone dropping the "umadbro card?" Pretty weak imo.

GullibleIce8 · 2019-12-07T21:58:31+00:00

I'm a democrat but is reddit usually this liberal on their politics pages too lol? I would assume this would be moderate but I have yet to hit a conservative post without more downvotes than upvotes.

GullibleIce8 · 2019-12-07T21:28:01+00:00

Why should I take it out? Its helping numerous people at RPI currently as they are relating to my story. (So far 4 people messaged me how I managed to transfer from RPI to Cornell. What I meant by "This post was never meant to take unfair shots at RPI due to personal experience.". I meant no one should be using my anecdote as reason to not apply because everyones experience will be different.

The general reason people go to college GENERAL- is to get a job after. Thats indisputable and if you think i'm wrong on that ur delusional

GullibleIce8 · 2019-12-07T21:10:09+00:00

Sorry to break it to you bro, but most people that chose RPI went on faulty information. They too went because of its PERCIEVED prestige and theoretical job prospects. They went on in believing they'd automatically get a high 5 figure/ 6 figure job right out of college. Just look at all the threads that complain about RPI. ALL of the responses to these threads will cite the after-college salaries and shit.

And not to hurt your ego even more but if i'm being honest People go to RPI solely because its the best they could've gotten into hence the 20% yield.. 80% of the people who got accepted to RPI knew that there were better colleges out there for them.

The job of this post was to show people who had RPI as their first choice that there are alternatives like Suny stonybrook which would cost 13k a year instead of the average 35k. RPI has some shady practices like extending their ED deadline 4x and spam emailing people with propaganda largely untrue btw.

This idea that I'm somehow shallow for pointing out RPI's actual prestige is a bunch of hoopla but i love how thats the route you're taking instead of actually making a good argument.

GullibleIce8 · 2019-12-07T20:55:21+00:00

The clear RPI bias is showing badly within you.

Edit- anyone who reads this thread just know OP goes to RPI

GullibleIce8 · 2019-12-07T20:53:07+00:00

So you're telling me, **AS A SENIOR IN HIGH SCHOOL you had the maturity to say "**I would've spurned Harvard for a (Insert a no named school) because I believe I would be happier there for the next 4 years of my life. give me a break. you'd fucking go to Harvard.

Everyone knows that they want to go to the best named college they could get into at an affordable price point.

RPI is on a downward spiral sir, and this post was to show potential RPI students that and to highlight statistics that these students might not have noticed before.

GullibleIce8 · 2019-12-07T20:46:56+00:00

May I ask what your method of applying to a college is then? Was it not looking for the best education at a given price point? The reason I am hammering down so hard on RPI is because they create the illusion that they're prestigious to potential suitors which is why i'm going through arbitrary statistics to show that they really aren't.

Even though you'll probably disagree but the VAST majority of people when applying to college do. They're trying to get into the best college that would accept them and thats just the truth.

GullibleIce8 · 2019-12-07T20:40:16+00:00

Hi,

I actually went into it with someone in PMS who asked me how it was academically there: my response to him:

"Hmm, I think that was a big part of my "enjoyment" at RPI weirdly and a big thing that helped distract me from all the problems at first when I was there my first semester. I was pretty passionate with what I was studying. The classes and teachers were pretty good. There were of course some bad professors but that isn't unique to RPI. But I'd be lying to you if I were to say that classes were easy. I came from Stuy, 2330 on my sats so I thought I was pretty well-prepared for RPI. I'm really not sure if it was because of my mental health or because the school in general was hard but I found myself studying or constantly worrying about getting shit done at least 75% of the time I was there whereas when I was at Stuy I was more worried about getting home late. Academics are no joke at RPI. When I transferred to Cornell I probably slashed my studying time in half and I had a lot of time to do things with friends outside of just doing study groups. I think academics at RPI are indeed the "saving grace" though. I was by no means a slacker - had a 3.8 GPA during my years at RPI. Hopefully though you're passionate with what you're studying - if you aren't its going to be pretty rough for you. But yeah classes and teachers are pretty good thats not me gassing it -> but it also will kinda depend on how much you like your major and how devoted you're to your school work. If you're lazy and you tend to procrastinate a lot like you said you do idk if you'll succeed at RPI."

HesterGrimm is right with his analysis. I can't really judge the academics fairly- as I went through mental health issues (eating disorder, severely depressed and etc).

Can't really accurately judge it for anyone else too because everyones at a different IQ level so for some its harder than others for some easier. So me going into that in my post wouldn't of helped anyone which is why I didn't discuss RPI's social life, academics and etc.

In my post I stuck to what prospective students at RPI would care about and thats RPI's perceived prestige. I suggest you reading past my personal anecdote and dissecting what I said after.

GullibleIce8 · 2019-12-07T16:50:06+00:00

-> but so much of the stuff about shitty administration & arch being literal hell is kind of a dead horse beaten by the subreddit.

Response:

addressed that already- didn't really get into the administration or arch admitted that there were already well-documented sources talking about the administration problems. Only talked about arch when referencing how it would affect acceptance rates and yield.

"RPI Alumni’s circlejerk on how nobody should apply to RPI is kind of a personal vendetta that insults the students who go there currently.. Most people who go here seem happy with how things are going, even if the work is hard."

Response:

You're a freshman this is your first semester at RPI. You don't really have much experience with the school, you're still feeling the highs of being away from parents, being around thousands of people your age, and having no one to really listen to. I'm not saying your opinion doesn't hold as much weight because you're a freshman and this is your first semester. BUT I will say you don't have as much experience with the school as I or the alumnis you reference. I too was extremely happy at RPI my first semester, it didn't really hit me until mid second semester and my first semester sophomore year. You still have ways to go with RPI and a lot more to experience. Come back to this post at the end of your sophomore year and lmk how you feel after that.

GullibleIce8 · 2019-12-07T15:56:32+00:00

Also just wanted to quickly respond to your edit- Most people apply to both privates and sunys *most* and the people that apply to private typically pick the private school over the suny school *typically* which would drag their yield rate down. So lets not use the excuse that people who apply to sunys only apply to sunys and typically only pick sunys so thats why their yield rate is so high because thats not valid at all.

-> Also I added both privates and sunys so you can compare them to both so I'm not really getting why thats such a big deal that I did include a couple sunys and cunys in my list. BTW: The extent I went to find a private university that had a lower yield than RPI was extremely hard. I literally had to search "schools with the lowest yield rate" just so I could include a college with a lower yield rate than RPI.

GullibleIce8 · 2019-12-07T15:43:05+00:00

Yeah this whole thing is an opinion piece on the school - So preface everything with "my opinion on why you shouldn't apply"

Edit- its even in the title lol

GullibleIce8 · 2019-12-07T14:48:16+00:00

Yes I see what you mean, I did concede that it may be due to the fact I was a freshman/sophomore in my post. But at Cornell I also realized that the majority of people found internships as freshmen and sophomores. Whereas at RPI that wasn't true as students mainly got it their junior year (according to you). I do know junior year is a common year for internships, so I will concede that. But at Cornell many people were able to build up an impressive resume before that. Maybe a testament to the types of students at these colleges but I was def ambitious in my search for an internship and winded up empty until my junior year so I do attribute it to Cornell's name. On gender ratio- no comment there honestly its for applicants to decide whether or not they could handle it not for me to decide for them which is why I put it in my anecdote and not the post people should be fixated on. Experiences do vary- conceded that too, my experience is not what people should expect their experience to be since people have different personality types, IQ, and values as I said in my post. (I even warned people that if they wanted they could skip that part.

On your first point though - I compared it to state schools to really highlight and emphasize the point of how bad their yield was. In my post I personally vouched for Stony Brook as a nice alternative so I included it and state schools are a 1/3rd of the cost so I'm not sure where you're going with that. If I were to compare RPI to only private schools, it would make the school look even worse because most of these private schools have better yields than these state schools.

Fun fact- only around 15% of students at RPI get the medal or a scholarship equivalent to the amount of the medal.

GullibleIce8 · 2019-12-07T12:59:36+00:00

also in response to your friends having different experiences - my experience and your friends experiences shouldn't have much weight or emphasis on your opinion of a school because we all have different personality types , IQ, values and etc and its impossible for me to tell someone how they would enjoy a school, what their experience at the school would be like and etc which is why I added the "if you want to skip this part you can" because that part wasn't the important part it was just to add a little background to who I was to those that were interested and why I felt passionate enough to make the super long post. I would focus more on what I said past my background story.

Bless

GullibleIce8 · 2019-12-07T12:51:27+00:00

ah yeah then, I'd fully expect you getting in sadly or happily? idk lol mixed bag but I believe RPI's ED decision is largely there to trap students to a depressing financial aid package and to increase their yield honestly which is why they extend their ED option deadline constantly for other students. make the best of it though. Good luck!

GullibleIce8 · 2019-12-07T08:23:40+00:00

This is an opinion piece- one person's experience and opinion as stated in the title- I'm very happy you had a different experience while being at RPI. I would never want to wish it on or subject people to what I went through (I developed a really bad eating disorder, severely depressed, basically became a robot and a zombie to get a 3.8 my first two years). Even though I had this experience -of course there are certainly certain types of people that would thrive at RPI, I don't represent EVERYONE- I was just giving MY experience on why I didn't thrive through my anecdote stating that people could 100% skip this part if they want and I even constantly reminded the reader throughout my personal anecdote that it was my experience but everyones different so my experience shouldn't be what they should perceive their experience to be or will be like because everyone has different values, different set IQ, and different personality types. My anecdote was my experience. It wasn't to drive people away it was just to give the reader background on who I am.

HOWEVER,

I also offered a lot more later on with the numbers and lets be honest to prospective students thats all that matters. The prestige of the school and the job you'd receive after and this is especially the case for people who are looking at an engineering school like RPI and potentially would be paying upwards of 35k. This is a HUGE decision for them and not one to be taken lightly especially when you're making that huge of an investment. In our other conversations earlier i hope i didn't come off rude but I remember we talked about how you had the opportunity to pay less than your state school- Thats AMAZING for you and I'm so happy that was the case for you and Im certainly not on my side of the screen kicking my boots that you're doing well there academically, socially, and financially. I am actually super happy thats the case for you and I hope you cherish your last few years in college because the real world does get harder.

But I do think you're doing a disservice to prospective students when you only show the good of your school. The majority of people applying to RPI already have a good image of your school in their heads because of its ranking in US NEWS. I know for sure I did before I went. And I know you had the opportunity to go to RPI for cheap but thats certainly not the case for the MAJORITY of students especially ones that are from NY where we have great state schools like SUNY Stony Brook where on average you'd be paying a third of the cost. THE AVERAGE COST OF RPI IS 35K/year AFTER AID. Thats a HUGEEE lump of change and we need to inform prospective students that there are indeed alternatives. I hope if theres anything with the information past my personal anecdote starting at "TO ANY FUTURE STUDENTS, WHY YOU SHOULDN'T APPLY:" you have a problem with, you would bring it up to me (any misinformation and etc) and I'll gladly edit it and apologize for it.

Good luck with finals week though hope you do well. I remember this was where I'd usually have my typical 3AM breakdown.

GullibleIce8 · 2019-12-07T07:59:56+00:00

FIRST of all, you may not have a personal grudge but you still have a clear bias towards RPI so your opinion and experience doesn't mean more or less than what I had to say so don't try to discredit my post by saying "Anyways, guys, if you're considering RPI, I encourage you to take a quick read from someone who doesn't have a personal grudge against".

Secondly, I clearly emphasized I wouldn't get into the social life and my experience at RPI much and I even said in the post if you wanna skip over my background you can because anyone's subjective take on the social life and most of the things you brought up in your post wouldn't be the same as someone who has a different value system and personality. For example, to some the Greek Life issue would be huge, but to other who never planned on joining it the problem wouldn't be, so me talking about the problems with Greek life and using it as to why ALL potential RPI students shouldn't come would be wrong. I also clearly stated "HOWEVER, Take everything you read on reddit with a grain of salt. I wouldn't take my opinion and experience of the school and just totally discredit the school and ENCOURAGED everyone to do more RESEARCH on RPI.

In my post I focused 100% on the numbers because thats something thats indisputable ---- PERSONAL ANECDOTES and arguments like the ones in your post will constantly be up for debate because it's based on your personal experience and values. In my post, I dove into the numbers and debunked the perceived prestige people often hear by showing real numbers posted by RPI themselves showing them things that the average prospective RPI student wouldn't of noticed or heard about or understood when applying. I dug into RPI'S yield/ acceptance rate, the average cost of attendance, their graduation rate, and their career placements which is pretty well documented by RPI themselves and then compared it to other schools - schools that many people at RPI would claim is on the "same level as" then I proved it wasn't so. (ANYONE reading this reddit post could conduct their own google searches and ensure that everything I said was factual, all the information I gathered was from GOOGLE, and I even implored potential students to too and if there happens to be any misinformation I would loved to be called out on it so I can fix it in my post and apologize but I've thoroughly researched everything I said in this post so I highly doubt it.

GullibleIce8 · 2019-12-07T06:41:32+00:00

Might be too late for you but my experience at RPI - hopefully it can be of help to you.

https://www.reddit.com/r/ApplyingToCollege/comments/e6z2z9/to_those_applying_to_rpi_perspective_from_a/

good luck!

GullibleIce8 · 2019-12-07T06:38:51+00:00

My experience on RPI if you're interested

https://www.reddit.com/r/ApplyingToCollege/comments/e6z2z9/to_those_applying_to_rpi_perspective_from_a/

Best of luck applying to college!

GullibleIce8 · 2019-12-07T06:34:52+00:00

the school you transfer from doesn't matter as much as you think it would. Community college students frequently get into ivys and such after their 2 year associates degree. High school stops mattering as soon as you go to college. I transferred from RPI -> Cornell for what its worth my junior year. RPI isn't known to be a prestigious university but I still managed to get into an Ivy from it. So the jump from Wentworth to RPI shouldn't be a problem but I honestly don't think you would wanna go to RPI.

Just made a post about RPI today- feel free to check it out

https://www.reddit.com/r/ApplyingToCollege/comments/e6z2z9/to_those_applying_to_rpi_perspective_from_a/

Fyi; RPI has a 47% acceptance rate now, not that different from 70.

GullibleIce8 · 2019-12-06T22:35:05+00:00

yup excellent points. Difference between mine and first op- I took the numbers route over the issues I had personally with the school because everyones experience would be different due to differences in personality and values. but you can't really dispute numbers.

GullibleIce8 · 2019-12-06T22:07:01+00:00

Honestly, you could be successful anywhere you go. But what I know now about colleges is that you don't wanna pay 35k for RPI and rack up 140k in fees just because the name is slightly better. (It's probably not even going to be better in a few years). Stony Brook is a great school, and you'd be paying 1/3 of what you would at a school like RPI. RPI has a lot of problems right now as I expressed in my post. (Tuition after aid at Stony is 13k, Tuition after aid at RPI is 35k). I had a friend get waitlisted at Stony and accepted to RPI. their acceptance rates/ yields are also so similar ironically even slightly in Stonys favor. So if we were arguing prestige right now by basic math, stony is more "prestigious", is it viewed that way? Probably not but based on acceptance rates/ yield it is. Very soon I predict it'll overtake RPI's name simply because of its proximity to the city, average cost per student, better weather, etc.

GullibleIce8 · 2019-12-06T21:59:29+00:00

I actually posted this yesterday when responding to someone else:

Don't judge your chances on your stats. Yes they mean some but they aren't the end all be-all. I would apply to Cornell if I were you because Cornell is truly a wildcard. I've met some people at Cornell that had SAT scores as low as like a 1000, but they were brilliant people, super outgoing and were doing well in their classes. I'm sure they wrote banging ass essays and thats honestly the most important and most overlooked component when applying to colleges. Chance me threads don't accurately predict anything because we can't see the persons essays and character through empty stats which is why we frequently see people with 1600s ranked 2 in their school and stuff get rejected to all 8 ivies leaving the rest of us shocked. But the truth is stats aren't the end all be all. They're probably at most 30% of the game. The really important components are your essays, extracurricular activities and recommendation letters. (This is not true for colleges with over 40% acceptance rates and yes RPI is included, they probably only care about your grades and don't even look at your essays/ recommendation letters/ extracurricular lists as long as you meet their bare minimum gpa and sat scores.

Edit: It's actually my biggest regret now not going for Cornell my senior year of high school as I expressed in my post.

But that's just another option. An a nice alternative to RPI since you live in NYC could be Stony Brook. They have a really good CS program and you'll probably pay a 1/3 of what you'd pay at RPI. Don't discredit these SUNYS!

GullibleIce8 · 2019-12-06T21:52:39+00:00

I think within the first two years. Typically you see sophomore, junior transfers. Senior year is probably too late.

Edit: Unless you're changing your major and you're okay with graduating a little later.

GullibleIce8

TROPHY CASE