Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
 

Anyone know much about Renssalaer (RPI)? My son just got in there. He wants to study nuclear engineering and try to get a commission through Navy ROTC. He's already accepted for engineering at Univ of Tennessee, Auburn and Embry-Riddle. His first choice is Virginia Tech which has not announced acceptances yet (I think late Feb). We have visited all these schools already.

He applied to RPI on a whim/last minute because someone mentioned they have a strong NE program...they are on the Common App so it was just a couple mouse clicks to apply so he figured "why not".
Didn't expect him to get in there given it's apparent ivy pedigree, but he did...but we know nothing about it. Trying to decide if it's worth a visit.

TIA.

If he gets a ROTC scholarship/EA. Price doesn't really matter much. Has he signed up for ROTC yet/spoke with the detachment? Affirmative action is very real in ROTC. so I would ask how many applicants start, how many scholarships, ect to really guage expectations. Can always take the commission after graduation as well, or keep going and get a direct commission if he did terminal.

If he wants to do nuclear engineering. It's a very big foot in the door after...

RPI is one of the most highly respected Poly-Techs in the country located in the armpit of the Albany area.

Great timing, We just got our acceptance letter from RPI for my son as well.

Its definitely highly rated in the engineering community. outside of the big schools - our top 2 are Colorado School of Mines and RPI. Both offering decent merit scholarships for ours - I think we will have to visit both. He got deferred for March decision for MIT and U of I which have top Comp Sci - but these are two smaller schools that may end up being better in the end.

DM me - would love to collaborate on your thoughts.

Yes we are deep into the ROTC process for Navy. Awaiting to hear from Air Force (although he doesn't really want to be in the AF). He is doing his DODMERB medical exams now for the 4 year scholarship. He has a couple medical issues that you and I would call very minor, but DODMERB calls them disqualifying so he would need to get waivers. Fortunately we are in a position financially to send him most places either way, but he really wants to be a Navy nuke officer.

Cool I will DM you. My son did not get into School of Mines...he applied b/c it's in CO where we live, but he really doesn't want to go there b/c it's mostly male students and for the most part a suitcase school (Lots of local smart kids who just go home on the weekends). He does want the "college experience" and having been to Mines many times I can tell you that it really doesn't have it at all...my thought based on what I can read about RPI is that it's like Mines of the east, so might be similar in offering a great education, but a weird college experience?? Not certain.

Very much worth the visit. Not personal experience but I know people that attended RPI.

Good school. Crap area. Expensive.

A friend of mine went to RPI. Private, pricey, should be comparable to MIT

The Navy isn't going to care if he went to an Ivy League or state school. Any engineering degree should qualify him for nuke O gang job.

The "college" experience for engineers is doing homework six days a week. A friend who went to MIT called it akin to drinking from a firehose.

Good feedback. We're definitely going to visit. Wifey and I want to retire to Colorado so that does hold some sway with us. The whole family loves Colorado so what seems every day for you may be more magical for us haha.

Dodmerb is a weird one. I had a rotator cuff done in middle school and that required a waiver. Cadre really didn't want to push the paperwork, but I ended up getting the waiver. That was afrotc.

Some things that are minor are big no go. Might behoove you to read up on the waivers and what is allowed. If one can't pass the DODMERB. MEPS will be the same but more intensive screening.

Son applied to many of the same schools. Deferred for RPI although my reading suggested making a little extra effort with a human at the school would help close the deal. Campus itself looks very nice in pics but feedback as you see here on the area was more than enough to turn him off. I seem to recall CE is huge at RPI.

Riddle offered big merit money and the campus itself is wonderful. Small class sizes makes for what sounds like a very personal experience with profs. Some % of students are flight kids and you're right on an airfield with constant exposure to planes. Advisor communication was excellent during app process and their student software for classes/billing etc appears very simple to navigate. I believe they have a very strong ROTC program. Couple issues we discovered on a visit talking with students- 1- fresh dorms are beautiful, later years you will be off campus and housing is hard to get and very pricey 2- dropout rate is very, very high. This may be due to lots of kids just want to be in Fl and aren't committed to the field. Our tour included showing us where the tutoring locations are. 3- Daytona is an utter dump. We were there during offseason so maybe not so bad in season but OMG what a dump. Students told us they drive 20 min or so for beach time and town stuff. 4- If you decide engineering isn't for you there are probably better schools to attend.

VT ended up being my son's choice and he is just starting his second semester. Beautiful campus in the middle of nowhere. Wakes up looking at mountains. Feels like Hogwarts on the outside but dorm interiors are decidedly.....rustic. Lots of activities and sports is of course huge. 50k + attendance football games but also lots of rec and club sports options. Also a ton of non sports clubs for everything from chocolate milk to religion. Son says he's glad he chose VT and was actually excited to get back for spring semester after a month home. Open house days are advertised well in advance and very much worth attending. There is one specifically for admitted students that gives a more pointed look at the school. Great town around it with fantastic bar/restaurants. VT alumn groups exist all over the world and are very welcoming. Parents group on FB is full of people who just want to help. Overall i'd say a kinder class of people surrounding the school. VT has always had a military section so I would think your son can find a path there. Our research suggested a much lower dropout rate thank Riddle but for sure it is not easy. A VT engineering degree carries real value. Some negatives - 1-EXPENSIVE and VT offers very little merit money. Riddle was $25k, VT was $3k. 2-Advisors seem all but worthless. Kids end up figuring their course schedule out based on published degree maps. 3-Not so much a negative but for sure different from smaller schools is lots of walking to class. Campus is not particularly compact and academic buildings are on opposite side from dorms. 4- You almost certainly won't live on campus second year. Lots of housing around (Blacksburg exists for the school really) running from maybe $700 per kid for an old townhouse to $1100 for a brand new furnished apt complex with pools, hot tubs and the like. 5- Middle of friggin nowhere. I confess to being slightly bummed we aren't flying to Fl to visit our kid at school.


For any school you might try searching out reddit groups and fb groups. RPI reddit group i found had some very strong feelings in it. Student tours and student reviews online for Riddle gave tons of insight beyond the honeymoon of 'ooh it's in Fl and so close to aerospace co's'. Parent FB groups for VT showed us good and bad as well. Bad being the aforementioned poor advisor staffing and lack of merit $$ and good being incredibly supportive alumni in the area. Like local families literally offering to house a student for a few weeks while he/she figures out roommate issues. I like VT for my son due to great rep amongst employers, lots of socialization opportunities, rec and club sports and honestly the lack of off campus distractions beyond the usual bar and restaurant stuff. I also like that a decision to leave engineering wouldn't require a disruptive change of school although we would have to evaluate career path salaries vs degree cost.

The small high tech company I worked for only recruited engineers from RPI. They were well educated in mechanical and electrical technologies. Our company had good luck hiring them and they proved to be excellent employees.

Five Mines degrees in this house - none other from any of the big schools so I can't speak to that. That one in Golden at least has a very tight and busy network of alumni. Everyone seems to know someone. I'm pretty sure RPI is similar. CSM is also _very_ active in doing industry/gov't internships and exchanges, many international. It seems like that's almost how half the grads get their first jobs.

The good/bad on the small specialized schools is that (1) you are actually taught by a professor but (2) especially at the grad level they're probably some national president of something and you get a semester of advanced ferrous metallurgy crammed into three weeks of W-Fr 4p-8p classes - not that I'm bitter ;)

RPI is solidly in the "big name in smaller schools" so that's a good grab!

But do visit. Golden >>> Albany. As a MI boy I nearly went to MTU in Houghton and wow am I glad I didn't, no matter how good a school it is up there in snowmobile-ville.

Yes that is my 10 second impression. Nothing to do but study though, which I guess not always bad. Winters are probably brutal there.

Yeah that is a factor. Some of these schools don't care if the kids make it through. Just getting the bad luck of 2 crappy professors in on semester could tank a student regardless of their effort/smartness/hard work. I've seen that w/ some friends kids so my antennae are up on that. I picture the movie "Real Genius" from the 80s LOL.

We like it here, I am a CO native. Since we share a hobby I can tell you that CO is very isolated for participating in motorsports. Long tow to any big track. HPR and Pueblo are fun tracks, but small time. We are thinking of retiring in Park City UT. Similar to CO, can still ski, and UMC is nearby with the tow to west coast tracks 6-8 hours less than from CO. Closer distance between skiing and a major airport there too. As far as Mines, it is a good school but personally when I go there I feel like I'm at a big community college, not on a University campus.

Mrs mjohnson is a many-over Mines grad so there was at least one female. I'd say that they're even nearing parity now - not like the 3:1 days of the early '90s when I showed up.

I never thought of it as a "suitcase school" as most students were from far across the country and the world - not just the front range of CO. And for "experience", every place is different and you make from it what you do. For athletics, they're booming. They want to be the "Stanford of the Rockies" and made it to the D2 football championship game. Lots of other NCAA finalists in other sports. And for non-organized things, just look around. Mountains to the west, Denver to the east...

Similar to our current home of PhDs and nerds in Los Alamos NM, those that do lean towards the arts lean hard. Quite a vibrant community in music, theater and other artsy things.

College - you get out what you put in.

This is excellent perspective and information. Thank you.

We visited VT and agree w/ your sentiments. Small town that only exists to support VT is cool. I LOL'd at your "Hogwarts" comment, it does make sense having been there. Staff/professors at VT did genuinely seem to care that students graduated successfully in the area they were pursuing. Lots of opportunities but lots of distractions there too.

Good info on Riddle. We visited Riddle (my wife took him on that one I did not) very early on so maybe we should go back. Riddle is far down on his list, but your comments make me want to encourage him to give it another look. I think he passes it off b/c he is not interested in Aerospace engineering.

VT seems to have the best balance of what he is looking for, hopefully he gets in. It's very competitive, but as you know is has become a "hot school" on the east coast, especially for kids from the Northeast, so their applicant numbers are increasing each year by an insane number.

I mentioned he got into engineering at Univ of Tennessee...he will only go there if Navy ROTC is a bust (or he decides to pursue the NUPOC program) b/c they don't have Navy ROTC, but do have a good Nuke engineering program. I think that is his #1 backup if DODMERB rejects his ROTC package.

So what is the beef with the Troy area? Just sleepy? Sketchy? Nothing to do?

Nick PM if you'd like concerning Navy ROTC and waivers for medical, etc. The Navy always needs nuc power officers.

I still know folks at BUPERS that may be able to provide insight.

My son was Army ROTC and a lot of folks get their ROTC slots after others drop out or decide ROTC is not for them, especially at VMI.

Except for the winter, I like the Albany area (friend of mine went to Union College) especially if he is outdoor oriented.

Congratulations, btw, to all.

Hesitate to mention this as it's not a great sample size and baseball parents are known to be the worst but....somewhere around 11U or 12U my sons travel baseball team played a team from Troy. In 6 or 7 years of travel ball we played teams from all over the country and never once did I see behavior even approaching the classless, obnoxious ignorance of those parents and kids.

It was remarkable. Almost as if the parents were feral and lived their entire lives on the outskirts of civilization never learning proper behavior.

We have been there many times during the school year (lots of smart kid events there my son as gone to)....My impression is a lot of students don't live in Golden or nearby, they choose to live/drive in from Denver/Boulder/etc so I guess that is what gives it the suitcase school feel. I'm sure that is changing as you mentioned. It's a great school yes. We were surprised they gave my son the "Pathways" program acceptance where he has to go to another CO school for 2 years than can start at Mines...surprised b/c his numbers exceed their acceptance requirements. Totally not interested in that program so Mines is out for us, but I guess it's a testament to very high application rates there now. Nothing against them, like I said my son was not super interested in Mines to begin with so no heartache.

Thanks I will PM you. Yes Albany would fit him great for outdoors, he's an Eagle scout and loves physical fitness and outdoor stuff.

My cousin went to RPI, it's a top engineering school graduated with degree in nuclear engineering. Smart guy, tough school. A high school friend went as well, chemical guy.

Very cold during the winter months.

They both said that you need to join a frat and become socially involved because there was not a whole lot to do other than winter sports.

But, this was way bay in the 70's and 80's.

One of my good friends has a nephew who did his education at the University of WA, Navy ROTC and is now a nuke sub officer. I would also check out the ROTC Cadre while looking at the academic side. That can make a big difference in his experience in college. My son looked at Navy ROTC but the school he wanted had a small Navy program and shared PT and other resources with a neighboring University. He ended up going Army ROTC and is now a Captain coming up on year 9 active duty. With engineering and ROTC he won't have a normal college experience or really any free time at all.

Following as my son wants to go the Navy ROTC route as well.

What Nick is saying about Mines is what I have heard also, and know a few kids that have gone there.

Exciting times Nickshu!

RPI is the best known and highest ranked engineering school out of the bunch discussed. At least from my West Coast perspective of decades in the industry. So RPI seems to have more reach than the others.

I would not get a nuclear engineering degree in undergrad. Too narrow. What if he finds out that he'd rather be a pilot after he gets to experience the different branches? What if there is a bump in the road in the long and uncertain road to commissioning? And how about life after the Navy?

Good luck and keep us posted!

Agreed +lots... ChemE with a few nuke-adjacent things might be a good choice.

And (just ask mrs mjohnson) they do get paths to lots of interesting things - but the downside is that as ChEs they always have to do the plumbing at home. (joke, ChE is lots of fluid stuff - I are metallurgist so if I can't whack it on an anvil...)

Actually it costs more than MIT…

Stick a pin anywhere within 15 miles of Albany to get the same.
But then is there any state capital that’s actually pleasant to live near?

I grew up not far from here.

Chicago winters are worse and my oldest doesn't seem to mind.

Interesting perspective. I highly doubt he would want to be a pilot, but I guess anything is possible. He originally wanted to do mechanical engineering but after looking into the Navy nuke path and talking with a couple friends of friends who are current or past Navy nukes he gravitated towards a nuke major. He is aware that if the Navy doesn't work out he could be a civilian nuke of some sort. He really is interested in that field in general.

I know the Navy will send him to nuclear power school anyway, so maybe a more general engineering major would be fine too. We have discussed this with him, and will discuss more. Auburn is one of his top choices, they don't have a nuke program but do have NROTC. If he ends up there he would likely just do ME.

First off, congratulations to your son for getting into those schools. I work with a quite a few RPI engineers. Everytime I mention RPI, their overall impression was that it is a lot of $$$ to go to school in a bad area. These are relatively recent graduates (the last 10 years or so).

What exactly does he want to do with nuclear engineering? I have a friend who works at the NRC and he went to U of Roch for a Chem E degree. Some schools offer Nuke Engineering minor degrees - It might be worth pairing a mech engr degree with a nuke minor.

I still think an acredited engineering degree is an acredited engineering degree. Regardless of where you go, you'll still have a few tenured professors who don't care about the students. State schools are a good bang for your buck. After that, if you really want to pick a niche area, go for your masters.

RPI was one of the schools my son had looked at. He like the school, but Troy is the pits. He decided on RIT (Rochester Institute of Technology). Got his Masters in Imaging Science, spent 2 summers as an intern at Naval Research in DC, then, while still doing his Masters, was hired by Sandia Labratories. He went big very fast, and is still reaping the benefits. So really...it isn't the school, but the student. Congratulations to him and I hope for great things in his future !

P.S. My BIL was a Navy Sub Service officer. He went on to create a multi-billion dollar company Known as Trident Systems.

The possibilities are endless...

With exception of MIT I never saw much of a pattern of a school reflecting on a graduates quality.

I 'no hired' an intern we had from RPI - that is the only contact I've ever had with the school's output - can't tell much from one person.

I think the important thing for a school is that the kid identifies with the environment and connects with the profs. Its up to the student what they get out of it.

wrt MIT: absolutely everyone I ever worked with from there had been put through the wringer and was seriously prepared to buckle down and work hard. All the same story: they entered the school as the best and brightest and were beaten senseless for 4 years. I am pretty sure they all have ptsd but were all fabulous hires.

I know nothing about RPI or your kids but would be wary of sending them to any place that appears hyper-competitive or "cut throat." I'm sure some will want to chime in about work or life being those but plenty of people are ruined unnecessarily by it and if any of us want anything for our kids it's for them to be genuinely happy (or at least content) no matter their situation or station. YMMV.

I grew up in Niskayuna, not far away. I attended a semester there and knew a lot of RPI students over the years (GE interns, high school friends, etc.).

GREAT engineering and technical college. When I looked at it in the early 1980's, it was just behind MIT, Cal Tech and Stanford. It was one of the first universities to split Computer Science from Electrical Engineering. Great professors and the Campus can be beautiful (old buildings).

But not a "well rounded" university. It has a good Greek scene if you are into Frats. And Troy is the pits. No further explanation needed.

You really need to LOVE Hockey. Union was the same way...I don't get it...

I was accepted VERY late to RPI. I did do a semester there, but that is a long story.

Long story short, I went to Union in Schenectady...

Update...He got into Virginia Tech, VT College of Engineering, and the Corps of Cadets there. He's over the moon about it, so looks like that's where he's going. Thanks for all the info everyone.

VT is a great College.

It is...congrats, Nick. If he doesn't go Navy I am done with both of you:D

Best.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
 

Congrats! My Hokie got home late last night for a week long spring break. My son won't know much about Cadets but any other questions please feel free to ask. He is CoE as well in his second semester.

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