Sunday, May 1, 2011

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

The second school in the CRUSSH tour was RPI which is located on a hilly campus in Troy, New York. RPI enjoys boasting about it's Division I Ice Hockey team and their newly rebuilt athletic center and field. RPI is mid-sized with approximately 5,500 undergraduate students and 1,200 graduate students, 2/3 of the class are male. Alumni of RPI led the team at IBM that created the machine"Watson" which was recently featured as a contestant on Jeopardy.

Most schools at RPI integrate science and technology into the curriculum and research is a major part of a student's academic life. RPI has a five-year professional degree program in Architecture, with a portfolio-based admissions process and a partnership with a NYC based firm. It's school of engineering houses majors ranging from Biomedical Engineering to Materials Engineering. The School of Science has unique opportunities to explore Hydrogeology and Information Technology and Web Science. The School of Humanities and Social Sciences has majors in Electronic Arts, Games and Simulation Arts and Sciences, Cognitive Science and much more. There are also four different Accelerated programs in; Physician-Scientist (B.S./M.D.), Business and Management-Law (B.S./J.D.), Science, Technology, and Society-Law program, and Co-terminal B.S./M.S. degrees (5 years.) Students who are enrolled in a five year program and receive financial aid will have their aid carry over into their fifth year of study. Another interesting program is, "minds and machines" which incorporates the study of Psychology and Computer Science. RPI also prides itself on having classes that foster entrepreneurship by stressing the importance of creativity and innovation in the areas of science, business, arts and technology.

RPI's core program includes 24-credits in humanities and 24-credits in math and science.
It has a "Medal Program" which awards talented youth a minimum value of $15,000 per year, which is guaranteed for four years (five years for the School of Architecture program) to be
applied to the tuition for each medalist who is accepted and chooses to enroll at Rensselaer.

Admissions:
Average High School GPA: A-/B+
SAT mid-50% range: 1270-1450
Apply directly to a specific school, but transferring is relatively easy
Admissions Representative: Michael E. Moore - Moorem5@rpi.edu

Financial Aid: Overall, Rensselaer provides $140 million in aid to undergraduate students. Each applicant receives an assigned "financial aid counselor" to aid in the process. Both the FAFSA and the CSS Profile are required for need-based aid. RPI is a need-aware school which means they take into account financial need when considering admissions.



RPI - "Moving Smarter LEDs from the Laboratory to the Marketplace"






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