The Rochester Institute of Technology

Faculty - Without exaggeration, I'd say around 70% of the engineering faculty can be described as cold, avoidant, and unreceptive to students' needs. You're a number, and they want you out as quickly as possible, and with as little effort as possible. To be fair, there are some great teachers here, but they're few and far between. If you learn really well on your own with a textbook and some decent notes, then you're golden.

Student body - I know it's been said before, but it deserves to be repeated: There are virtually no girls in engineering. I might have one or two girls in any given engineering class. I didn't really care too much when I got here, but after three years, it's pretty awful. The guys are typically friendly, but extremely timid which can make meeting people hard sometimes. However, there a few frats (if you're into that), you could join a club on campus, or try to find a clique. Some people do, some don't.

Cirrculum - The only thing I've been satisfied with is the course content. I think this is partially due to the quarter system, since each class is only 10 weeks, and the cirriculum is *5 years*. So, they can pack in some pretty cool courses you might not find at other schools. The cost of course, is that you don't get summer breaks, you don't get *any* holidays off (Columbus Day, Labor Day, MLK Day, etc.), and your winter and spring breaks are only two weeks. They really work you here.

Co-ops - I'm particularly bitter about the whole co-op thing, and I'll explain my two reasons why. In theory, the whole thing sounds great. I get the opportunity to work in between class quarters! What they *don't* tell you is that you no longer receive a summer break. You are required to either be working or in class ALL YEAR. The other thing is, for anyone who's tried to find a career related job before, its not that easy without a degree. RIT *does not* assist you in finding a job. You attend two seminars, and are able to post your resume on an RIT job finding website...that's it. Moreover, try to find an engineering company that will hire a 20-year old kid without a degree, spend time and money to train him, and then get rid of him after only 10 weeks? If you have an outlet to unlimited summer engineering jobs without requiring a degree, then it provides you with an incredible experience. But the reality for many folks is that most of the viable engineering co-ops get snatched up by the straight "A" honors students.

Rochester area - Believe it or not, I love the Rochester area. I like snow, and I like the fact that it's sort of in the sticks of NY. If you're someone who likes winter sports, or if you just like the cold in general, yeah, Rochester is a great place. Unfortunately, there isn't much to do around RIT. Yeah, there's a mall, a couple bars, maybe a few good hiking trails, etc. Unless you make the trek into town (weather permitting of course) the activities around town come up short. I apologize, I know I'm neglecting to cover some of the good things about RIT, like their computer facilities, or the underground tunnels, and the obvious effort being put in to brighten up the campus, but I'm telling you things most people don't mention, but I wish they would. I wish someone told me these things during my tour of RIT. Had I known that I'd never have another summer break, be ignored by professors, and fight tooth and nail to find a job all while taking difficult classes, then maybe I would have second guessed my first choice. That's *my* opinion of RIT, so take it for what it's worth ;-)