The Rochester Institute of Technology

I am a freshman Industrial Design major.So far(end of second quarter) I love it here. I see people posting completely horrorable comments about this school and as I understand it it is all a matter of personal preferance and desire to achieve what it is that you are lacking.

Social life. There is not much of it. But it is not like a deserted island where everyone avoids everyone else. If you have desire to obtain friends/party you can. There are parties here, I don't go there so I don't know much about them. Though another detriment to making friends might be the fact that people here are nerdy/geeky/techy for the most part. Still, if you seek, you find.

Classes. Truthfully, I love my classes. They brutally rape me, but the amount of knowledge I gained is immense. Ity is again your choise of classes. There are easy ones, and there are good one. I chose the good ones and payed with my sleep...2-4 hours a night. On the contrary my room mate is constantly playing games, watches movies and hangs out with friends and still has time to get 8-12 hours of sleep a night.

Good classes are good and if you are willing to do the work, they are just as good/better as other leading schools in Industrial Design.(RISD..AASF..Parsons..) Teachers are good too. All of the ones I have had so far were very knowledgeable, supportive and lenient when needed.

Campus and weather. This year was warm, except for a few days. Generally it is cold,gray,snowing and a little depressing once in a whiule when it rains. But when you seriously work, weather gets lost somewhere outside of the warm dorm filled with happy music and the smell of fresh paint.Ending: If you are serious about learning something and are willing to dedicate yourself to it. This school is good for that..no distractions unless you want them. On the other hand, if you want to be a fully socially dependant person with no interest or knowlegde of what to do with life, please don't go here.

1st Year Male -- Class 2010

Innovation: A+, Surrounding City: C

RIT is a great place if you can keep up with the work and get into a good group of friends. I am a networking and system admin major and academics here are the best but if you fall behind in your work you are dead. I see tons of people drop out from falling behind in thier work. Many professors, classes, and labs have been great experiances to me. The majority of my professors teach very well and care a lot about if you are learning the subject. Getting good instructors is pot luck if you dont use some sort of site such as ratemyprofessor.com or know which teachers are good. However if you do get a good teacher you will love your classes (so long as your interested in your major). Social life can be dull but if you can get into an on campus apartment (of which there are tons) you will see and find partys all over. If your after alcohol the apartments are an easy place to find some. Having an apartment usually means your own room and roommates you like so it can be a lot of fun. It boils down to this, if your goal is a good job come here and work hard, it will pay off. If your goal is a mix between social life and academics you need to be outgoing but get your work down before social events, DO NOT go out to the apartments and drink if you have a test or project due in a few days. If your goal is just a good social life you are far better suited going else where.

2nd Year Male -- Class 2011

Education Quality: A+, Surrounding City: D

What I have to say about RIT is it is NOT a place to go if you aren't sure of what you want to do. The trimester system makes transfering in, like I did, and out, like I'm going to do, tricky as well. They do have decent/good CS, Engineering and Design schools, but for everything else I recommend a cheaper school (I'm trying to transfer to a SUNY school myself right now for Liberal Arts - Math).

Techinical School is a very good word for this school. Lots of classes are alot of busywork and just teach skills, theres not that much freedom to it. I wanted to explore, be creative, but RIT teaches how to work certain programs or do certain problems. Its not a well-rounded education, its teaching you a job, but if you have a passion for this job, or just want something that makes you money, I think you will be better off than I was.

Socially it really is what you make of it, though I would say its a little harder to "make of it" than most schools (place is a bit of a spirit killer).

Its too expensive, I don't mind the food, and housing is annoying.I really can't badmouth it that much because it just isn't the place for me, but the most important thing to remember (so much so that I have to say it twice): This school isn't about finding yourself, it isn't about being well-rounded, its about following what you really want to do, and if you're sure of it, than I say go for it, though I would look at RPI as well if I were you.

1st Year Male -- Class 2008

Campus Maintenance: A-, Innovation: D