The Rose Hulman Institute of Technology

1st Year Female -- Class 2011

Faculty Accessibility: A+, Surrounding City: C-

To be serious, this is a place for nerds. If you enjoy any kind of social life, this isn't the place for you. Sure, you'll make a nice salary when you get out of here, but you'll have to make some sacrafices. This place is pretty much all work and no play. The problem is that you do so much work here that you don't have time for much of anything else. If you enjoy that kind of thing, then you'll be okay here. So before you decide to attend, here's some other things that all this pro-university crap doesn't tell you about:

1. Credits dont transfer. Even though you'll be taking some of the hardest courses in the country for your major, most universities won't accept your credits because they don't offer the same classes. So the longer you stay here, the more you are stuck here. Also, outside of engineering and technology majors, this school doesnt offer much. So making a change in career choice is made even more complicated and potentially expensive.

2. Don't be fooled by the fact that Rose is relatively close to some big schools. You wont have time to visit there anyway. The closest big school, Indiana State, has parties on Thursdays and some Fridays (maybe one or two during the year on a Saturday), which is pretty inconvenient for Rose students. Also, they only have them at the beginning and end of the academic year. Other big schools aren't too far, but you probably wont have time to visit them anyway. So, there's not much of a party scene here or anywhere nearby.

3. Terre Haute sucks. Plan and simple. This college town is pretty lame for the lack of a better word. There's not much to do off campus (or on campus) in this town. So, unless you're catching a bite to eat or a movie, you're pretty much stuck on campus if you choose to live on campus (which all freshmen must do). Then there's also the fact that this is Indiana, and everything you've probably heard about this state is true.

4. The food is terrible. If you enjoy a good meal, you wont find it here. Dining Choices are very limited as well. The meal plans (which every freshman must have) aren't too great either.

5. The athletic facilities are nice, but once again, you wont have much time for them. Want to catch a game pick-up basketball? No one's playing. Intramurals help, but there's not much for the rest of the week.

6. Downtime is spelled b-o-r-e-d-u-m. As you've probably figured by now, if you're not studying or doing homework, you're bored out of your mind.

7. Most Rose kids are socially inept. These kids may be geniouses, but they have no social skills whatsoever. The sad thing for you if you come here is that you have to deal with the fact that there are very few people to associate with. In other words, if you're not a caucasian male nerd, you wont fit in.

8. 80% Male. The male to female ratio here is four to one. Not only does this place lack women, but they're not that attractive either. Seriously, there aren't too many attractive women into math and science. It's not prejudice, its just a hard, cold fact. So if you come here, you need to lower your standards, substantially, or take a vow of celebacy.

9. Rose is on the trimester system, which means you'll be doing more work per year than at semester styled colleges at a ratio of 3 to 2. Also, this system means that the breaks don't always coincide with everyone else's(including spring break). Also, winter break is a week shorter. You also start the school year earlier and stay three weeks longer at school than most anyone esle. There is good news, though, ever since they implemented more breaks at this school (they didnt always have them), the suicide rate here has dropped dramatically. Seriously, I have a friend whose aunt works at the local suicide hotline, and they get a lot of calls from this school.

10. Rose is expensive. Tuition here is pretty high, mainly because its a private institution. So, you'll be needing a lot of financial aid, unless you have some good scholarships or you're just plain rich and spoiled (which a good number of students here are). You'll make some good money when you leave, but those student loans will kill you.

11. The professors are terrible. Just because all the classes are taught by faculty, doesn't mean that they're all good. As a matter of fact, most of them can't teach. They just have the luxury of having extra smart kids that study all the time, so they don't have to actually teach, they just give a lot of work. Some of them are pretty terrible with english too.

12. "Rose what?" I've been in this situation way too many times. Most people don't know about this school. Unless its an employer, its usually pretty awkward telling someone where you go to school.That's pretty much the make up of most of what you have to put up with here. My advise is not to come here unless all work and no play sounds good to you. Nothing is easy at this school and no matter how smart you are, you will be challenged. If you still want to come here after reading all this, then come on in. This is definitely the college for you.

2nd Year Male -- Class 2008

Campus Aesthetics: A, Education Quality: F

How can I compare when I haven't been to any other school? Things seem to be going pretty well for me, and I think it really helps that Rose is considered a "prestigious" school. However, if I had the wisdom then that I have now, I'd probably go to a good state school that's less expensive. Opportunities here are great if you know how to make use of them. If you're unsure of what you want to do or you'd rather just slack off through college, you might want to go somewhere else. The biggest upside and downside is the size. It's an upside because it is easy to reach out to professors, advisors, fellow students, etc. It's a downside because their isn't much community or political activity. Students here tend to be focused on engineering and little else.

3rd Year Male -- Class 2006

Campus Maintenance: A, Social Life: C