Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Overall, I'm very glad to be at WPI, and everything has been really great for me. Even though I'm a female in a non-engineering major, I don't feel excluded or anything of the sort.

The absolute biggest complaint I have about WPI is the Residential Services department. Students are randomly assigned into Wellness Housing, so "substance free" is meaningless. I do not see many students drinking, but the football players on the top floor do come back drunk far too often on the weekends. Substance free housing should be voluntary, so that it actually contains substance free individuals. There is also a rather concerning rule where if there's an open space, anyone can move in without the current residents consent. I am uncomfortable with a forced room mate/friend of my long term room mate I am getting into my room soon (half way through D term), but I can't do a thing about it, aside from tell her I am not comfortable with her moving in. This, combined with the very high costs of living on campus, have caused me to change my mind about living on campus next year, and I am working to obtain an apartment. Most professors are absolutely amazing individuals, who I would love to have more classes with. However, some do not have the best English, and these professors seem to favor PLAs/TAs who also do not have English as a first language, making it difficult to obtain help when you can't understand what the professor is saying. I have only experienced this with math and chemistry classes, and the biology department itself hasn't had this problem, in my experience.

1st Year Female -- Class 1920

Faculty Accessibility: A+, Useful Schoolwork: B+

WPI is a place of opportunity. You will read many reviews on here that speak negatively of the social life, how "easy" it was and how they're lowering their SAT requirements to admit more women. While everyone is entitled to their opinion, my opinion is that you should take those reviews with a grain of salt, most of them are written by freshmen who haven't fully experienced all that WPI has to offer. WPI is made for dreamers, for those who want to change the world, and be well-equipped to do so.

To address these common themes of negativity, I will say the following: There is an amazing community of people at WPI, ask any given student in the CC, octawedge, lab, or res hall, and they will tell you that the community is why they love WPI. If WPI seems "easy," congratulations, you're smart! As someone who went through this personally, if it's too easy, you need to challenge yourself more... take a higher level class. And in regards to "lowering SAT scores to get more women who don't know whats going on"... this is simply false. The SAT score range is just as impressive as ever, and we admit high caliber students. The increase in the number of women in attendance comes from the promotion of women in STEM careers, and the higher acceptance rate of women versus men is because WPI is a "self-selecting" school... you don't apply unless you're passionate about STEM. And let's be honest, lots of women wouldn't sacrifice the hunky men at other colleges for engineering unless they were passionate. These women want to be here, and have abilities to thrive at WPI. College is an important decision, don't base your decision on an angry review from an anonymous person on the internet. Go on a campus visit, talk to random students on the Quad, form your own opinion... but I'm pretty sure you'll love WPI as much as I did. http://www.wpi.edu/admissions/undergraduate/visit.html

Alumnus Male -- Class 2000

WPI is a great university for students interested in STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) fields who want an intensive, project based undergraduate experience designed to prepare you to tackle real world challenges. Nearly all students at WPI are being trained as scientists, engineers, or mathematicians; therefore, though there are many wonderful humanities & arts and social science courses, the primary focus of the university seems to be creating future STEM leaders.

WPI utilizes a 4-term system, rather than the traditional 2-semester system found at many universities. As a result, the academics are extremely fast paced, with students taking 3 (or sometimes 4) courses every 7 weeks for a minimum of 12 courses a year. Though the classes only last 7 weeks, you often still cover the amount of material typically incorporated into a semester long version of the course at other universities. The 4-term system gives students the opportunities to do significant project work, with many students taking 1 term during their junior and/or senior years to do intensive project/research work - in many cases overseas. Additionally, WPI is a relatively small, tight-knit community. Though you may not know every student on campus, you will definitely recognize many of the faces you pass on your way to classes, extracurriculars, etc. In addition, if you are a bit of a geek/nerd you will find the university atmosphere to be very welcoming. For example, during a popular event known as 'geek week' there are activities such as Rubik's cube competitions and Big Bang Theory trivia night which are extremely well liked among the student population. Additionally, many students are involved in athletics and Greek life.

1st Year Female -- Class 2017

Useful Schoolwork: A, Surrounding City: C+