The Rochester Institute of Technology

Date: Jan 28 2002
Major: Other (This Major's Salary over time)
Rochester: The weather is pitiful—the winter is terribly cold and dreary (only go to RIT if you like snow), and you can go months without seeing the sun at all. That said, the summers there are absolutely gorgeous… endless sun… not that you'll likely choose to take summer classes.

The town is boring and there aren't really many places to shop other than a small shopping center (Marketplace) and some strip malls. Wegman's is the nearest grocery store, and it's wonderful! It's even open into the wee hours of the night for your sleepy perusal during dormitory false fire alarms. I guess if you are very social and look hard enough, you can find some fun nightlife spots here and there in Rochester (Tremors is one club, there are a few others), but it takes definite effort.

There are a bunch of restaurants, so that's a plus. DiBella's has great subs, The Distillery is a regular hang-out. There are the typical TGIFriday's type places and even new and fancy spots like Bahama Breeze.

Niagara Falls is only 90 minutes away, so visiting Canada is a favorite pastime. The lake is a half hour drive North, if you want to picnic on the beach (when it's warm!)

The school: RIT is not the happiest college in the world. Most of the students are depressed or apathetic, a lot with broken spirits; we all just try to survive one academic quarter to the next (the eternal goal: escape). It seems like the one thing we all have in common.

At RIT, there are enough professors who speak English so poorly that I feel like much of my tuition was being wasted (which it was). I have also had professors who are absolutely evil and resent the fact we are students whom THEY are supposed to teach. But—I have had a few great professors, too, and one (Giorusso who teaches Organizational Behavior) who really changed my life for the better. I hated the IT dept. professors and the Math/Science professors… they often were the ones who didn't speak English or were just grad students. The Business/Liberal Arts profs were a bit spacier, but more together upstairs and they spoke English. Some of my engineering teachers were brutal, but they did actually teach me stuff (except one AWFUL, nightmare prof who has retired and benefitted the entire Institution in doing so).

The admistration is vicious and takes advantage of students… most (if not all) of the time they are NOT there to help you, but to antagonize you. I cannot emphasize this enough- I believe this is a fundamental reason why the students have no school spirit: we feel like we have very little to be proud of in going to RIT. And the administration spends a lot of its time wondering why retention rates are so low. RIT rips its students off in many ways. If you are prepared to fight for your education, and deal with a lot of red tape, this school may be for you.

By the way, the campus is mostly male. This can be a pro or con depending on your perspective. The typical student is either a techy geek, or a photo/imaging type student (as far as I've personally stereotyped). I was a techy geek and a female, that was interesting fun :)

The only reason I stayed at RIT as long as I did (three years, and I'm finally transferring out and searching for a better road) was because of the special interest (dormitory) house, Computer Science House. Living there was truly life-changing, and I learned so much while being part of that community. I strongly suggest looking into student interest housing as a dormitory option. This helps you form a strong social network as well as keep guaranteed housing after your first year, which is a plus if you want to stay on-campus (if you can afford to waste your money like that).

My department was Electrical, Computer, and Telecommunications Engineering Technology. The programs in this department are tough, and my advice to those who choose majors here is: Be 100% sure your passion is in that particular technical degree. The classes are tough (especially the circuitry courses) so don't expect you can get away with slacking off… especially on the quarter system. Leave that for the liberal arts classes. If you are self-motivated and are really into what you're studying, and can survive the atmosphere of the school, you'll be okay. Expect to go through a lot of co-ops (interships).