The Rose Hulman Institute of Technology

Date: Jan 27 2011
Major: Chemical Engineering (This Major's Salary over time)
Granted I am bit of a nerd but, I really enjoyed my time at Rose. I loved how everyone was intelligent and capable of having an interesting discussion. I suppose that is what I miss most of now that I have graduated and left the Rose bubble. The profs are amazing particularly in the Chemical Engineering department. They are always available to help you understand anything you were unable to figure out and are generally not stuck up or anything despite the vast majority of them being razor sharp. Sure you have to work hard, but if you want to be an engineer, that is to be expected. That being said, you will find time for some extracurricular activities. If you fail to do so, I suspect you might go crazy under what is at times a crushing work load.

The best advice I can give for someone who wants to go to Rose, is to work hard, make time to relax, and sleep　when you can. Also, I really would not recommend that you go to Rose if you are going to have to take on a huge amount of debt since tuition is very high and a $100k debt is easily possible. The days when any Rose grad with an ok GPA (>2.0) would have multiple offers before they leave school are over (at least until the economy recovers). So, try very hard from the beginning to maintain at least a 3.0 GPA as many companies will not look at a new grad with a GPA lower than that. But,if you manage to keep a 3.0 you can expect a starting salary somewhere in the mid 50k region (assuming you study engineering), though it may take away in a down economy.

Other than the workload which is manageable. The biggest negative is Terre Haute.It's a miserable smelly (though many of the plants have shut down recently so it doesn't smell as bad as it used to) town with very little to do. There are several nice little restaurants in the Haute so town is not a total loss. Also, if you want to major in Chemistry, Physics, or want to do research, Rose's research is a bit limited so I would recommend you go elsewhere. Likewise, if you want a PhD, you may be better off going to a school like MIT or CalTech in the first place as they are much more PhD and research focused. But, if you want to be an excellent engineer, I suggest you look no farther than Rose-Hulman.