The good, bad, ugly about WPI
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Anonymous
| For computer science, if it matters |
Anonymous
| My daughter, a nerd, absolutely loved the vibe on campus. And the on campus Dunkin. The quarters are incredibly short (7 weeks) bc unlike other quarter schools they don’t count summer as a term. So four quarters stuffed into a school year. The students we spoke with said that makes for a lot of pressure because you can’t afford to fall behind in a class and you can’t really recover from one bad test grade due to lack of time. |
Anonymous
| Similar to RPI |
Anonymous
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I am under the impression that there is quite a bit of pressure, an outsized amount of pressure leading to mental health issues among the students.
Also, test blind. |
Anonymous
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Not for the faint of heart, but my CS kid loves the fast pace, deep dive into fewer subjects at a time. Likes that you can take your course in any order you want. Likes the true week off between 7-week quarters: you finished finals and have not started the next classes yet. Likes that study abroad is research and project driven. Classmates are collaborative, not cut throat.
Has made a lot of great friends who are smart, creative, interesting people. Everyone seems to be involved in multiple activities. Lots of arts and humanities clubs, which is nice at an engineering school. Sports and Greek are present and available, but not ubiquitous or dominant. Says the professors are interesting people in and out of class. Most have done more than academia, so they also have interesting industry experience to draw on and share. Doesn't like the main cafeteria food, but likes all the other options. Nice dorms; state of the art tech; small enough to walk everywhere, safe campus. Sometimes complains about peripheral administrative stuff. Easy access with planes, trains, and automobiles. |
Anonymous
Yes, COVID era was rough. |
Anonymous
| WPI grads have no problems getting good jobs afterwards. Like many engineering / STEM-focused schools, the academics are rigorous. Not a good choice for an academically weak student. Great for a solid academic student who is motivated. |
Anonymous
Their profile on Payscale is helpful. https://www.payscale.com/college-salary-report/best-schools-by-type/bachelors/engineering-schools CS specifically: https://www.payscale.com/college-salary-report/best-schools-by-majors/computer-science |
Anonymous
This poster is dead on. The pace is fast and first two quarters can be jarring but it feels normal after that. Collaboration is prioritized and their NR system reduces stress. They had some issues during COVID but took big steps to improve student mental health. Foods not the greatest but there's a grocery store right off campus. IQP study abroad was a big draw as you don't see it pushed as hard in most STEM programs.
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Anonymous
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Any "pressure" there is placed on the student by themselves by the quick pace and intensity of classwork. Students that struggled in high school will struggle there. Students that need slow and steady will not be a good fit. Fast and furious is how the terms seem to go. Then sleep for a week, repeat.
The students are not competitive with each other at all in academics. Clubs are welcoming and largely noncompetitive to join. On campus food is terrible and expensive and not open late enough. No chains on campus like Chik Fil A, all food is Chartwells. Off campus housing is plentiful in triple decker houses where each level is a 3 person apartment. WPI just bought two hotels that will be converted to permanent dorms in the next 5ish years so on campus housing will be plentiful (just about covers the need now although upperclass don't always get their preferred housing). Upperclass housing mostly has full kitchens. Covid resulted in removal of a rock climbing wall, bowling alley, and some other social gathering place. This is an area that needs improvement. There are a lot of planned activities like shows, movies, student concerts, plays, etc. Nobody goes to games of any sort (at least according to my kid) and "school spirit" is lacking. People from New England seem impressed with the WPI name. People from here haven't heard of it. 9 credit senior project required and 9 credit study abroad required (though can do domestic/local). AP credit for 4s and 5s so many students can do a BS/MS in 4-5 years. My senior has a job offer from their internship for $110,000 to start, or $125k if they stay for the Masters. Did not find their job thru career fair, rather thru connections in the DMV. |
Anonymous
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I grew up in Worcester close enough where we could hear the football announcements during games from our backyard.
My BIL went there and loved it and its a great school for STEM. He said it wasn't easy, but it was fair and he really enjoyed his time there. Granted this was 2005 when he graduated so things may have changed. You will have plenty of people crap on Worcester and I will agree it's not the most exciting place, but it is not as bad as people say. It is located in pretty much the nicest part of Worcester. On top of that it is not that fare from Boston, beaches, skiing etc. for weekend trips. |
Anonymous
What the parents forcing kids into STEM majors don’t get is that all STEM programs at decent schools will be difficult even for very bright students who haven’t had great high school STEM classes. Students need to go in planning to take a college version of the last class they took in high school, not plan to move ahead, unless they have very good evidence that their high school STEM classes were at a good college level. |
Anonymous
| What's with the multiple "Good bad and ugly" threads? Clarkson, RPI and WPI. Annoying. |
Anonymous
Worcester isn't as horrible as Troy. |