RPI versus Colorado in engineering?

[TeaGirl]

So I'm going back and forth between these two programs and leaning a little toward RPI. Since I'm unable to visit either at the moment, I'm hoping for a little advice  

 

Does anyone have any experience with their engineering programs, reputation, ease of finding non-academic work after graduation, etc? Or even just general info about the schools.

Also any info about living in Troy or Boulder would be appreciated!

 

 

[khaled]

I've studied at Colorado School of Mines for 1 semester during my undergrad and I also visited Boulder. What I know for sure is that CSM has a great reputation in the Oil&Gas and petrochemicals industries, and they are strong in petroleum and chemical engineering. For you as a mechanical engineer, I've heard that they are good in materials science too. I can't really judge the academic side the University of Colorado at Boulder, but generally I have the impression that they have a good mechanical engineering department. 

 

Btw, CSM is located in small town which is about 20 minutes by car from denver. Boulder has a variety of places for college students, it has lots restaurants, a nice downtown ...etc. One more thing, one of the good things about living in Colorado is the cost of living. We rented a house (me and 2 of my friends) with 3 bedrooms, kitchen, living room, backyard, and 1 bath for $1300/month + it was 3 blocks away from CSM, and I believe Boulder won't be more expensive than these rates. 

Edited February 11, 2013 by khaled

[GingerAmy]

I'm an undergrad at RPI right now...biology major, so I can't help you with the academic side of it. But I can answer any general questions you have about the school or Troy!

[Faraday]

Btw, CSM is located in small town which is about 20 minutes by car from denver. Boulder has a variety of places for college students, it has lots restaurants, a nice downtown ...etc. One more thing, one of the good things about living in Colorado is the cost of living. We rented a house (me and 2 of my friends) with 3 bedrooms, kitchen, living room, backyard, and 1 bath for $1300/month + it was 3 blocks away from CSM, and I believe Boulder won't be more expensive than these rates. 

I don't live in Boulder, but I am considering CU for graduate school as well, and I can say based on what I have seen/heard in my research of living there, the cost of living would be much more than you are predicting. I'd even go out on a limb and say it would be impossible to find a 3br apartment within a close distance to the University for that price. A 3br in town seems to go for somewhere in the 1900 range, based on averaging the craigslist page. Some might be cheaper, but not 1300 cheap. Take a look at this thread to see what people in previous years have said. Cost of living aside, if you like the outdoors you really can't beat living in a city like Boulder.

Edited February 12, 2013 by Faraday

[bamafan]

I'm not familiar with CU at all, but RPI is very well regarded in many engineering disciplines.

[khaled]

I don't live in Boulder, but I am considering CU for graduate school as well, and I can say based on what I have seen/heard in my research of living there, the cost of living would be much more than you are predicting. I'd even go out on a limb and say it would be impossible to find a 3br apartment within a close distance to the University for that price. A 3br in town seems to go for somewhere in the 1900 range, based on averaging the craigslist page. Some might be cheaper, but not 1300 cheap. Take a look at this thread to see what people in previous years have said. Cost of living aside, if you like the outdoors you really can't beat living in a city like Boulder.

 

The 1300$/month was the total price we paid (me and my friends) in golden, Co back in 2010. I also know people who rented a 4br house for $1700/month. I don't know if things have changed in the past 2 years. 

[TeaGirl]

I'm an undergrad at RPI right now...biology major, so I can't help you with the academic side of it. But I can answer any general questions you have about the school or Troy!

 

Thanks! I read some reviews online about Troy not being a very safe/friendly town, how true do you think that is? Is it a big concern. One of my favorite things about going places is to explore a bit the towns I'm in, different stores/shops/meet people. Would it prevent someone from exploring the town and are people in general friendly? Also, how about the restaurant/activities situation?

One more question about the school, what do you think of the facilities and help available, i.e. libraries, classrooms, staff in general. I would also love any opinions about their career center if you've ever used it.

 

I've studied at Colorado School of Mines for 1 semester during my undergrad and I also visited Boulder. What I know for sure is that CSM has a great reputation in the Oil&Gas and petrochemicals industries, and they are strong in petroleum and chemical engineering. For you as a mechanical engineer, I've heard that they are good in materials science too. I can't really judge the academic side the University of Colorado at Boulder, but generally I have the impression that they have a good mechanical engineering department. 

 

Btw, CSM is located in small town which is about 20 minutes by car from denver. Boulder has a variety of places for college students, it has lots restaurants, a nice downtown ...etc. One more thing, one of the good things about living in Colorado is the cost of living. We rented a house (me and 2 of my friends) with 3 bedrooms, kitchen, living room, backyard, and 1 bath for $1300/month + it was 3 blocks away from CSM, and I believe Boulder won't be more expensive than these rates. 

 

That's one of the main attractions for me about CU because I love hiking and skiing (not that my scaredy butt is anything more than a novice ). I am a little concerned about cost of living, although for the first year, I am planning to stay in the graduate housing so either way, similar costs. I was a teeny bit alarmed by a lot of bad student reviews on this one site (they were undergrads so I'm not sure it translates to grads). Basically lots of complaining about it being a rich kids party school.

[GingerAmy]

So Troy does have kind of a bad reputation...there was actually a string of shootings a few weeks ago. The thing to remember though is to be smart about your surroundings. If you're wandering around alone at 2 a.m., you're probably going to run into trouble. During the day, though, Troy is great! There's a sort of revival going on, and it's getting to be a really fun place to explore. Downtown has a fantastic farmer's market and often flea markets. Lots of artists are setting up shop, so it's always fun to peruse their stores.

 

I've always dealt with really friendly people, especially shopkeepers and people in restaurants. As far as what to do and eat, Troy is about 15 minutes from Albany. There's a huge variety of foods, especially if you're willing to explore. There are 2 malls with movie theaters about 15 minutes away. Albany has things like rock climbing gyms and good bars. 

 

As far as facilities:

 

Library- Very extensive collection, and if there is anything they don't have they can order if from a consortium of college for free and have it delivered in about 2 days. There are also many study rooms to reserve.

Classrooms- They vary considerably by building. My only issue is that since some buildings are old, they struggle to regulate the temperature.

Career Center- My opinion on this is a bit biased. I went to them once to help me with finding internships and tweaking my resume. They couldn't really help me because there's not a lot they can do for a biology major :/ Which I guess means they'd be able to help you as an engineer! 

 

TL;DR Troy is ok as long as you aren't running around at night; decent variety of food; great farmers market. 

Edited February 12, 2013 by GingerAmy

[MPPgal]

I second this, I lived in Schenectady which is next to Troy for 4 years and Troy was a lot nicer, in general the capital region has a lot going on, great food (Im international and have lived everywhere) so Im picky, The whole area next to the Hudson is very cute, the people are friendly enough, and there are great places to hike around the area, also there are, malls, museums, etc close enough, fun fact about it the capital region has the highest per capita Phd rate in the country!!!!!

[nerdvana]

I certainly cannot comment on strength in field or facilities at each institution, but I have spent considerable time in both areas.

 

Troy - as mentioned above - is nicer than Schenectady, but the entire area is going through some redevelopment. Downtown Schenectady has become a fairly nice area, and Troy certainly has a good amount of stuff going on. And Albany is a great little town - reminds me a lot of Providence. As for outdoor activities, Troy has a lot - you're close to the Catskills, close to the Adirondacks, and it's a short drive to Vermont/the Berkshires. It's definitely going to be cheaper than Boulder. The major downsides: can definitely still be dangerous, and there's going to be about 4 months of straight grey skies every year.

 

Boulder is great. The Flatirons are right there, you're 45 minutes from the Rockies and 45 minutes from Denver. It's incredibly friendly, laid-back, clean (almost too clean), bike-able, and there's a vibrant academic culture. You're just not going to beat this in the Northeast - I say this as someone who has spent most of his life in the Northeast.

 

One other thing I'd consider: getting around the East Coast (and Mid-Atlantic, in this case) is easy. It's all well connected by train, bus, and even cheap airfare. It's much harder to get from place to place on the Midwest and West unless you're on the coast. This could actually make a difference for going to conferences, collaborating with faculty/students at other institutions, etc.

 

Either way, congratulations, and it sounds like you have some great choices.

Edited February 15, 2013 by nerdvana

[dontgobreakingmyCUORE]

Hey all!

I'm currently a graduate student (MS) at RPI in the physics department. I did my undergrad at RPI as well. Allow me to interject a few thoughts

 

Troy:

During the day it's nice - they're revitalizing the area and making it more of a college town. There are some new pubs (I highly recommend Finnbar) and some nice new restaurants (like The Brown Bag). The night scene isn't too bad, as long as you're smart about it. (aka don't be walking alone at 4am with your iPad and headphones out). I go out on weeknights/Saturday nights a lot, and although I'm usually with a group, I've never had a problem. Like GingerAmy said, the farmer's market is phenomenal, especially during the drier months. 

 

RPI:

Although I don't have a lot of experience in the engineering program, I really enjoy being in the physics department. As long as you're willing to ignore glaring problems in the administrative side of things (the president/cabinet of the 'tute) you'll be fine. On campus activities are basically what you make of them. If you go get involved you can find something fun to do. We have 200+ clubs and organizations on campus (including some award winning professional engineering societies) so there's something for everyone.

Getting quick food is pretty easy too - there are some great restaurants very close to campus (Ali Baba, Basil City, etc) as well as some quick and easy food options (like Moe's mexican food or Big Apple pizza).

If you're planning on living on campus in graduate housing (City Station) I strongly urge you to visit before signing anything. They're REALLY nice as far as I can tell (brand spanking new and fully furnished), but they can be a bit expensive... Their website says ~$700/mo for a single room in a 4 bedroom apt, but I live in a single room in a 4 bedroom off-campus apt that's WAY closer to campus and only costs me $350/mo. 

Also be aware that you're going to be climbing hills and stairs. RPI is not a flat campus by any stretch of the imagination.

 

Weather:

It has it's own topic. The wind is pretty brutal and it is very grey from about October through March. You'll celebrate when the sun is out. RPI is very good about snow plowing/removal, but Troy isn't as much, so on campus has no problems but off campus you'll have varying degrees of icy (from "wait there's ice here?" to "holy %&@$ it's a &%@$ing slip-n'-slide!!!"). But the fall is absolutely BEAUTIFUL. The leaves changing and the awesome sunsets

 

Hope this helped!!!

[TeaGirl]

Thanks Ginger Amy

 

fun fact about it the capital region has the highest per capita Phd rate in the country!!!!!

 

I don't know why I find this either really interesting or really alarming

 

 

One other thing I'd consider: getting around the East Coast (and Mid-Atlantic, in this case) is easy. It's all well connected by train, bus, and even cheap airfare. It's much harder to get from place to place on the Midwest and West unless you're on the coast. This could actually make a difference for going to conferences, collaborating with faculty/students at other institutions, etc.

 

Either way, congratulations, and it sounds like you have some great choices.

 

I really like the idea of trains. I struggled to visit places when I was in Arizona at first. You really need a car there, and I usually rather get along without one.

Also, thanks! To be honest I'm really grateful. After all rejections last year I had zero confidence in myself. Still, I'm finding the decision making part of this sometimes becoming a little overwhelming. After getting another acceptance yesterday (Yay!) I don't really know what I'm going to do

 

 

...

If you're planning on living on campus in graduate housing (City Station) I strongly urge you to visit before signing anything. They're REALLY nice as far as I can tell (brand spanking new and fully furnished), but they can be a bit expensive... Their website says ~$700/mo for a single room in a 4 bedroom apt, but I live in a single room in a 4 bedroom off-campus apt that's WAY closer to campus and only costs me $350/mo. 

Also be aware that you're going to be climbing hills and stairs. RPI is not a flat campus by any stretch of the imagination.

 

Weather:

It has it's own topic. The wind is pretty brutal and it is very grey from about October through March. You'll celebrate when the sun is out. RPI is very good about snow plowing/removal, but Troy isn't as much, so on campus has no problems but off campus you'll have varying degrees of icy (from "wait there's ice here?" to "holy %&@$ it's a &%@$ing slip-n'-slide!!!"). But the fall is absolutely BEAUTIFUL. The leaves changing and the awesome sunsets

 

Hope this helped!!!

 

It did. I'm an international student so it's a little hard for me to visit first. I figured that the graduate housing would be more expensive but I'm not sure how I could get housing on short notice wherever I go since most places would be gone by August I assume. I was thinking maybe I would just take it for a year and then move later.

Four months of grey skies and snow! That would be interesting. I've lived in the Mediterranean and the southwest desert, and trust me you've never seen people as excited about a little rain as people in Arizona I've never lived in a snowy area, just visited. Sounds silly, but I'm a little excited about the idea of living in a place where you could look out the window and see it snowing.

Edited February 15, 2013 by TeaGirl

[thibdeauj]

Hi,

 

Don't know if you are still working on your decision but thought I would add something since I did my undergrad at RPI and grad work at CU, and also grew up in upstate NY (just outside Albany).  Most of the things that people have pointed out here are absolutely correct.  Boulder is significantly more expensive (800 if you're lucky up to 1500 for 1 br apts - you might be able to find a 4br house that you can split for 750 a month).  This gets cheaper if you move outside of Boulder to a town like Longmont or Louisville, but those are about 30 mins from campus and traffic can be a pain.  Boulder winter is definitely better than Troy winter in that it isn't as long, the snow is nicer, and not everything is covered in ice for 5 months (only a slight exaggeration).  Also, if you ski, Boulder is pretty much unparalleled.  Boulder has a decent bus system while RPI, as I recall, didn't offer much.  Boulder is a much nicer city in terms of cleanliness, social activities, and food, though Troy is definitely getting cleaned up.  Troy has easy access to NYC (about a 2 hr, $45 train ride from Troy to Grand Central) and Boulder has access to Denver, but unless you want to go to the theater or a show, there isn't too much reason to go down to Denver.  The Adirondacks will always hold a special place in my heart and the lakes are amazing for swimming and boating in Summer and Fall, but the Rockies offer much more in terms of hiking, climbing, backpacking, etc.  I found the social life in Boulder to be much more dynamic and readily available, though the undergraduate crowd can be a bit obnoxious, as opposed to the RPI undergrad crowd that is a bit more serious making for a more mature academic community (obviously a generalization).  Boulder has a large Buddhist/hippy population, and they have recently legalized marijuana.  Lastly, CU is way bigger than RPI in terms of students, which probably has an effect on interaction with professors, but makes for a more docile campus and community.  

 

These are just some of my thoughts on the differences between them, let me know if you have any other questions.

[TeaGirl]

These are just some of my thoughts on the differences between them, let me know if you have any other questions.

 

Thanks! It does seem Boulder's the prettier livelier town, if the more expensive of the two. Although the main positive of RPI is a really great POI in my area of interest who I want to work with. I was a little worried the Troy might be this horrible town, but it seems to be quite the opposite. In any case, I don't think CU is going to be a viable choice. They won't give out their funding decisions till end of March and I've got a funding offer I need to accept or decline by March 15 unless I can get an extension or hurry the other program.

[hiroshiman]

I'll just add that boulder is gorgeous and a phenomenal place to live, albeit expensive.

[wabisabi]

Hey TeaGirl,

 

I'm also considering the ME program at Boulder (although I'm comparing it with Carnegie Mellon). Just judging from a quick look at www.phds.org, Boulder is more highly ranked than RPI (both R and S rankings), but more RPI grads go into private sector work (versus academic positions), which sounds like a factor for you. I don't have access to the full US News rankings so I don't know about the specific departments, but for engineering in general Boulder is 35, RPI is 42. 

 

Given that the difference in rankings is not what I would consider significant, I don't know if I've helped at all! I've never been to Boulder but I'll visit this month.

 

Does anyone know what's up with the fact that according to the NRC, the median time to degree for RPI students is 12 years?? That's got to be a mistake, right?

[TeaGirl]

Hey TeaGirl,

 

I'm also considering the ME program at Boulder (although I'm comparing it with Carnegie Mellon). Just judging from a quick look at www.phds.org, Boulder is more highly ranked than RPI (both R and S rankings), but more RPI grads go into private sector work (versus academic positions), which sounds like a factor for you. I don't have access to the full US News rankings so I don't know about the specific departments, but for engineering in general Boulder is 35, RPI is 42. 

 

Given that the difference in rankings is not what I would consider significant, I don't know if I've helped at all! I've never been to Boulder but I'll visit this month.

 

Does anyone know what's up with the fact that according to the NRC, the median time to degree for RPI students is 12 years?? That's got to be a mistake, right?

 

I'm looking at the data and I'm pretty sure that's a mistake, lack of data, or a lot of part-time students. RPI specifically says that the maximum allowed time for a PhD is 5 yrs if you have a MS or 7 if coming straight from undergrad. This makes it doubly weird because Colorado has that as 3.8 years which is unrealistic unless they don't have/accept part-time students, aren't counting the ~2 years needed to complete an MS for a direct PhD, or including MS degrees in their data. This would skew data big time as well as the completion rate. 

When it comes to research, RPI has half as many publications per faculty, but similar citations, which may be a better thing in terms of quality over quantity. Not sure how that factors into the ranking either. All of these make me hesitant to take any ranking at face value other than a tool to tell me the general reputation of a program rather than accurate information about how good it is. Simply because all the data is self reported by programs with no qualifiers to make the comparison even. I like the NRC rankings in that I can view each item individually and check what I think is most important.

 

In the USNews major specific rankings (mechanical) Boulder is 32 and RPI is 27, but these are based strictly off of the opinions of department chairs. I don't know why there's such a big discrepancy for Colorado between the 2 ranking systems (at least RPI falls in the range). For civil, Colorado is 20 and CMU is 11.

 

What's making me lean toward RPI is a potential advisor who's really great in his field, seems nice, and whose research is a great match to what I want to do. The only thing at this point that would make me pick CU is maybe a significantly better funding offer? I don't know. It's also why I'm not picking VTech which is a better school overall but which I think will be a poor research fit as it's not particularly known or strong in the area I want.

[wabisabi]

All of these make me hesitant to take any ranking at face value other than a tool to tell me the general reputation of a program rather than accurate information about how good it is. Simply because all the data is self reported by programs with no qualifiers to make the comparison even. I like the NRC rankings in that I can view each item individually and check what I think is most important.

 

I looove the NRC rankings. I wish so much of the data wasn't from 2005, though. And I agree that the time to completion seems "off" for both schools. 

 

In the USNews major specific rankings (mechanical) Boulder is 32 and RPI is 27, but these are based strictly off of the opinions of department chairs.

 

I didn't know that was the sole source of those rankings. Lame. Although, I guess, valuable in the sense that if you're going into academia, that's the population that will be hiring you!

 

I don't know why there's such a big discrepancy for Colorado between the 2 ranking systems (at least RPI falls in the range). For civil, Colorado is 20 and CMU is 11.

 

I may or may not have created an elaborate spreadsheet so I could visualize the ranges in the rankings of the universities I'm considering . . .

 

What's making me lean toward RPI is a potential advisor who's really great in his field, seems nice, and whose research is a great match to what I want to do. The only thing at this point that would make me pick CU is maybe a significantly better funding offer? I don't know. It's also why I'm not picking VTech which is a better school overall but which I think will be a poor research fit as it's not particularly known or strong in the area I want.

 

It sounds like you're pretty set on RPI! Given the (minimal) variation in funding offers that I've seen so far, and the high cost of living in Boulder, it doesn't sound like CU has a shot.

 

I'm leaning towards CMU, but I need to make some visits. 

Edited March 5, 2013 by wabisabi

[TeaGirl]

I may or may not have created an elaborate spreadsheet so I could visualize the ranges in the rankings of the universities I'm considering . . .

 

Lol. I may or may not have done the same thing

[wabisabi]

Well, I finally visited CU and it was pretty awesome. The mechanical engineering department has really been expanding in recent years -- they've doubled their number of PhDs since 2007. All the profs I met were friendly and welcoming and working on interesting things. The grad students seemed really happy, and nobody thought Boulder was super-expensive. I was told I'd definitely receive a funding offer soon, so I'm waiting for details . . .

[msocean]

Well, I finally visited CU and it was pretty awesome. The mechanical engineering department has really been expanding in recent years -- they've doubled their number of PhDs since 2007. All the profs I met were friendly and welcoming and working on interesting things. The grad students seemed really happy, and nobody thought Boulder was super-expensive. I was told I'd definitely receive a funding offer soon, so I'm waiting for details . . .

I have several friends at CU in various engineering fields.  They are all very happy and very busy. There is defintely a high level of academic rigor, along with lots of opportunity for internships.  CU has cultivated an unbelievable amount of professional connections for their students.  Every one of my friends has done an internship every semester as well as during their summers.  I think the time to graduation may skew a bit since many CU students stay for the summer due to internships and a fairly easy residency rule.

 

The cost of living is not cheap.  My friends have all gotten the best results from forming groups that they room with during the school year and then other groups that always stay for the summer.  I don't see that it is very do-able financially not to have room mates.  Boulder is an awesome place, I would love to live there.  They are very green-oriented, tons of stuff to do, lots of farmers' markets during the summer, outdoor activities year 'round.  There is also a very accomodating transit system in Boulder as well as easy and inexpensive connections into Denver.  Boulder is also easy to get around with a bike since the bus system has bike carriers.  

 

If you will be attending conferences or other travel responsibilities Denver is a very central hub for United Airlines.  And you can get to Denver on the trasit system in just a little over an hour, not needing a car at either end.  I found my travel in and out of Boulder very easy.  The first time I visited I was only 19 and not much experience traveling alone.  The trip was incredibly smooth and easy.  

 

I've also traveled to the East Coast.  I would say that you would find Boulder to be far more liberal and friendly, Troy to be less liberal and maybe more difficult to be social outside of your department.  The academic ranking is a toss up, both are equally ranked.  Good luck whatever you choose!