Inform me, please. College is still a year and a half away, but, as you all know, it's important to start early. I have been looking at UMBC (which is a state school with an excellent technology program), but I am interested in RIT because of the fanfare I have heard in the chat and other places.

Thanks in advance for your time.

I'm also looking at RIT (I have another friend who goes there that's NOT at massassi and says he really likes it).

I personally think RIT is a great school. They concentrate on teaching here, rather than research, which is why RIT has some of the best undergrad tech programs in the country, as opposed to other more research-oriented schools which are better if you're looking for grad schools.

I would have to reiterate what I've said before though... dont go to RIT if you're looking for the "traditional college experience." There are some parties here, but its a dry campus and the Rochester Night Life is virtually non-existant. I dont mind so much, but there are quite a few people who come here and leave after a year or less because they can't stand it. If you're a dork (I mean that in a good way, I consider myself to be a huge dork) you can find plenty of other people like you and things to do. Emon, MBeggar, and I, for example, are all members of the outing club.

Judging by the amount of time you mentioned before you go to college, I will be long gone by the time you would ever come here, but you should definately come visit if you're interested. Happydud and fishstickz are also thinking about RIT, if I remember correctly.

Well, I'm a junior. No lightlife would be a plus - I am pretty clean habit-wise. Tell me about housing.

On a side note, what are the ups/downs of going to a community college for 2 years first?

It's not bad...the dorms are of decent size. Pretty much the same as elsewhere. But if you get in a triple, man, those are huge. And most people move into the on campus apartments their second or third year.

What programs are interested in studying? From what I know about you I'd assume you're looking into computer science, software engineering or IT as possibilities?

The dorm rooms are pretty small, but they are very well furnished, and also kept pretty clean. Housing is garunteed for your first year, and then you have to enter a lottery for an apartment. If you get an on-campus apartment, you can keep it for as long as you want as long as you occupy it. Every fall there is always a crunch because they have more people than they have room for, but they dont turn anyone away, and things get better within a couple of months as people start to find apartments off campus. They really need to build more apartments and dorms, which they have plans for, but I dont think construction is scheduled to begin for another year or so.

The network is also worth mentioning. Dual OC3, with a few other lower-bandwidth pipes mixed in for good measure, and it is extremely fast.

The thing bout RIT is that even though it is a very expensive school, you see your money being used. The classrooms and labs are all top notch, very high tech. RIT is one of the few tech schools that does not require students to own a laptop or other computer, simply because there is an abundance of school-owned computers available for use. The campus is kept very clean, and they've put a lot of work in the past couple of years into making it look a lot nicer (no easy task, as you can tell if you've ever seen pictures of the ugly brick buildings we have here).

The proffessors here are also great. I've had quite a few professors that I would rank among the most intelligent people I have ever met. They are all very approachable, and many of them work hard to integrate themselves into the student body not only as a teacher, but as someone you can talk to about just about anything.

Just let me say 1 thing about RIT:

If you are applying here just because there happens to be a few massassians here, dont do it.
In fact, if you are thinking of applying here, ignore the fact that we are here.
If you have questions, ask.

However, if you are applying here simply because you have known a few of us from here. Because if you do, you are applying for the wrong reasons.

I wish I had done this actually, and then transfered to a school like RIT, for two reasons. The first is cost... RIT, I think is definately worth the cost, but it will definately take its toll on me when I get out of school.

The second is that I spent two years in one department (engineering) before I realized I didnt want a degree in that area. I then switched to CS, spent almost a year then before deciding it wasnt for me. Currently, I'm the IT department, and I know already it isnt for me. I wish I had had more oppurtunities as a freshman to take classes in a variety of different areas, so that I could have gotten a better idea of what I wanted a degree in.

I know that a lot of intelligent high school graduates automatically refuse to consider community college because they feel its "beneath them," or something along those lines... I made the same mistake myself. Everyone should definately consider community college... there are actually some very good 2 year schools, and just because you go to one doesnt mean you cant go to a better school later.

I 'm really eager to go to a 4 year college but I'm just not sure it's worth it. I'm also a year younger, I'll be graduating when I'm 17, so that might work out better anyway.

As an engineering major, I must say that RIT's Co-op program is awesome. You get some nice actual job experience and get to be paid as well. Plus, it breaks up the monotony of classes.

Additionally, RIT offers an undeclared engineering major for the first few years so that it is easier to make an informed decision on what might suit you best.

I am currently a 3rd year Microelectronic Engineering major about to finish my first Co-op, a 6 month stint in brutally hot Phoenix Arizona.

I, too, wish I had gone down the CC route. I had the same reasons as you, DSettahr, although I knew that I wanted to be in Computer Science since...junior year. I probably could have knocked off some of these god-awful math classes at a CC too (calculus, discrete, etc.).

I graduated a year younger and I saw no ill effects of it. They only sucky thing was...I am a partier. I couldnt go to many of the bars and stuff till I got a fake id. Now, if you arent like me, being a year younger shouldnt be a problem. You could actually take the year off to see what you want to do. Save up and make some money, they decide if CC or University is what you want to do.

I am hoping to follow the computer science path. I am considering IT because I hear it's a great school and I want to hear your opinion on it.

What sorts of computing restrictions are there?

Outing club? You all go out places? You ring up other people's parents to tell them they like their toast buttered on the other side?

Absolutely none. You can serve warez all you want for example, as long as the FBI doesn't knock on your door. Facilities are pretty amazing too...The Win32 labs currently have Athlon XP 3000s, 1 GB of RAM and GeForce FX 5900s. They do a good job keeping them up to date. Most of the CS labs are all on Sun SPARC workstations, and of course several Mac labs.

Wow! We have such a restrictive firewall on our campus. You seriously have to call and send your MAC address to the net guys if you want to play XBox live. I've gotten calls from students who can't play CS, CoD, BF1942/V, etc. Why? We have all ports but 22, 23, 80, and others blocked. That might have changed recently due to not receiving calls of that nature for a while.

The only restriction is that reslife students get one garunteed IP address. Students in apartments get two. If you want more, you have to request them. The only reason they deny your request is if you have too many or none are available on your subnet.

Sounds like a good school. Perhaps I should consider sending any application there too. I'm definitely into "non-party" schools.

There's quite a bit of partying (especially in some of the apartments), but not nearly as much as elsewhere. Plus most of the people I know that drink a lot are cool with you if you're not into that. They have a "substance free housing" option that's supposed to stick you with other people that prefer a more dry environment. I checked that, my roomate did, yet we're on a floor with a bunch of people who drink a lot. Shrug. A friend of mine is on a substance free floor though, and that worked out for him.