RPI is not perfect. If it were perfect, it would be located on the beach, wireless internet access wouldn’t require Cisco VPN, every printer would function properly every time, and tuition would be free. These deviations aside, RPI is still awesome.

However, walking around campus, you wouldn’t necessarily know this. We are one of the top engineering schools in the nation, yet we still have students who actually take the time to produce videos proclaiming how horrible RPI is—and not in a satirical way.

Whether it’s the cold winters or “the ratio,” there are certainly reasons to complain. But to condemn the entirety of RPI for relatively minuscule problems is outrageous, and to think that any of these complaints are indicative of a phenomenon exclusive to RPI is ridiculous. California Institute or Technology, for one, sits in one of the most seismically active regions of the country. I don’t know about you, but I’d rather have to spend an extra two minutes bundling up in the winter than have to worry about my classroom falling on top of me. But do we hear students complaining about that? No, because they know that their school is awesome. We should know that, too. I’m told I’ve reached my limit on jabs I can make at Clarkson University this year, so until January, consider these points, among countless others:

• Cutting-edge research is being performed on our campus and we get the chance to participate in it.

• Our students have a reputation of being able to perform their job from the minute they set foot in the workplace.

• Almost every major company that hires scientists and engineers recruits here.

• We have a stellar hockey team.

These reasons aside, wouldn’t you want to be promoting the product that you’re going to be attached to when you look for your first job? Regardless of how you feel now, after graduation, I’ll bet you good money that a main interest will be having the name “RPI” carry the highest value humanly possible, because in the end this value affects your career, including job placement, how you’re viewed in your field, and the depth of your understanding of certain subjects.

This doesn’t mean we have to lie and say we enjoy the 20 degrees below zero wind chills or sugarcoat the fact that IED projects result in moderate to severe sleep deprivation, but we certainly shouldn’t be allowing relatively insignificant details mask the fact that we’re going to walk out of here with one of the highest-valued degrees in our respective disciplines. It also doesn’t mean that we should assume there is nothing that can be improved on this campus, but so long as the avenues exist to make those improvements, and so long as efforts are underway to make them, it would be a mistake to condemn the entirety of RPI. If need be, get a head-start on “changing the world” by changing something you dislike about your experience here (nix those 8 am classes!) or working to change something to improve the experience for everyone (champion a project to offer more courses or expand the hours at the Mueller center, for instance).

Major league baseball teams, no matter how long they might go without winning the World Series (insert jab at the Chicago Cubs here), are a good example. Instances of professional sports player ripping into their own team are few and far between, in no small part because they see the importance of the label that they—literally—wear to work every day, and want to maximize the value of it. We should be doing the same.

If you can’t think of one thing about RPI that makes you smile or your heart swell with pride, then send me an e-mail and I will. Or you could always just send comments, thoughts, ideas, and concerns: gm@rpi.edu. I also welcome donations of leftover pumpkin/apple/cherry pie, as long as it hasn’t spoiled.