Students have to be bribed by the admissions office to come greet you with a fake smile. They look annoyed that they had to cut their Friday nights short to wake up early on a Saturday morning. Professors and administrators spruce up a description of how good their degree program should be, rather than how good it really is. This would be an Accepted Students’ Day for any college other than RPI.
Now that I look back on it, I am disappointed that I missed Accepted Students’ Day when I was a high school senior. I may not have been as clueless as to what I was getting into. Not regretting my decision to come here, I was more than happy to display my enthusiasm to prospective students, as well as students who have already made the commitment to RPI. It was great to see that most of the high school students who I have spoken with have already signed on and handed in most of the paperwork. Most of those who I have talked with were female, so a better gender ratio is very promising!
This year, I served on the student panel for the School of Science, answering questions from parents and students about the School of Science. The night before, I was thinking about how I should introduce myself. After a few minutes, I got sidetracked with Union duty and totally forgot about it until the next morning. At the panel session, I was slightly nervous because I was not entirely sure of what I should talk about. However, once I started talking, the words just came to me. I did not have to dig that deep to come up with answers to questions that were on the parents’ and students’ minds. I did not have to make anything up just to make RPI sound better. In fact, in the midst of talking about RPI, I gained a greater appreciation for the opportunities that RPI has to offer since we sometimes take it for granted with the rigorous coursework that inundates our lives.
Parents have had the same impression. Most of them came up to me and said that everyone seems to like it here at RPI. I have to say that it is true. For being an engineering-oriented school, we have a lot of variety in our fields of study. We have a very rich campus life as well. For those that did not stop in for the festivities, you should have seen how packed the Armory and the Union were. It was a sight to see. I look forward to seeing how the Class of 2011 turns out.
