This Week’s College: Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Terre Haute, Indiana
Ranked number 1 in the nation by US News for its engineering, Rose-Hulman is the consummate “Maker School.” Popular among those in the know, their grads tend to realize a salary about 50% higher than those who come out of other engineering programs nationally after about 10 years. And don’t be fooled by its petite size (2100 students). Education packs a punch here: most classes are organized around the idea that in the real world, people work in teams to innovate so that’s how it’s done at Rose-Hulman, too.
Rose-Hulman takes education in the areas of science, mathematics, and engineering extremely seriously. They aim to produce students who are skilled at and inspired to define and solve problems of the complex global society we live in today. They do this by providing one of the premier educations in STEM fields with personal attention from top trained and cutting edge faculty. And, because there is no doctoral program here, it’s the undergrads and the master’s students (they offer a 5 year program after which you can leave with a master’s degree) who do all of the hands on research. In other words, no fighting for space like you would be in a large research university like Georgia Tech or MIT.
The average class size at Rose-Hulman is 20 (so you can forget about those massive, 400 person physics lectures taught by a professor and an army of TAs). Student faculty ratio is a low 13:1. It’s a middle sized school with about 2300 students attending, about 550 per class. They are considered somewhat selective, accepting about 58% of the folks who apply, but don’t let that fool you. This is a school for those in the know. Many people do not even know it exists. Ninety per cent of applicants are in the top quarter of their class, and 81% have a GPA of 3.75 or higher (unweighted). They have rolling admissions so you can apply any time between 1 August and 1 February. And they are an early action school (non-binding!) so applying early is a fine idea if you know this is a good school for you.
Students at Rose-Hulman major in an area related to science, math, or engineering. These range from biomathematics to software engineering, from international computer science to civil engineering, from chemistry to optical engineering. But you can minor in just about anything. Latin American Studies, robotics, art, geography, imagine, psychology, are just a few of the minors one can choose from. In addition, Rose-Hulman has interdisciplinary programming such as the Grand Challenges which align with the National Academy of Engineering’s Grand Challenges to improve the world through engineering. Their ESCALANTE program is an entrepreneurship program meant to include mentorship and problem solving and comes with a shared living experience. The HERE program is for first years interested in sustainability and engineering. The MiNDS program is based on a grand from Keck that fosters research on Micro Nano Device Systems and allows students and faculty to work on various research projects in teams. And finally, what STEM program would be complete without a chance to compete in robotics? And win of course! The last 10 years.
Work hard, play hard at Rose-Hulman. There are 20 varsity sports to choose from (including football and basketball), and about 35% of the school is Greek. Theater and music are also big here. There are at least 8 different ways to get involved musically at Rose-Hulman and there are plenty of great works of art on display all over campus. Plus, engineering school, so awesome design challenges and activities, of which robotics is just scraping the top of the surface. How about Human Powered Vehicles, Rose-Hulman Powered Vehicles Challenge, Concrete Canoe, Design, Build, Fly, or Rose Grand Prix? Not to mention the 90+ clubs and activities you can join (it’s a lot). Join the Anime Club, the Society of Women Engineers, the Yoga Club, Habitat for Humanity, the Cycling Team, Swing Dance, or the Pep Band. Join one of the 11 Fraternities or Sororities, give your time to Engineers Without Borders, or just have fun with Humans Versus Zombies. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy…
Is Rose-Hulman for you? It could be. They have partnerships with Texas Instruments, Caterpillar, Bostik, Proctor and Gamble, not to mention the several universities abroad in Germany, Japan and China where students can work and learn. Their 40,000 square foot research John T. Meyers Research Center for Technological Research with Industry is home to their “maker” centers where students can work on their projects for clients in cutting edge research and design spaces. Rose-Hulman Ventures is home to collaboration between students and tech companies where students work as project managers to design solutions for clients. It doesn’t get much more real world than that.
Pros:
Cons:
Ranked number 1 in the nation by US News for its engineering, Rose-Hulman is the consummate “Maker School.” Popular among those in the know, their grads tend to realize a salary about 50% higher than those who come out of other engineering programs nationally after about 10 years. And don’t be fooled by its petite size (2100 students). Education packs a punch here: most classes are organized around the idea that in the real world, people work in teams to innovate so that’s how it’s done at Rose-Hulman, too.
Rose-Hulman takes education in the areas of science, mathematics, and engineering extremely seriously. They aim to produce students who are skilled at and inspired to define and solve problems of the complex global society we live in today. They do this by providing one of the premier educations in STEM fields with personal attention from top trained and cutting edge faculty. And, because there is no doctoral program here, it’s the undergrads and the master’s students (they offer a 5 year program after which you can leave with a master’s degree) who do all of the hands on research. In other words, no fighting for space like you would be in a large research university like Georgia Tech or MIT.
The average class size at Rose-Hulman is 20 (so you can forget about those massive, 400 person physics lectures taught by a professor and an army of TAs). Student faculty ratio is a low 13:1. It’s a middle sized school with about 2300 students attending, about 550 per class. They are considered somewhat selective, accepting about 58% of the folks who apply, but don’t let that fool you. This is a school for those in the know. Many people do not even know it exists. Ninety per cent of applicants are in the top quarter of their class, and 81% have a GPA of 3.75 or higher (unweighted). They have rolling admissions so you can apply any time between 1 August and 1 February. And they are an early action school (non-binding!) so applying early is a fine idea if you know this is a good school for you.
Students at Rose-Hulman major in an area related to science, math, or engineering. These range from biomathematics to software engineering, from international computer science to civil engineering, from chemistry to optical engineering. But you can minor in just about anything. Latin American Studies, robotics, art, geography, imagine, psychology, are just a few of the minors one can choose from. In addition, Rose-Hulman has interdisciplinary programming such as the Grand Challenges which align with the National Academy of Engineering’s Grand Challenges to improve the world through engineering. Their ESCALANTE program is an entrepreneurship program meant to include mentorship and problem solving and comes with a shared living experience. The HERE program is for first years interested in sustainability and engineering. The MiNDS program is based on a grand from Keck that fosters research on Micro Nano Device Systems and allows students and faculty to work on various research projects in teams. And finally, what STEM program would be complete without a chance to compete in robotics? And win of course! The last 10 years.
Work hard, play hard at Rose-Hulman. There are 20 varsity sports to choose from (including football and basketball), and about 35% of the school is Greek. Theater and music are also big here. There are at least 8 different ways to get involved musically at Rose-Hulman and there are plenty of great works of art on display all over campus. Plus, engineering school, so awesome design challenges and activities, of which robotics is just scraping the top of the surface. How about Human Powered Vehicles, Rose-Hulman Powered Vehicles Challenge, Concrete Canoe, Design, Build, Fly, or Rose Grand Prix? Not to mention the 90+ clubs and activities you can join (it’s a lot). Join the Anime Club, the Society of Women Engineers, the Yoga Club, Habitat for Humanity, the Cycling Team, Swing Dance, or the Pep Band. Join one of the 11 Fraternities or Sororities, give your time to Engineers Without Borders, or just have fun with Humans Versus Zombies. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy…
Is Rose-Hulman for you? It could be. They have partnerships with Texas Instruments, Caterpillar, Bostik, Proctor and Gamble, not to mention the several universities abroad in Germany, Japan and China where students can work and learn. Their 40,000 square foot research John T. Meyers Research Center for Technological Research with Industry is home to their “maker” centers where students can work on their projects for clients in cutting edge research and design spaces. Rose-Hulman Ventures is home to collaboration between students and tech companies where students work as project managers to design solutions for clients. It doesn’t get much more real world than that.
Pros:
- Hands on, meaningful learning
- Small classes, individual attention
- Undergraduate research
- Cutting edge methods and facilities
Cons:
- On the smaller side
- Pretty isolated spot
- Winter is a lifestyle there, not a season
- Have to be in the know to know how good it is