Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Responses from the Student Interview

From a student  who identifies as Major: Aerospace Engineering
Minor: None
Student Self Identifies as: South Asian Heterosexual Male

Summary

I am a learning assistant which is sort of like an R.A. where I live in the freshman hall and help students learn study skills and time management skills. I am an I-Persist mentor, I [have a leadership role] in the Indian Student Association, and I am in the Professional Leadership Program.

Background

Gender Identity: Male
Race/Ethnicity: South Asian
Sexual Orientation: Heterosexual

High School Experience: Public school in Morristown, TN with a graduating class of about 400 students. About 60-70% of students went to college.
First-Generation College Student: Yes
Major: Aerospace Engineering
Minor: None

Extracurricular Activities: I am a learning assistant which is sort of like an R.A. where I live in the freshman hall and help students learn study skills and time management skills. I am an I-Persist mentor, I [have a leadership role] in the Indian Student Association, and I am in the Professional Leadership Program.
Did any of your extracurricular activities have a particularly big impact on your experience?
All of the professional leadership activities like learning assistant mentoring and the Professional Leadership Program have all considerably helped me get into internships, develop my leadership skills, and time management skills. With the Indian Student Association, the cultural side has made a huge impact in terms of what I do outside of school after academics are done, how I have fun, and it helped me develop a friend group.

Academic Experience

Can you describe your weekly coursework for your major?
We started our Aerospace Engineering specific classes this year. For the general engineering and core engineering classes, we generally have a lot of problem sets, a couple of labs, and tests and quizzes.
Is there anything you feel the core engineering courses do especially well or especially poorly?
I think they set up a very good foundation engineering-wise. The core engineering classes help you understand the higher-level classes, at least from what I can tell in the few upper-level classes that I’ve been in. In terms of poorly, I wish there would be more projects to apply the knowledge that I’ve learned in the classes. We’ve had a couple of projects, but I wish it was more hands-on.
How would you describe the learning environment? Do you think it’s competitive or collaborative?
It’s not very competitive at all. Everyone helps each other immensely during exam times. We give each other our notes. We have a very collaborative culture.
How accessible are your professors?
They are very accessible. I think most students don’t utilize them as much as they could.
What has been your favorite class you’ve taken for your major?
Intro to Engineering Design. We went through the engineering design process, gathered customer input, built a product, and gave presentations on it.
What has been your least favorite class you’ve taken for your major?
Modeling and Analysis of Uncertainty, which is basically an engineering statistics class. I just wasn’t that interested in the subject and it was a hard class.
Why did you choose your major? Are you happy with your choice?
I always wanted to be an astronaut when I was young and that developed into aerospace engineering as I got into college. I have fun studying space-related stuff, especially the engineering background of it, so I’m definitely happy with the major. But career-wise, I don’t think I’m going to pursue a career in aerospace engineering because currently my interests are evolving to business and entrepreneurship, so that’s where I’ll probably end up going.
How did being a first-generation college student impact your academic transition?
I couldn’t ask my brothers or sisters for help, but that would be all. Other than that, it was okay.

Reasons to Attend

1) The collaborative nature of RPI. I really enjoy that part of it academically and also with leadership roles.
2) The campus environment is beautiful, especially in warm weather.
3) The academic rigor. It puts you through enough adversity that you have to be focused and schedule your time, which will help you in life later on.
4) RPI sets you up for good career and internship opportunities because of the strong reputation of RPI.
5) There are a lot of leadership opportunities if you take them.

Reasons Not to Attend

1) It gets very cold.
2) If you don’t get financial aid, it’s extremely expensive. I definitely wouldn’t have come here if it weren’t for the financial aid. [For 2019-2020, total costs are $73,816.]

Around Campus

Where have you lived on campus?
First Year: Burdett Avenue Resident Hall (BARH) with one roommate.
Second Year: The Quadrangle with two roommates.
Third Year: Because I’m a learning assistant, I’ll have my own room in Nason Hall.
How was transitioning from your hometown in Tennessee to Troy, NY in terms of location?
There’s a lot of snow and it’s much colder, so that was the hardest thing. Other than that, I enjoy the culture and it’s pretty similar in that aspect. I’m pretty adaptive and I’ve moved around a lot in my life, so I enjoy going around and living in other places.
Can you describe the level of safety you’ve experienced on and around campus?
On a scale of 1 to 10, I would say an 8 in the sense that it’s generally very safe but there are a couple of shady parts of Troy.
What is your favorite off-campus restaurant?
Manory’s for brunch.
What is your favorite place to get away from campus?
We don’t really go off campus too much. I’ve gone on hiking trips around the area two or three times. Within an hour or two, there are a lot of hiking areas you can go to.

Social Opportunities

What kind of weekend activities or nightlife do you like to participate in?
We go to a friend’s off-campus house, we go to movies sometimes, and sometimes we go to bars. I also like to go to the Indian Student Association events and parties that my friends host. I regularly go out on Friday and Saturday or just Saturday.
Can you describe a typical night going out freshman year before you were more socially established?
Freshmen were pretty accepted, especially during the first two weeks, but my social life died down freshman year. I didn’t go to many parties my freshman year because I was focusing more on academics.
As somebody who is not in Greek life, what is the impact of Greek life on nightlife?
I have a very close friend who is in Greek life, and I think for him it’s been a good thing. For me, it creates something to do on the weekends. We’ve also had some collaborative events with fraternities through the Indian Students Association.
What have been some of your favorite times at RPI?
It’s definitely been organizing events and mentoring students.

Campus Culture

How did you meet your closest friends?
Through the Indian Students Association.
If at all, how did being a first-generation college student influence your social experience?
I don’t think it influenced me at all.
How would you describe the overall social scene at RPI?
It’s great if you try. If you don’t put yourself out there and try, you will feel lonely. That’s because a lot of the people at RPI like to stay in their dorms and play games.
To what extent do you think people of different races and sexual orientations mix socially?
It’s pretty, pretty blended. It’s not noticeable. Everybody mixes together.
How would you describe the student body?
About 50% are reserved and like to stay within their own lives and 50% try to have a social life while having academics on top of that.
Do you feel that people are generally happy with their choice of RPI by senior year? Do you think people leave loving RPI?
Most of them do. There are some who think they should have gone to a higher-ranked school, but they do take a good amount of knowledge out of RPI and usually leave with good jobs.

Careers

Has the alumni network helped you find internships or jobs?
Yes, but not directly because a lot of alumni come to career fairs. They do like to hire RPI students within their companies. In that sense, we have more opportunities through alumni.
What have you used the career office for? How helpful are they?
I used them for help with interviews and resume critiques. They’ve been very helpful.
Have you learned any computer programs that have been or will be helpful professionally?
We have used MATLAB in a couple of courses, but not too much. I know they are trying to get more computer programs integrated into the courses.

Financial Aid

Have you used financial aid? If so, how accommodating was the office to your needs?
I definitely use it. They’ve been accommodating, especially in person when you go in and ask them questions. In the beginning, I didn’t have enough financial aid and I did an appeal and asked nicely, and they gave me most of what I needed.