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Anyone know anything about this school? It came highly recommended by a friend, but another who once lived in the area was not very impressed. Reviews I've read on other boards were not very favorable, primarily about residential life, but there were also not very many comments, and could have been by a vocal minority. I'd like to hear more...

By Happyclam17 (Happyclam17) on Wednesday, September 17, 2003 - 05:22 pm: Edit

I live in a surrounding town of Worcester and have been to WPI several times recently. I have heard many good things about the school itself and its academic programs. The campus itself however is true to what you heard, not too great. Worcester is not a very pretty city at all, doesn't have too much night life or places to hang out. I can't recall the campus too well, but what I saw of it was okay. Nothing too great or too bad. Hope I helped somewhat and good luck!

By Ellesotto (Ellesotto) on Tuesday, November 18, 2003 - 08:58 pm: Edit

I visted WPI in 2000 when I was applying to grad schools. WPI is the nicesest school in town both in terms of architecture and the neighborhood in which it is located. Campus is medium-sized occupied by some pretty decent buildings. Athletic facilities are also nice. The immediate neighborhood is VERY nice--a hilly, park like setting populated by private houses, many of which are rented out to grad students. There is actually a pretty sizeable park nearby with a smallish pond and gated communities. In a word, the atmosphere is pretty serene around campus. As I recall, it only takes about 10 minutes to walk downhill to the downtown, which has a charming park and a newly opened, multi-storied shopping center with all major brand shops. Worcester, overall, is acceptable, it does have some nightlife, there is a movie theater in downtown, an Amtrak station (a bit far) and a Greyhound station (close). The nearest airport is in Boston. In short, downtown and the WPI neighborhood are both nice. You should visit it if you are really interested. One thing you should now about WPI is that it's like 75 percent male so that the school dating scene is practically non-existent.

By Myoryu (Myoryu) on Tuesday, December 23, 2003 - 08:02 am: Edit

WPI offers a great deal of scholarships - that matters, doesn't it?

By Unnoticed (Unnoticed) on Tuesday, January 06, 2004 - 01:59 pm: Edit

I too am looking at this school does anyone knows it majors and what not and if it has a web site ?!?!? If its 75 % male doesnt that make a better dating scene for the few women that are there!?!?!?! I would think it would at least!!!

By Carolyn (Carolyn) on Monday, February 02, 2004 - 07:47 pm: Edit

Yes, it has a web site - www.wpi.edu - most popular majors are: electrical engineering (20% of students major in it), computer science (18%), mechanical engineering (18%), biological sciences (12%)and civil engineering (7%)

They are indeed generous with financial aid -
meeting full need of most students who have need. (About 52% of students apply for aid, 51% of those are determined to have need and get their full need met) Average aid package is $19,334. They give merit awards to 6% of students with an average of $17,640. One caveat: their aid packages tend to be heavy on loans.

By Benzinspeicher (Benzinspeicher) on Sunday, February 15, 2004 - 10:17 pm: Edit

anybody who got accepted early and got their financial aid thing back-is that amount per year or for all 4 years?

By Jgro (Jgro) on Wednesday, February 18, 2004 - 08:29 pm: Edit

I got in early and they are generous with scholarships - I got a full academic scholarship.

The financial aid amounts are per year.

I visited the school and I thought that the facilities were decent, but I was not impressed with the students - too nerdy for me. Obviously there are a range of people, but that was my overall impression.

I heard that they admitted their entire target class size early this year...

By Catalinakc (Catalinakc) on Saturday, February 21, 2004 - 06:25 pm: Edit

Jgro..what were your stats...and by full academic scholarship, do you mean tuition, room and board, etc?

By Jgro (Jgro) on Monday, March 01, 2004 - 11:33 pm: Edit

800 verbal / 730 math
780 chemistry
730 math 2C
710 writing

#1 at a public school with 450 kids in my senior class

3 varsity sports
2 years captain of the math team
4 years of debate team / leading in the past 2
random volunteering and other activities


The scholarship is for tuition only. Room, board and other stuff is about $10,000.

By Sticksandstones (Sticksandstones) on Wednesday, March 10, 2004 - 04:31 pm: Edit

what is their SAT average?

By Jangel86 (Jangel86) on Tuesday, March 16, 2004 - 04:26 pm: Edit

Hey,

I live really close to WPI, and my high school is actually part of the college. The campus is nice, but very compressed. All of the facilities are very nice and state-of-the-art.
I haven't taken a WPI course yet (next year), but all of the professors I know are very nice, and are willing to make time to help you understand the material.

If you want to major in Engineering or CS, this is a good school for you. I don't think its anything spectacular if you want to major in any liberal arts.

More than half of the students are in fraternities and sororities, so much of the social life revolves around frat parties and drinking. There isn't much else to do in Worcester, especially if you are under 21.

WPI is a good school, but I personally wouldn't go there, but that is because its so close to my house, and I don't want to major in engineering or CS.

If anyone has any other questions about WPI, I'd be happy to answer them.

By Sticksandstones (Sticksandstones) on Sunday, March 21, 2004 - 02:05 pm: Edit

what about the phyiscs courses in WPI, i really wanna go there and what kinds of academic societites are there? what is their SAT Averages?

By Ninjamom (Ninjamom) on Friday, March 26, 2004 - 12:35 pm: Edit

I graduated from WPI in 1982, so I can't comment on the current atmosphere on campus, or how the city of Worcester may have evolved. And from my username, you can tell I'm a female (back then it was 10%/90% Female/Male ratio). I chose WPI based on its reputation and "The Plan", as well as I figured if I wanted to graduate with an engineering degree in 4 years, I better go to a college that focused on engineering (if I went to a University, would I really hang out with the engineers? No way...)

As far as the male/female ratio's, Worcester is a large city and many of the WPI guys hooked up with Becker or Assumption females, so yes, on campus it isn't that great, but Worcester is a pretty big college city. And being a female with an uneven ratio has it's cons as well...smaller pool of female friends...but we found them (and remember it was 10/90 then)...at the time I started there was only 1 female fraternity on campus (yes fraternity not sorority) and a bit stuck up at that time (again things change) so we started the second on campus, and that was an interesting process to be involved with.

Anyway, as I said earlier, the value of WPI is in its plan. I've copied some info from their website (www.wpi.edu) to give you some idea of what makes it different. With the project work you must complete, you truly can engineer a solution to a problem once you graduate. You work hard and you play hard...and everyone around you is in the same boat.

Here's some details:

WPI in a nutshell:
7-week terms – the fast pace helps you learn to manage your time
No required classes – no two students take the same path to complete their degrees
No failing grades – feel free to explore new subjects. WPI awards only three grades: A, B and C. No pluses or minuses. If you don't get a C, you will not receive credit for the course and it won't appear on your transcript.
3 real-world projects – you don't have to wait four years to change the world
Collaborative atmosphere – students work with each other on projects and in classes, learning the teamwork skills that are essential in the real world


The Three Projects
Humanities and Arts Project. Choose a topic in an area of humanities or arts that interests you, such as art or music or philosophy, and explore it in depth through a sequence of courses that you choose. Then complete an original scholarly or creative work in that area.
Interactive Project. Work in a student team to tackle an issue that relates science and technology to society. (Translation: This is your chance to solve problems that matter to people and communities.)
Major Project. Design and build some hardware. Make a new discovery in the lab. Develop a new process. This is where you put what you learn about your major field into action, working in a team to define a problem, then developing a novel and creative solution.

I'll be glad to answer any questions that I can.

By Sticksandstones (Sticksandstones) on Friday, March 26, 2004 - 02:49 pm: Edit

what about the phyiscs courses in WPI, i really wanna go there and what kinds of academic societites are there? what is their SAT Averages?

By Memtigers86 (Memtigers86) on Friday, March 26, 2004 - 05:21 pm: Edit

Accepted Early

SAT 1490
SAT II 800/750/650
GPA 4.0

You can see my full stats at www.prstats.com under ladystentora

I also got an academic scholarship. Good luck to everyone!

By Ninjamom (Ninjamom) on Friday, March 26, 2004 - 07:58 pm: Edit

Sticksandstones:

Here's the link to the WPI physics courses:

http://www.wpi.edu/Pubs/Catalogs/Ugrad/Current/phcourses.html

And here's the link to the Clubs (including Sigma Pi Sigma - Physics):

http://www.wpi.edu/Campus/Activities/

You should go to the site and check these out.

From The Princeton Review Best 351 Colleges, looks like their average SAT score is 1300

By Sticksandstones (Sticksandstones) on Sunday, March 28, 2004 - 03:00 pm: Edit

thnks Ninjamom,
im a sophmore, my SAT practice average is about 1230, i hope i can break near a 1280 or somethiing of the likes.

By Sticksandstones (Sticksandstones) on Friday, April 30, 2004 - 11:21 am: Edit

does anyone know how many people people apply at WPI?

By Jangel86 (Jangel86) on Wednesday, May 05, 2004 - 11:04 pm: Edit

1230 will be fine for WPI, I'm pretty sure.

By Benzinspeicher (Benzinspeicher) on Tuesday, August 03, 2004 - 01:47 pm: Edit

average is 1288 according to PR