Major: Biochemistry, Biophysics

Minor: Psychology, Finance

Email: baec2@rpi.edu 

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Questions about Academics and COVID-19

 

What were your classes like in your first year or in your major/concentration, especially transitioning from Shen? 

I personally did not use any of my AP credits and thus had to retake all of the intro level classes- they served as my GPA booster :) I think Shen did a great job in covering most of the materials that are covered in those classes so it wasn't too hard. Although in some courses, RPI had included additional parts that traditionally won't be included, it wasn't a lot of material and was manageable.

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What academic experiences have stood out to you at your college in either positive or negative ways?

RPI has a program called Arch, where during the summer after your sophomore year, you will take either your Fall or Spring semester's courses of your junior year. Then during one of the semesters in your junior year, (it's called Arch away) you get to go study abroad/focus on research/do internship/your choice of path.

 

I think that this is a great chance to dive deeper into your field of interest. However, some students dislike this program and try to opt out of it with the main reason being that doing a semester's worth of classes during the summer is really hard and that you basically don't get any summer break for a whole year if you decide to do your Arch away in the spring.

 

Another thing is that RPI's curriculum is set up so that you have to meet several criteria to fulfill your HASS requirements (Humanities, Arts, and Social Science), which basically means that you are set up to graduate with a minor.

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How was your online learning experience at your college? What resources did your college provide you during this time?

I didn't have a terrible time adjusting to online learning (although I know some of my friends did). The lectures were held at normal class times and were recorded at the same time for those in other parts of the world to watch later (or for those who wanted to review). The deadlines for most of the assignments were pushed back. For some of my courses, the format of the final changed drastically so that it was a lot easier to score high. For others, they kept it the same, just made it online (I even had one where they used the online proctor website).They also offered Pass/No Credit option for most if not all of the courses.

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What did your college do well or poorly to support students and communities when COVID-19 first hit?

I think RPI did a relatively nice job in that when some schools had to go back to campus after their spring back only to find out that they have to go back home, RPI extended our spring break and immediately told us that we would no longer be coming back to campus (some of the students that live far away didn't go back home during spring break so they didn't have to do any of the going back and forth to move out, etc).

 

In the 2020-21 year, RPI has announced that the freshmen and the seniors will remain on campus the full year, the juniors will also be on campus for the fall but the sophomores do online learning, and vice versa in the spring. They will be reducing the on campus housing to 55% and they plan on carrying out classes in a hybrid fashion for those on campus (as well as limiting class sizes) and then switching to online learning starting after Thanksgiving break (everyone will move out then).

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Questions about Student Life

 

If students are interested in your major/concentration, what extracurricular activities do you recommend they do at your college?

Because most of the courses I take are STEM based, I personally didn't want to take part in STEM based clubs (or at least during my freshman year I didn't). So during my freshman year I was a part of 8th wonder (RPI's K-pop/hip hop crew), KSA (Korean Student Association), and Alpha Phi Omega, which is a national service organization.

 

APO is a co-ed fraternity (not Greek life) that does A LOT of volunteering. There is also an office in the union where we keep all of the donated backworks and have cabinets with them so that when students need to study for exams, they visit our office to take pictures of them (very helpful!). We do a lot of chapter, campus, community, and country volunteering, but we also have our own events for us to just chill/relax or even study together. Most of the ones involved in APO have their week filled with APO events they can choose to go to and we think of APO as our second family- we spend so much time with each other!

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What are common things to do on weekends? Do students commute back home for the weekend or are there events on campus?

A lot of people go to downtown Troy (especially the Farmers Market that is just open on Saturdays from the morning to right about lunch time). What I've noticed is that starting Fridays after classes, people who play instruments open their doors and play music together, play games together, etc. There are people who go to other universities nearby to hang out with their friends there and go to their parties. There are also events on campus (not every week), but when there are, they have festivals, carnivals, shows, etc. Some choose to socialize indoors and some outdoors, it's all up to your preference!

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Are you involved in athletics at your college? How do you balance sports, academics, and extracurricular activities?

I did not during my first year, but I am considering trying out for one when I go back to campus. The clubs I'm a part of take up a lot of time, so I will either choose to replace one with sports just to try it out or try to balance it out by still showing up to all of the clubs, but not as frequently.

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Do you have a job during the school year, or is it common for students to have on-campus jobs? What is that experience like?

I do not, but Work study is a common thing for students to have. This is basically having a job on campus and is included in your financial aid package, if you are given the opportunity. I personally have never had it included in mine so I couldn't have one but I know a lot of friends who do.

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Extra Questions

 

What advice would you give to current Shen students when applying to your college?

I really strongly recommend looking into all of the programs RPI has on their website. RPI has some good programs even for non-engineering majors, which you can only get into by applying as a senior in high school, not after you get accepted into RPI.

 

However, I do want to say that only do so if you're sure that you won't be wanting to opt out of that program (if that program has any consequences in doing so). I know a lot of my friends are in the 7-year med program where they don't need to take the MCAT and can just go straight to Albany Med after RPI. In the beginning of the year, I really regretted that I didn't look into this, but now I do not because I found myself not wanting to pursue my pre med dream anymore.

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What makes your college special to you?

I used to think that I wouldn't like RPI because it's so close from home- that it wouldn't feel like I'm at a college. But I was totally wrong! I, in fact, really like that it's so close from home because I get to go home whenever I want to and have my parents bring me food once in a while. I like that I still get to live my new life as a college student, yet there are small aspects that remain the same.

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Before COVID-19, what was the housing like at your college? What would you recommend to Shen seniors to find their roommates?

RPI had a Facebook group to find roomates, but they also had some questions for you to fill out if you wanted to go random so that they match you up with someone similar to you. I personally didn't think going random would be a bad idea, so I did. But I did end up switching my dorm, not because I didn't like my roomates, but because I didn't like my dorm and I found a friend who's roomate transferred out and thus had an empty bed.

 

I do not know that many students that did random, so if you don't want to risk anything, I'd say try to find a roomate through Facebook!

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How is the financial aid situation at your college?

RPI is on the more expensive side, but from what I know, most people get some amount of financial aid (even some of the international students- although it's not much, it's still something). Because engineering is huge at RPI, we have a male to female ratio of 7:3. And because of this, I found that if you are a girl, you are slightly more likely to get more FA as they do want to try to balance out the ratio.

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Is there anything else you'd like to share about your college experience that hasn't been addressed yet in this questionnaire?

College is very different from high school and it's great if you have so many things you want to do, but I just want to say that academics always comes first, and the other things should revolve around it. That being said, if you're unsure of what you want to do, that is totally fine, it's fine if you take your freshman year lightly- you probably won't get to as you get older :)

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