Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Beautiful college campus, excellent engineering program. Not hard to find after you exit the highway. A lot of options and opportunities available!

I had a great time here! Got a great education, there were some faults for the school, but it's clear they try hard, and I did see improvements along my education in terms of creating a more forgiving and accommodating experience. I would take a star off because I feel they don't expand in the best regard. My freshman year I was in a triple dorm room that was the size of a double at most other schools, and they don't guarantee on-campus housing past your first year, but while I was there they built a building with more classrooms and maker-spaces rather than more housing, feels like a wasted opportunity. With that said, I had a great time here and I do feel it set me up well for a good career! I've worked with the professors and they do really care about their students.

I go here, plenty of work always but you wont get as good as an education anywhere else. Also very recognizable to jobs around the country.

Top college with a new emphasis of women in science 🔬! I love touch tomorrow June event.

Seeing a gloomy review just now, I could not help but to drop one myself. I am an alumnus and my daughter is heading there now. Excellent institution preparing elite students for the most advanced engineering careers. The project focused learning is unique and very effective. This is a place that takes students to the next level on the global stage.

Decent learning experience. Graduated with almost a 3.9 and feel behind from my peers in the industry from other universities. Student debt at about $65,000 before interest, so better than some other folks, but WPI could definitely improve. Off-campus opportunities should be made more affordable.

What a horrible school in a depressing area. There was a few suicides few years ago and I am not surprised. To be honest, if the kid comes from a strong prep school and have all the AP courses under the belt then they/he/she will do fine. But if you come from an underprivileged family and from a not so strong high school, i would not recommend wpi. The faculty is not supportive at all. They are never available to help . Tutors are scarce. . They just focus on their research/grant and put no work in teaching undergraduates. they don't care about struggling students and some have contempt for them . They come in class, teach dull lectures and leave (talking about science classes like physics, chem, eng. Classes). The liberal art professors are more reachable and helpful. The advisors are not advising properly. They don't answer emails. it's not a school for students coming from city schools Worcester is very gloomy. And it's freezing in winter. There is also political tensions between the president and the faculty. In my opinion, the atmosphere is very toxic. I am not talking about graduate programs that i don't know. ( From a parent)

My daughter is a WPI alumnus (Class of '10), and everything I heard about her experience was positive. Hopefully, I'm about to find out first-hand what the student experience is like as an MBA candidate. So far the application process has been extremely positive with personal, one-on-one attention. I'm looking forward to receiving an invitation to enroll.

I never really thought about doing a review for a school/college until I noticed that one of the top reviews of the day was for Northeastern. Years removed from WPI, I still visit regularly and keep in touch with the many people that I became close to in my tenure at WPI. I was a student hall director/resident adviser for four years and feel like that gave me good perspective on what residents halls are worth staying at and which are worth avoiding. Basically the classic residents halls (not built within the last 5-years) break down as follows: Morgan/Daniels - Renovated in 2000 or so mostly 2-person and 3-person rooms, this hall was original built to be two person rooms, large floors Morgan is around 50 ppl per wing, Daniels 60 per floor, good for people who like to have a lot of acquaintances. Morgan is a clear view Hall, Daniels is more broken up and usually what happens is that three/four rooms clustered together in one area on the floor in Daniels become friends while Morgan with the open Hallway gives you more options. Riley was last renovated in 1995 or so, larger rooms, 5-6 people to the room suites, these are better for people that would like to have a close nit group of friends in lieu of acquaintances, the setting forces you to be close to your roommates which can be good or bad if your personalities don't match. daniels, morgan and Riley are all located on the quad and the closest to the campus. Stoddard is 3-buildings in a quad area, all floors are divided in the center by a bathroom and common area, there are 6 rooms on either side of the bathroom, the total number of people on the floor are smaller, usually there are a high number of exchange, long distances and foreign students in these buildings because these people are too far away to look at these dorms built in 1976, I don't believe these buildings have been renovated to date. Floor set up and numbers on the floor are good for developing a tight nit community. Common area in the center of the three buildings seems like it would/could be beneficial but seems like it is rarely used. Institute is removed from the campus in the vicinity of the fraternities, freshman assigned here usually complain about the walk to classes and the noise on weekends. The hallways are a little tight and the rooms are a little smaller, set up is akin to the combination of Morgan Hall and Stoddard in a sense. Founders was built in the mid to late 1980's i believe and has not seen a full renovation to date since being installed, larger suites than Riley with an added bonus of a common room good for groups of people going to college together that don't want to meet people outside of their group of friends. For classes the best recommendation that anyone can give you is to go to every class, sign up early for classes online in the event that you need to change and always sign up for ADLN options for classes even if you are on campus. The reasons for these area 1. some professors have a quiz that basically just consists of taking attendance, pretty easy to score 100%, pretty stupid to get a 0%. 2. Sign up for classes early because the popular classes and professors always sign up fast. In some instances required classes that are not your entry level requirements fill up almost immediately. 3. Sign up for ADLN because you always have the option to walk in and sit down in class if you fall behind but then also get the luxury to re-watch videos or even not attend the live class if you are unavailable. Construction in the area has been going on the for past 3-4 years which has made the already difficult parking situation on campus even more difficult, if you can avoid bringing a car onto campus and just walk or carpool with friends. Typically finding parking is easiest if you commute from WPI if you come in the morning and stay for that day. Word of warning if you are a parent, ALL visitor parking needs to be registered with Campus Police or you will be ticketed. Like most things in life, you will get out of WPI what you put into it and is not for everyone. There are a lot of programs, organizations, clubs, sports, activities and job opportunities available but like programs any where they typically don't come looking for you, so seek them out, try and go to a lot of things at least once to get an idea if it is something you would like to do and give things a chance. No one ends up enjoying college but just hanging out in there room all the time playing video games. Terms are 7-week terms, 4 per year, each term has different scheduling constraints based on the term, ie Calc 1 is only available A-term (fall). 10-day breaks in between terms with a month long break for x-mas (winter). Not many classes offered in E-term, like wise is a 7-week schedule. Typically 3-classes are taken per term. You can take 3-educational classes and one gym class a term without getting charged extra for the extra credits (full time student tuition).

Very nice school to visit if you're going into the sciences. They gave a very informative information session where the really nice tour guide explaining about the different buildings and expectations. Some of the buildings were old and some of them were new... it's just nice to know that they put some money into the college. They were really helpful to show me to the information session even though we were late and it was raining out.

overall pretty average as a school for tech/engineering interested ppl. i considered going here but the deal breaker was the price for the value. this place is just way too expensive to realistically attend right out of high school for a lot of ppl. the focus on projects is appealing. the dorms didn't look crazy. walking around the ambiance is clean and nice on the campus.

This needs some balancing. WPI is wonderful while you are a student. If you are an engineer. If you are a scientist, you will get shit on. If you are creative and logical, you will get shit on. If you are already graduated and move more than 20 miles from the campus, you will get shit on. I can't even use any of my old supervisors as contacts except for one who became the head of the department because they hired such unreliable/introverted staff in the bio department. And I was biochem, but the program was so new and shitty it wasn't that good. That being said, WPI definitely builds character and provides a LOT of opportunities, especially when it comes to international travel. I went to London for a music minor, and as a result I applied to a MS program in Scotland. Also the number of professionals WPI outputs is absurdly high, so Linked In is your friend. And mine. *hint*

This is a best in class campus that yields top notch professionals. They are impressively visionary and creative. The school is the innovator in multidisciplinary - pushing the envelope and challenging conventional wisdom. I am proud to call them colleagues. I am proud to have recruited talent harvested in Worcester, Ma

So I am biased as I Graduated from WPI Spring of '06. However it does not mean I cannot write a review about the opportunities/challenges the school has left me with. First of all Career Fairs - I went to 2 career fairs as a student one my Junior year and one the beginning of my Senior year. Junior year I tried unsuccesfully to get a summer internship, however it was early spring and all of the spots were filled. My Senior year I smartened up and went to the career fair in October. This actually landed me a job by the end of the month. a full 6 months before I even graduated. Just goes to show you how much companies value a WPI education. Opportunity - Many students get to do either their MQP, or IQP abroad. This is a nice opportunity that I did not take advantage of because I had a family at home that needed me more. However if you are looking at studying abroad then take advantage of this. Courses - Im not Gonna lie to you - Unless you are an uber-genius (which im not) there are a few courses that will kick your ass. Seriously, I was one of those kids that could coast through high scholl with A's and B's and score well on my SAT's to get into college. Nothing spectacular but when i took that to WPI - I failed 2 out of 3 courses my first quarter. Ouch! Go in knowing that your gonna work your ass off at college, not party, but it will pay off in the long run. I hate Stats had to take stats 1 2wice and stats 2 2wice. Partying - I dont know, theres a few of them, mostly frats, next question, as i said i had a family by my sophomore year, no time for parties, but I heard there were some good ones. Class Size - I would have to say that most of my classes were not lectures. Physics - a lecture but broke it into little classrooms half the time too. Most of my classes I would say were between 20 and 30 students and allowed for a fairly open forum when it came to questions. I also had a few classes done in seminar format which were my humanities courses. Gotta love the philosophy courses. Campus - Nice Campus I would have to say. I like the campus center which is a great place for a commuter to hang between classes. You'll be instantly popular among the Mass Aacademy kids if you are good at pool. The fountain is a hot spot for hacky sack if your into that sort of thing. But if your not then maybe you can play some ultimate firsbee on the quad. and if your just definately not a hippie then just go anywhere on campus and get and instant internet connection pretty much. I think the campus is like 90% wireless signal at this point and there are an immense amount of computer labs where you can log on and do whatever too. Faculty - The teachers that have been there a while are usually pretty good. There are some who are better than others as I am sure at every school. Taking a class with a brand new teacher though is actually worse than a seasonned one though. This is because the new professors are a lil more harsh and stick to guidelines and book teaching more than a seasoned professor who knows their course enough to teach it how they want and make it more fun to learn about. Course Speed - Drop a pencil drop the course is a phrase you might here at WPI. We rush through what would typically be taught in 16 weeks at a slower pace in 7 weeks 4 times a week. This leads to a lot of information being smushed into your brain in a relatively short amount of time. It can lead to migranes and frequent nosebleeds, jk, but it may feel like it at times. Time management is a must. There is plenty of time for fun if you manage your down time good enough. Follow the ABC's Always be working on something( yeah whatever stupid C) but seriously most teachers allow an early hand in, grading, and correcting with enough time. This is key to getting good grades (didnt learn till my senior year). Student Body - Ok, its like 65% male at this point, but every year more and more females are going b/c it does allow for some great career opportunities, especially for women. You will find some nerds at this school, some jocks, some hippies, some stoners, some ninjas, some pirates, and a whole lotta normal people. It has a rep for being nerdy but you will most likely find at least 1 or 2 kids that are acceptible buddies. And worse case scenario, you can always get good at pool and be a god among the Mass academy kids. Grades - Grades go A B C and NR - which basically meant if you got a D its like you never took the course. They also did not record GPA's but when i left i believe they were changing this. So the NR is good for GPA's b/c it does not register as a course you have taken so it doesnt effect your GPA, it does affect your wallet but thats another story. Overall - I rate this school a 5 because of results. I am currently employed, all of the pople i met at WPI are currently employed and are making decent money, myself included.

I have not yet graduated, but I attended WPI in high school through the Mass Academy of Math and Science, as well as two years after wards. I left and eventually moved to Manhattan after attending other colleges in Worcester and Boston. After taking two years off of school, I decided to rejoin the WPI community. No school I've been to compares. There are four terms, each 7 weeks long. The classes (3 per term) are kind of like other schools in concentrate form, you learn a lot at once because the terms are so short. Although the classes aren't very long, a lot of the teachers are understanding that you're getting a lot crammed in at once and will allow you to redo certain homework or take home assignments if you want to try again and do better. Time management is key. Once you are behind, by the time you get caught up it's already finals week. The academics are tough, but because we're all going through it at the same time, there's a great feeling of community. The extra curricular stuff is fun; everything from SocComm to the radio station to the fraternities also share that tight knit community feeling. Let me be clear though, they're not tight knit in an exclusive kind of way, but very close groups that are also very welcoming to new people, especially freshmen. There are all sorts of people that go to WPI. When I first attended, the ratio of guys to girls was predominately male, but it's gotten better every year. You'll find all sorts of people including hippies, nerds, geeks, jocks, and plain old normal people. No matter what you like or what you do, you'll find someone else like you. It's a school that you can definitely party a lot at, but not the kind of school that you'll last long at if you just party all the time and don't focus on school. I consider myself pretty smart, not a genius or anything, and even so, there are definitely some classes that kicked my butt. The terms are really short, so if you screw off all the time, you'll sink pretty quick. Definitely a lot of ways to have fun and you can always find something to do. If you manage your time, you can have plenty of fun and partying and still do really well. The campus itself is great. I commuted my first year, and the campus center is a great place to hang out between classes. There's a couple of places to eat, pool tables, and some quiet spots to get work done upstairs. When the weather is nice, the Quad and the fountain are awesome places to hang out, skate, or play frisbee. There's also wifi everywhere, which is pretty sweet. Never lived in the dorms, but I never heard bad things about them. If you're commuting, you'll quickly learn the seasonal schedule of when you can get parking depending on what time your classes are. It's tougher in the winter because of the snow, but you'll learn. Overall, I think that WPI is a great school. The people, campus, and groups are what I enjoy the most. The academics are tough, but since almost everyone I know that has graduated WPI works from everywhere to top pharmaceutical companies to NASA, I think that getting a degree from WPI will help you get places in life.

You have to know what you are getting in to. The quarter system means you are taking 6 classes + labs in a Semester instead of 4 (in other places) . It is very intense. It is great for students who want to double majors or have minors. But it means you need to have a strong background from a College prep private school or from a school like Bronx Science. The first years you will have to take core classes (chem, phys calc) and you better have taken all those AP classes in High School because Professors are not available for office hours. They are involved in Research and lecture 100s of students in a huge lecture hall. There is no time for support. Because the quarter is a short time, there is few tests. THose core classes have only 2 exams. Tutors are quickly taken and its hard to find one. Once you get to the projects (like IPQ) they only take the best GPA to study abroad. Most of the students will stay on campus. In short it is no for students who come from public high school with weak STEM programs. It is designed for College prep students or Bx Science HS. Also they are not very generous in financial aid.

the students here are all very smart... I am a teaching assistant, and it is an easy job here! The students here have a voice, at the end of their time at WPI, they are the best at time management, team work, and drive. Those adjectives sum up 95% of the student body.