Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Date: Jun 24 2011
Major: Chemical Engineering (This Major's Salary over time)
*Despite all the negative experiences that I will mention, I had a neutral experience, which was thanks to the people that I met along the way. The students are friendly and helpful and the campus is beautiful.

Everyone knows that most college brochures lie to prospective students, and WPI is no different. The experience that one will have at WPI is dependent on that person. If you sit in your room the whole time, of course you won't meet that many people, but then again, you might want that.

Greek life is interesting, and you should definitely go through rush/recruitment. However, make sure you really think about what you want from Greek Life and the commitment before accepting a bid.

Although it was advertised that there is so much to do in Worcester, there actually is not. Highland street is your best bet, and there are 4 okay places at most. I personally never felt threatened, but there have been many student assaults over my four years. I blame SNAP, since it takes about 30 minutes to pick you up, which in that time you could've been at your location drinking already. Because of the long SNAP wait time, most students walk, which causes the assaults.

The social scene is also what you make it, and while fairly entertaining, it's also a joke. Fraternities or house parties every weekend with the same crowd. Fraternities are always hot and uncomfortable with terrible music and drunk assumption/underclassmen WPI girls walking around scantily clad and looking for an STD.If you are 21+, or have a fake, you can get into local bars, which are also a joke.

At WPI, I would say that the non-academic faculty are awesome. They are here for the students, and actually know your name and talk to you when they see you.

There is low low LOW school spirit, which might be due to the fact that we are a D3 school, so we're not that legit.

Personally, I think that the majority of the chemical engineering professors are terrible. Most of them are so absorbed in their research, and could careless about the students. There office hours are not helpful, and the TAs are most likely grad students that hate their lives. The graders are over-achieving undergrads that grade terribly and subjectively just because they have a red pen in their hand. However, I have friends in other majors that have really great professors.

In many of my math/physics classes, I have no idea what the professors are saying…since majority don't speak very good english.

If you're looking for a student population with wordly views that knows what's happening outside of WPI, and actually watch/read the news, then you need to look at another school. Being on campus during the 2008 elections was one of the most depressing scenes I've ever seen.

Definitely visit before you come, and talk to current students. Don't believe everything admissions tells you, as the admissions interns are paid to promote WPI and will say whatever you want to hear, even if it's a lie.