Worcester Polytechnic Institute

Date: Nov 23 2012
Major: Math (This Major's Salary over time)
Activities: In my experience, all the activities at WPI have been awesome. The Dance Team is much better than I expected (YouTube search WPI Dance Team Rockets!) and the music department is awesome. Greek life is really big here, with 11 fraternities and 4 sororities. A lot of people go greek, so it's not some weird exclusive alternate universe. The people in the sororities/fraternities are normal, and there is no hazing as far as I'm concerned (especially with WPI's really strong anti-hazing policy).

Academics: For your general science requirements, if you can, take Chem instead of Physics. I took chem and it was relatively easy, but my friends in physics were constantly doing work, and complaining about it. The classes really depend on who you have for a professor. I highly recommend going to ratemyprofessors.com before registering. So far, I've enjoyed all my classes and they're not too hard. Most people here seem to be engineering majors (and our mascot is the engineers) so I feel a little left out, being a math/cs major. But it doesn't really matter. Yet…

Social Life: Don't let anyone EVER tell you WPI's social life sucks. I've visited other friends in college (on weekends) and we were bored as hell. I'm pretty sure WPI has the best parties ever. On the weekends, it's so easy to find a party, or you can go to Fuller Lecture Hall and watch the movie SocComm is playing, or go to Sole Proprietor after 11 (for $6 sushi) or the Boynton, or just hang out with friends in the common room or dorm rooms. On weeknights, you really should be doing your homework, but I guess if you really want to party you can find a way. I haven't witnessed any drinking in the dorm rooms. Tuesday nights are called "Tech Tuesdays" and people go to parties then, because on Wednesdays most people just have labs and some people have no classes at all. Girls can start going to fraternity (don't call them "frats"… they find it offensive) parties in B-term, and boys can start going once rush is over, so like C-term. Don't go before you're allowed, or you'll be blacklisted. Also, you have to be on the list in order to get in (at least for most of them) and bring your license to prove you're 18. It's easy to get on the list, as long as you know someone who knows someone who knows someone who's in the fraternity. You're given a punch card and you're allowed to have 6 beers. This is because they're looking out for your safety. If you want to actually be drunk, pregame (but don't bring anything to the parties; that's not allowed).

Sports: It's a D3 school, so don't expect anything awesome. From what I can see, the wrestling team is pretty good, and the basketball players seem to think they're really good but I haven't really watched a game so I don't know. I've been to some football games. They're not good, but still fun to watch. Actually, the stands were always pretty packed for football games so that's always fun. I'd say in general all the sports seem to be a step down from my high school, but luckily for me, I'm not interested in sports. I guess the good thing is, if you're an athlete at least this way you'll have a better chance of being on varsity.

Housing: Freshmen all live on campus (or at least you should). The best dorm is Riley (huge rooms), then Morgan and Daniels (smaller rooms, lots of people, easy access to DAKA). Stoddard isn't bad, but it's not as close/convenient as Riley, Morgan, and Daniels. Institute is down the hill, kinda far from the campus buildings. I think as of next year, all upperclassmen can live on campus (because they're building 10 Faraday), but a lot choose not to, because we're spending so much money on tuition, we'd rather get an apartment and save money on room/board. My apartment next year is pretty close so that's good, and I'm not too worried about living in an apartment as a Sophomore. Everyone wants to live in East Hall (next to the Goat's Head/Founders), but usually only seniors get in. My guess is all the seniors will get into 10 Faraday and East will become more for juniors/sophomores. You could also live in the sorority/fraternity houses, and most of them give preference to sophomores.

Food: The dining hall is called Morgan Commons, but not really. We call it DAKA. DAKA used to be the food supplier like 20 years ago but the name stuck. They recently redid it, so if people below me complained about it, ignore that. I actually really like DAKA. There's a lot of variety, so I don't get sick of it. I know I'm eating more veggies now than I used to at home. The pizza is really good, the salad bar is pretty good, the banana cream pie is awesome, and the chocolate chip cookies are legendary. Next year I'll probably try to get a commuter meal plan so I can still eat there at lunch or something. I have the 19 meal plan, which means I get 19 meals per week. You could also opt for 14 meals per week and more bonus points (which can be used at Dunkin/Quiznos in the campus center, or at the Boynton on Highland). Most people though, get the 200, which is 200 meals per semester. To me, that's a stupid plan since it's way fewer meals, but the practicality of it is that you can swipe in other people, whereas on the others you can only swipe 2 guests per semester. It's not embarrassing to go to DAKA alone, so don't be afraid to. But usually you'll find friends there to sit with, or have a set lunch schedule with a group of people.

The Ratio: My class is 32% girls. It doesn't really feel like it. It feels more like 45% to me. Maybe that's just because I'm a girl. I really like the ratio though. Most of the guys here are gentlemen, and actually pretty good looking. In my opinion the girls are pretty but I don't really pay attention to that. We're not trashy looking like at Worcester State.

I hope I remembered everything. Overall, I absolutely love it here. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions!