CKQ College Profiles: Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology

Each quarter, The College Knowledge Quarterly will feature a different U.S. College or University for families to get to know a bit better. The aim is not to tell you about a school you know (or at least you think you know) well, but to introduce you to a school you may have not considered a viable candidate before. In this edition, we are pleased to feature one of the schools from the top Return on Investment schools from the last CKQ episode, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (Terra Haute, IN).

Rose-Hulman (U.S. News ranked #1 – Best Undergraduate Engineering Program, Forbes Top Colleges - #116) is a small school (approximately 2,200 undergraduate students) in a small city in a suburban environment, about an hour and fifteen minutes west of Indianapolis.

Rose-Hulman is a private college of engineering, with nearly four in five students majoring in some form of engineering, which helps to explain why it made the short list of top U.S. colleges with the best Return on Investment (ROI) at #22.

Reviews from Rose-Hulman students are almost unequivocally positive and students are proud of the decision they made to attend. While the overall campus is more white and male than the school (or the students) would probably like, they still have enough diversity to make it an interesting place to live and learn. Despite the engineering-minded campus and student body, they are still active in sports, Greek life (fraternities and sororities) and have the occasional party too. The workload is usually high, which keeps everyone busy, especially when you factor in that Rose-Hulman is on the quarter system and the material is almost always about engineering or computer science. This also means students tend to be slightly more job and pay-oriented, and as such, tend to air on the conservative side.

The school is well-known in the Midwest, but a relative unknown out here on the West Coast, which might explain a small part of the unusually high admission rate for such a strong engineering school (61%). Students uniformly describe a pretty, safe, and inviting campus, with a small feel. Students rave about professor accessibility and class sizes are rarely over 30 students.

A small school with few majors like Rose-Hulman means that a particular type of student is going to do well, and if you don’t fit that mold, you might be in the wrong place. Students again almost uniformly describe a challenging academic environment that requires significant effort to keep up with. And knowing the majors that are offered, those students looking for a more traditional ‘liberal arts’ education are probably barking up the wrong tree.

If there are negatives to be discussed, there are two that come up in reviews: that the academic environment tends to block out much of the outside world and that the ratio of males to females (3 to 1) tends to make dating a real challenge.

The cost of doing business at Rose-Hulman is steep for a private school in the Midwest ($65,000 COA, according to collegeboard.org), and the school meets, on average, 75% of a family’s demonstrated financial need, and of that amount, 75% of the provided aid is paid via scholarships and grants.

The average admitted student boasts extremely strong grades and test scores (about a 4.0 weighted GPA and a 30 on the ACT). According to the admission office, academic GPA, class rank, and rigor of high school curriculum are the most important factors in an admission decision, followed by personal qualities, extra-curricular activities, letters of recommendation, and work experience. Lesser reviewed values include: alumni relation(s) essay/personal statement, geographical residence, racial/ethnic status, and talent/ability.

The school offers a total of 15 undergraduate majors, has a student-to-faculty ratio of 12-1, and operates on the aforementioned quarter system.

Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology offers an EA application deadline of November 1st and a regular decision deadline of February 1st. This is definitely a school that a West Coaster should be demonstrating their interest to if they want a serious look from the office of admission.

For more information, please visit: https://www.rose-hulman.edu/