Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (PDI)

Some people who would sell their car cheaply to me.

If you have a strong, open personality, you will have a good time. Since there are not many exchange students, not many special activities are organised for them; You will have to contact people yourself. Furthermore, if you only want to live in a big city than Troy is not the right place for you. If you like playing sports, RPI is the right place, since sport facilities are outstanding. Finally, if you really hate cold weather, you can better go somewhere else. In the winter it can be pretty cold.

How cheap living off-campus would be, how expensive meal plans really are and also to book travel tickets way in advance!

RPI is a good university because it offers a wide range of courses and excellent resources. It is also convenient if you want to travel to major cities on the East Coast. Also located in a small town so you can really interact and gel well with the local students and experience American culture. But if you are looking for a good night life/social life then you may want to consider other options as well.

You have to keep in mind that Troy is very small, without nightlife. At night, it can be unsafe. But cost of life is cheap for US and the location is perfect. Almost every week end I went out : NYC, Boston, Montréal, Niagara falls, Washington, New England ..

If you choose this university, stay off campus, meet other exchange, go to the frat parties, travel during the week end and choose quite easy courses ;)

At our home university they did not tell us that RPI was a technological and that it was about 3 hours away from NY City!

International Office is really effective!

I wish that I knew that Troy is not the prettiest and most exiting city in the US. If I knew more about troy I would probably have chosen a different university.

The academics at RPI is very good, including the proffessors and the courses, however, the city it is located at is not the best and the social life on campus can be a lot better.

I wish I had known more about the atmosphere at the university

For the university: spice up the student life. For potential future students: don't go if you like a good social life