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Review of WPI

I graduated in 2015 after attending WPI for 3 year...

I graduated in 2015 after attending WPI for 3 years with a degree in Interactive Media and Game Development.

In a nutshell, I took courses that I truly loved, built a diverse skillset, graduated a year early, and landed my dream job as a video game programmer at one of the biggest game companies.

It is an absolutely fantastic school for engineering, computer science, and game development. The faculty are extremely accessible, and I had never had trouble scheduling office hours with teachers. They want to connect with the students so much that they would invite students to come in and just chat with them. I had come across so many professors who were truly passionate about teaching and had a strong desire to help students succeed. I assure you many top ranked schools cannot provide that. At some of the most famous schools you might frequently get lectures by Chinese teaching assistants and have to wait hours just to ask a question. Many friends of mine who attended some of the highest ranked colleges can attest to that.

The school does a fantastic job at allowing students to choose classes with total freedom, because most classes only recommend you take certain classes prior to registration, but never force you to. Without the infamous prerequisite system, I was aspired to study harder in order to skip the intro and 101s and directly take advanced level courses to fulfill graduation requirements. Unlike most colleges that try to suck up your money by making it extremely difficult to graduate early because of prerequisite chains, at WPI you can take any classes you have the ability to. Once you have passed enough advanced courses and finished your graduation project, you graduate. They are just that confident with their teaching. I had never been denied access to new knowledge because I hadn't stayed at WPI for long enough. They only want to enable you learn and grow as much as possible.

The most important skill that I mastered at WPI thanks to it's wonderful course registration system is that I mastered how to learn and grow on my own. Trust me, there is nothing that will make you improve more quickly than teaching yourself efficiently. If you want to stay competitive, college can only do so much, the rest is on you. Classes at any schools will always be designed so that most students can follow along, or else what is the point? If you want to stand out and be the best, challenge yourself and ask the professors for materials to the intro courses, study them on your own, and take those advanced courses directly. Always set your own pace and spend more time with the area you have trouble with, and take more challenging classes in the area you are good at. If you go to an Ivy league school the 4 years will probably be all planned out for you with jam packed classes and leave you little freedom to specialize, but at WPI I had so much time to study on my own. Over the years I noticed what this does is it allows you to build a diverse skillset and be very adaptable to new technologies even after you graduate. Once you become your own teacher, you will continue to grow even after graduation.

With all of that said, WPI might not be worth the money if you don't truly love what you decide to major in. First of all if you are not motivated, you might not receive much scholarship or graduate early, which unfortunately equals more debt. If you are here just because you want to relax for 4 years and end up with a decent paying job, WPI might not the place for you, go to a cheaper school instead. If you think you have been responsible for your own education all along, and really have made the habit to plan ahead, WPI will enable you to do so much.

Thank you WPI, keep it up!