Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Troy, NY)

RPI is, in my opinion, an amazing academic institution that would be a terrific option for a student who knows he wants to study engineering, other sciences, management (business) or architecture. It has tremendous facilities and extremely talented professors and graduates who have been responsible for a huge amount of technological advances over the past 100 years, including email, the microprocessor, the cathode ray tube and Guitar Hero. Entrepreneurship is emphasized, including a course called "Inventor Studies," and interdisciplinary approaches are numermous, including new majors in cognitive science, financial engineering, sustainability studies and electronic gaming. RPI has the country's only undergraduate major in web science, the study of how people interact with the web. There is a business incubator in the technology park right on campus and RPI graduates rank highly in average salary. The co-op program is strong, as RPI students are in high demand by companies. There are some potential downsides to this academic powerhouse: the dorms are just OK, the town of Troy is not the nicest and the male-female ratio is quite lopsided. That said, RPI offers great educational opportunities and those shortcomings are manageable. RPI would be a good place to check out for students interested in more familiar colleges like Georgia Tech, Rice or MIT. K