The Knightly News

The following is North alumna Gwyneth Yuen’s response to our questions about her college decision process, the student life and culture at RPI, and more.

Yuen graduated from North in 2018. She is a part of RPI’s class of 2022.

I chose to attend RPI because of its STEM-focused environment, as well as the unique majors it has in comparison to other schools, such as the Electronic Media, Arts, and Communication (EMAC) major. I also decided to attend because I have the opportunity to be on the swim team while also getting a good education. As a D3 school, academics always come first, which is something that I wanted to focus on.

I am definitely enjoying my time at RPI, aside from the short end to this semester. My teammates and friends have definitely made college life much easier. The environment is one that everyone can be a part of. I am glad I chose to go to RPI because of the challenging coursework I get.

I love being with my friends at school, but I do get homesick once in a while. There’s always so much to do on campus, whether it’s hanging out with friends or doing schoolwork, there isn’t much time to miss home. One thing I do miss is having home-cooked food and the local restaurants that Troy doesn’t have (like Ichiban and Terakawa and Bagel Hole, just to name a few). However, RPI is located a walk away from downtown Troy, which has a lot of good places to eat.

Photo Credit: transizion.com

My favorite thing about RPI is that everyone is a nerd in one way or another, and there are always students interested in the same things you are. Personally, I love playing Pokémon Go, which is actually pretty popular on campus, something you wouldn’t find on other college campuses. Other than that, I love hanging out with my friends on the swim team because they are people I can always rely on.

The hardest thing about RPI so far has probably been taking Data Structures (for computer science), which is rumored to be one of the hardest classes. Besides classes, I think the hardest thing has been walking up and down stairs all the time because our campus is located on a hill.

The culture at RPI is similar to that of WW-P in that the students are very studious and most of them choose to go above and beyond in terms of what they are learning. On the other hand, some of the clubs and teams RPI has are different than those at WW-P. For example, there is a quidditch team as well as a lot of interesting clubs such as a Super Smash club and a Pokémon club.

Overall, I think that RPI is a great college for people who want to be challenged in their classes, as well as people who enjoy being different.