The Rival Rundown: Rochester vs RIT

January 6, 2010 5:00 pm     Posted in Reality  Sara C - Fordham g+ page

Welcome back to The Rival Rundown! If you’ve always wanted to give props to your school on CC, now’s your chance! Shoot us an email explaining what’s awesome and unique about your school (or what stinks about Rival U) at rivalrundown@collegecandy.com!


By Sara C

This week we’ve got a double-whammy featuring cross-town rivals who are also on opposite sides of the liberal arts/tech school coin. It seems like the only thing that the University of Rochester and the Rochester Institute of  Technology (RIT) have in common is an area code, but can one take top honors?

Quick Facts

Rochester: A private liberal arts and research university in Rochester, NY with 5,000 undergraduates.  Founded 1850.
RIT: A private technical institute in Rochester, NY with 14,000 undergraduates. Founded 1829.

1. In the News

Rochester: If Julliard or Cornell seem like your type of school but you’d rather live in a mid-size city, Rochester may be for you. In the last three years, Kaplan has named U of R as both the Hottest Music School (Eastman School of Music) and one of 25 “New Ivies.” Take that, establishment!
RIT: Remember that time that Apple released its iPhone only to AT&T customers? Yeah, those of us at networks with (ahem) better coverage are still jealous. But three years ago, a seventeen year old kid famously hacked the iPhone software to make it compatible on other networks. Now he goes to RIT.

Three credits to: RIT. Hacker dude,  rock on wherever you are!

2. Mascot Matchup

Rochester: U of R is home to the Yellowjackets, the angriest bees in Upstate New York! The Yellowjackets compete in the Division III Liberty League.
RIT: The RIT Tigers compete in the Division III E8 conference in all sports except the nationally recognized men’s ice hockey team, which competes within the Division I ECAC conference.

Three credits to: RIT. D1 ice hockey is  freaking intense!

3. Impressive Programs

Rochester: Did you find yourself halfway through senior year of college thinking, “Gee, WTF am I a religion major? I shoulda studied economics!” Well, at U of R, you’ve got your chance! The school boasts the Take Five program, wherein you can grab a FREE extra year of undergrad to study something other than your major. (Offer also extended to hard-nosed biochem majors who may want to live it up for a change!)
RIT: The National Technical Institute for the Deaf is among the undergraduate programs offered at RIT, where more than 10% of its students are hearing-impaired. Dorms even feature doorbells that blink flashing lights (instead of a bell) to accommodate these students, who are fully socially integrated with the RIT community.

Three credits to:  Rochester. Free tuition and another year to party it up wait out the economy? Sign me up!

4. Ass-Kicking Alumni

Rochester: Debra Jo Rupp (That ’70s Show), Francis Bellamy (author of Pledge of Allegiance)
RIT: Tom Curley (CEO, Associated Press), Daniel Carp (former chairman, Eastman-Kodak)

Three credits to:  Rochester. What other lasting images of Americana can you think of besides Kitty Foreman and the Pledge?

5. Acceptance Rate Agony

Rochester: 42.7%
RIT: 60.4%

Three credits to:  Rochester

And the diploma goes to: Rochester! In this case, liberal arts is the way to go (at least in upstate New York)!

4 Comments on "The Rival Rundown: Rochester vs RIT"

  1. Erin says:
    Thu, 7th Jan 20109:16 am 

    I went to RIT, the things you listed maybe it's selling points but what you don't know is we have a great American Crafts College and the best is out Design College as well as Film and Animation. And the inventor of Non-toxic Intaglio Printmaking, Keith Howard runs the Non-toxic Printmaking department, which is part of the Fine Arts Department. I graduated with a BFA in Fine Arts, we maybe small overlooked but some of the best teachers are part of these creative colleges.

  2. Ness says:
    Thu, 7th Jan 20109:56 pm 

    Wow! Surprised to see my school on here!! Woo! RIT!! You have to take into account our population is 70% guys, thats gotta count for something…

  3. Pete says:
    Thu, 27th May 20108:13 am 

    Um folks, RIT is a 3rd tier university. I go to RIT.

    U of R is NOT a liberal arts university. They are top 50 for engineering, medicine and computer science.

    In fact, U of R alumni has gone on to become professors at MIT, Stanford, Berkeley.

    You will NOT see the same from RIT.

    As far as computer science goes, UR is far better. In fact, it's true that they rarely accept students from RIT into the PhD program, because RIT students have failed out regularly in the past.

    Look at the rankings, any rankings, and you will see U of R dominate RIT.

    U of R is only ranked in the top 50, and not top 20, because it's small. The quality of education and research, however, competes with Cornell, Harvard, etc.

    I'm an RIT student, and even I can recognize that U of R is a great university. RIT is not good, at all. If you want to do graduate work, having RIT on your resume only hurts you.

  4. Pete_squared says:
    Fri, 7th Dec 201212:12 pm 

    RIT isn't third tier, it is ranked in a different category as UofR due to its lack of PHD programs. Also, RIT is extremely well respected in the industry and probably more so than UoR. It regularly sends kids to companies like Apple, Google, Intel, Microsoft, etc.

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