Rose-Hulman is an engineering college that also offers an economics major. It is for students who know for sure that engineering is going to be their career choice. If you start a semester and realize engineering is not for you, you have to transfer schools as other disciplines are not offered.
Rose provides intensive focus on the engineering curriculum. Regardless of your declared major, you will complete basic courses in all majors (ie mechanical engineers are required to take a basic computer science course). This might be seen as too much work for some prospective students, they know what they want and want to focus solely on that. However, upon graduating this basic knowledge will come in handy on projects that cross disciplines or in collaboration meetings where different disciplines are present.
Overall my experience at Rose Hulman was good. I was definitely prepared to go out into the work force upon graduating.
Rose is a wonderful school and one of the best places for an undergraduate engineering education in the US. The background and preparation you'll receive at Rose will help land you a great job, but Rose is much more than just a career mill. The community feeling here is great and you'll hardly ever feel like you're competing against your classmates.
The only real downside to the school is that it can be awfully Midwest-centric at times.
This is an excellent school for engineering. It's served me well on resumes and I would definitely do it over again. Pros: I got a great education. Con: Not a great 'party' atmosphere. Graduation will require a lot of studying.
I would definitely recommend Rose-Hulman to any highly dedicated student interested in math and science, and would certainly still choose to attend if I had it to do all over again. I enjoyed the small-school atmosphere and the opportunity to participate in many different activities. It's a place where you don't have to be a drama major to participate in plays and musicals or a jock to play sports, even at the varsity level. There's a lot of support from both other students and the professors.
Prospective students must recognize that students at Rose-Hulman must be dedicated and self motivated. The classes are challenging and the homework extensive, but I thought it was worth the effort. Since I graduated I have been offered jobs based partially on the fact that I have a Rose-Hulman degree -- it's reputation is strong and it has made it all worth while.
