Freshman Survival Guide

This Freshman Survival Guide is written by Jordan Krishnayah and Nick Castiglione(+ whoever contributes add ur name here), it is not meant to be confused with the UC Freshman Survival Guide. I took a lot of inspiration from there, so huge shoutout to them.

I wrote this initially to condense all the advice and info I wish I had received (or had found useful) into one generic article. By no means is this a step-by-step tutorial on how to get through RPI. I'm leaving a lot of the nitty-gritty details out, because it's incredibly important that you go out there, explore, fail, and experiment. (and also because I don't feel like writing too much)

Food & Grocery

Obviously, you all have an RPI Dining Plan. I'll cover how to make the most of it below, but if you're really not feeling Commons food, or it's closed, you have a few options.

Big Apple Pizza

Big Apple Pizza is probably the best option for a late-night bite when you don't have anything in your pantry. For $10, you get a large cheese pizza, enough to feed 3-4 people. If you come here regularly with friends, don't even bother trying to Zelle each-other and pitch in a few dollars, but rather just have a different person pay for it each time.

One of the most overlooked details is that, for a single dollar, they will deliver to anywhere on campus. This requires a minimum of $13 or so, from what I remember, so you can probably toss a drink or a dessert on top. https://www.bigapplepizzatroy.com

Amantes

Amantes supposedly has better tasting pizza, at the cost of being a bit further away from campus. If you take 15th street (the street that the bridge goes over, between quad and the Union) and just walk down, you'll eventually hit Amantes.

The Rathskellar

In the basement of the Union, you'll find something called the Rathskellar (always such a weird name just call it the basement tbh)

In the Rathskellar, a few food places are situated:

  • Fathers, the convenience store.
  • Wild Blue Sushi
  • Halal Shack
  • Bird and Brine
  • Jimmy Johns

You can use your flex dollars on any of these restaurants, and they all usually close around 11. It's great to buy something to-go when you're doing a long club meeting, or when you want something a bit better to eat.

Ryans Wake

Ryans Wake is an Irish themed pub style restaraunt that serves a lot of American comfort dishes, including (imo) the best burger in Troy (I've lived in this area my whole life, and this is definitely on the top of my list for the area). They usually sponsor the Engineers hockey, and sometimes have special events (especially for any holiday). No reservations are necessary/available here. http://www.ryanswake.com/#

Brown's Brewing Co

This is one of the restaraunts that are at the heart and core of Troy. This restaraunt has existed for a very long time, and sits inside a converted mill plant (Troy was basically all mill plants for a bit) with their staple wings & fried cauliflower along with other excellent entrees. Reservations are highly recommended if you are looking to dine. https://www.brownsbrewing.com/troy-taproom

Dinosaur BBQ

Located near the drawbridge downtown, this restaraunt has a mouth watering southern BBQ menu festuring slow-cooked meats. This nationally acclaimed BBQ restaraunt chain was started in Albany in 1983 with multiple restaraunts located throughout NY and is a staple of Troy. Reservations are reccomended. https://dinosaurbarbque.com/locations/troy

Manory's

TO ADD!!!

Making the most of your dining plan

TODO

Want Ice Cream?

Some students are not aware, but upstate NY and parts of Vermont are home to an award winning gas station chain and, most importantly, award winning ice cream. Stewarts Shops are family/employee owned and operated, and are based in Saratoga. There are 3 shops located around the outside of campus in the more urban parts of Troy. One is located on Hoosick St near the on/off ramp from the rt. 7 highway (usually the shortest/quickest walk), another at the bottom of the hill by EMPAC, and the other at the bottom of the hill on the freshman hill/Troy HS side (go to the one on Hoosick if you're on freshman hill, that one IS closer and not as steep). Their most famous ice cream is their mint cookie crumble ice cream, served either in a cone/dish, a pint, or a half-gallon. If you're an athlete, show up in your team uniform and you can get a 99 cent cone!

Walmart

Bus Route: 87 Downtown Troy to Brunswick Location closest to Freshman Hill: Directly in front of Troy Middle/High School

To get all your groceries, unless you have a car, or a willing upperclassman friend, you will have to take the bus. Fortunately all buses are free for students, just make sure to bring your RPI id. It'll ends directly in front of the Walmart, so no need to worry about getting off at the 'correct' stop.

Panera - Unlimited Drinks (Coffee, Tea, Etc)

Panera has this subscription plan called 'Sip Club,' which normally costs $15 a month. When you first register, you get 3 months free. So, hypothetically, if you changed your email and made an account every three months, you could get free drinks for the entire year. They have coffee, tea, soda, some juices, etc. It's always worth getting when you'll be studying in the Union for a while.

This is more of a side note, but a whole baguette at Panera costs $3 and they give you free butter. If you're studying with a group of friends in the Union, it's incredibly cheap and filling.

Social Life

How to meet people

In your first week of school, they're going to have so many random events. Go to all of them. You'll gain very valuable tips and advice, or meet new people (in the case of social events.) But this also serves a higher goal: setting the tone for the school year. If you start off your year by showing up to anything and everything, meeting new people, and making an effort to go places, you'll set the standard that you are a person who does things, and quite frankly, that's a very good standard to set for your first year.

It's important to be involved on campus, whether in clubs, student government, classes, or being a great member of your community. Definitely do things, even if they seem boring.

Clubs

Show up to the activities fair. Interact with ANY booth, trust me. (Work in progress section)

Traveling Home

Sometimes you get a little homesick, and if you have a free weekend, it's always great to visit (and maybe surprise) your parents.

New York City is DIRT Cheap to travel to

The best way to travel to NYC, aside from carpooling, is splitting an 8 person Amtrak ticket. Amtrak has group discounts available at amtrak.com/group-travel-discount, where you can get up to 60% off on a bulk order. With this, it's possible to get tickets for as low as around $35 round trip. Amtrak fares get more expensive as seats fill up, so the earlier you lock in your trip, the cheaper it’ll be. Waiting until the last minute can easily double (or even triple) the price.

If you don't have a group, any student gets Amtrak for 15% off

https://www.amtrak.com/student-discounts (or code V814 in the app)

Classes, Academics and Careers

The Key Difference Between Learning in College vs Learning in High School

For many freshman, its a tough shift changing from a more laid back style of learning from a standard high school classroom to a lecture hall in college, and RPI is no exception. While going to your first few weeks of classes, its important to make the distinction that in high school, there are teachers who teach students and in college there are professors who lecture students.

To go a little more in depth, the difference in the learning between teachers and professors is NOT that they (typically) have less education, but rather what their educational background is. When teachers went through college, they did learn a large part of what they were going to teach (sciences, ELA, history/social studies, mathematics, etc) but they also learned how to effectively and efficiently convey their knowledge to their students to help them get through high school and pass any necessary exams or standards. In college, the professors' educational background is almost always only in the subject that they are teaching or have their doctorate in (not always a PhD!), meaning that they only know the knowledge that they have to teach and a large background of information supporting it, but have little to no knowledge of how to effectively and efficiently convey that knowledge to their students.

Not all professors are like this, and this does vary based on the subject matter, but this is the typical standard in change from learning material in high school and learning material in college or a university.

It can therefore be said that when in college, its largely up to the student to effectively and efficiently teach themself by whatever means necessary and to ensure that they are learning the material at a normal (ish) pace (this is in my opinion, the person writing this little section, but might vary based on who you ask).

Show up to career fairs, no matter what.

Fun Stuff

Empac Hill

When it's grassy and warm, and you don't mind ruining your shirt, it's pretty fun to roll down EMPAC hill. Please make sure you're with friends who can tell you when to stop, though. You will fall down a pretty steep slope onto the road if you dont, and no one wants to deal with that.