A second chance

Today I met with a current RIT student who actually visited CIS almost exactly one year ago thanks to a pretty random sequence of events. When my brother's health was declining, one of the visiting nurses and I struck up a conversation about what I do for work; I don't remember why. She mentioned that her son was interested in engineering at RIT but wasn't really sure what he wanted to do. I gave her my card, sent her son a folder of information, and scheduled a visit for them to CIS. Unfortunately the timing worked out such that I couldn't be there, but thankfully Joe was able to accommodate. The (prospective at the time) student sat in on the freshmen class and fit in very well. Joe was really impressed with how well he fit in and thought he would be a great asset to the program. Unfortunately, we didn't see him in the class roster in the fall.

Fast forward to this week. I heard again from the student's mother, who said he was at RIT in an undeclared major and was very unhappy. He was feeling pressure to declare a major, did not enjoy the classes he was in, and was thinking of leaving RIT altogether. I was very distressed to hear this - no student should have such a horrible experience in college. She asked if I would be willing to meet with her son, and my answer was, of course! I also set it up so that he could speak with Sue, because while I excel at talking all things Imaging Science, Sue is the wise master when it comes to figuring out what you want to do and what the best path to take to get there is.

It was an absolute pleasure to meet with this student (too bad I wasn't able to meet with him the first time around)! He was personable, intelligent, and outgoing - an all around fantastic student. He had experience working in groups, and exhibited natural leadership abilities (wish we had him in the freshmen class already....). His interests even sounded like they aligned very well with Imaging Science, though he wasn't sure about the level of math that would be involved. We chatted for a surprisingly long time, after which I dropped him off with Sue. Turns out they talked for a long time, too, because it was about an hour before he stopped by to say goodbye and to thank me again for meeting with him.

Whether or not this student ultimately decides to choose Imaging Science, I hope we helped him to explore his options and not feel so boxed in in his current situation. Ultimately, our true goal is to make sure that every student enjoys their experience at RIT - and I think our conversations today really made a positive difference.