America's Most Connected Campuses

foghorn666 writes "Forbes and the Princeton Review have posted their list of America's Most Connected Campuses, which measures the technological capabilities of the country's 357 top colleges and universities. They're looking at infrastructure stuff like whether wireless networks are available, if you can register for classes online, and so on - not really curriculum. But the results are interesting, and the winner not a huge surprise: Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute."

not to nitpick...

[npistentis]

sadly, the most connected campus seems to be fairly irresponsible with their student data. 3 years ago, i did a search for a friend who went there, and got a hit on a page including student names matched with Social Security numbers and a test score. We sent an email to the IT guys there... a year later, I did it again- the page was still up, so I told them again. Out of curiosity, I just did the same search, and got the same list. How would you feel knowing that your school was this irresponsible with personal data?

Way to go RPI

[pertinax18]

I graduated from RPI this past may and I can definitely agree with their assesment. Almost everything could be done online, from registering for class to attending class (via live video streams) to contacting the bursar or financial aid. They put a lot of effort into it and it is nice to see some recognition.

Re:Not a surprise?

[tonsofpcs]

RPI was the first technical institution. MIT is newer and is not as tech based as it is science based.

UTexas

[TheSpunkyEnigma]

I can do almost everything online short of actually going to class. Yet we're not even ranked. I call complete bullshit on this article.

Re:Not a surprise?

[the quick brown fox]

Oh, here's the MIT page [forbes.com]. I think with those two "No" answers corrected, MIT should be #3 on the list.

Re:Not a surprise?

[QuantumFTL]

RPI's not a huge surprise? I expected MIT at number one... not below the top 25. Same for many others. WTF?

Well, unlike MIT, RPI is much much more interested in technology and applied science than pure science - it is an "engineer factory" so to speak. Not only that, but their campus is tiny. A few wireless access points is all it takes to cover the entire place, unlike my school (Cornell University).

When I was there last, it was hard to find a place without wireless or ethernet available. Very cool. Good job RPI!

BTW, if you wonder what they do there, I was talking to Freeman Dyson the other day and he seemed to be very excited about their lightcraft [rpi.edu] - UFO looking space ships powered by earth-mounted laser generators. He seems to think they are much more likely to work than space elevators.

Cheers,
Justin

Re:We're #13! -- We're #13!

[NardofDoom]

Actually, looking at the list of stuff PSU [forbes.com] supplies, it's factually incorrect.

PSU offers webmail, online course registration, online classes, free web space w/ http access and limited CGI, network access in dorm rooms, and I think there are areas with wireless scattered around the campus.

But that doesn't mean the sorority girls aren't slutty, or make up for the fact it's a football school first and a teaching school second.

False information

[ktulu1115]

Anyone else notice that their school had incorrect information? Funny, I never knew NJIT didn't host personal websites, I guess that makes my website [njit.edu] null and void under the DMCA... oh wait, I mean they just had misrepresented data.

The reports of NJIT lacking a wireless network are greatly exaggerated.

I also recall we were the top #1 wired school in the nation my frosh year or so ('99), but now not even given a rating despite a massive upgrade of equipment.

Re:Not a surprise?

[Anonymous Coward]

I visited CMU last summer. They are wired in all the dorms and are wireless everywhere on the campus. In fact, many professors update the class material over their network in realtime. This study is either biased or not thorough at all.

RPI

[IceFox]

So that is how they are going to get people to come to that dead town! Seriously, I visted there on my school tour. The campus is all on a hill and looked like half of it was under construction and the town was the last place I would care to live.

Inaccurate

[nns6561]

This article is completely inaccurate. I checked a couple of schools I'm familiar with and they were all missing multiple items. The rank is more a factor of whether the appropriate person filled out the form. In many schools, there are few administrators who actually know all of the services provided on the campus. Sadly, it's very difficult to get accurate information about technology at a school. The best way is probably to talk to a student. The admissions office has no idea what's going on. I remember listening to the admissions tour at one school. The tour guide lied on multiple facts which I had easy methods to verify. The tour guides are just there to sell the school.

heh

[Anonymous Coward]

i'm not surprised my school's not on the top 25, but there were a few things wrong with how it was reported...

here's the page [forbes.com]

1) the school DOES provide web pages.
2) the rest of the X's don't really make a school better. you can have stuff available even if it's not done through the internet. campus television (which is available throughout the state as well as satellite everywhere else) can be accessed ANYWHERE - needing a computer would be dumb. Why would being required to own a computer be good when there are thousands of computers on campus? if tuition included a computer, tuition would cost more. computers can be rented for like $15 a month. as for multimedia equipment... i don't see why that's on there... you get equipment if you're in a class that requires its use.

Re:RPI sucks

[ldspartan]

Although it's been a few years since I've lived on campus, I do know some of the people who take care of the network, and I don't think calling it a mess is at all accurate. They firewall off students because students are dumb, and do dumb things, like getting infected with spam bots. And, if you have some semblance of a brain, getting around the firewall isn't very hard. As for off-campus mail support, I agree that sucks, but you can always VPN in and it works fine.

Also, alum mail is broken because it's not being run by RPIs IT folk. Alumni relations contracted it out to some freaking spam host that's killing them on the cost.

As for requiring laptops to run windows, you'll have to talk to my roomate, who hasn't run windows for anything in 3 years (I think he's a moron for this, but he's still done it), on both his RPI-sponsored laptops.

I don't know why you quote "is a" (another astounding feat of RPI english, I guess), but I've certainly never had problems with wireless access on campus, in fact it's available pretty much everywhere I need it.

RPI has a lot of problems, but IT sure as hell isn't one of them. How many other schools have a full-time CCIE?

--
lds

An example of why this study is a crock

[mmmmmhotpants]

Case Study: California Institute of Technology (who recently broke networking speed records)

The study says there is no wireless network (there is), school doesn't provide web pages (it does), can't register online (we do), no ethics policy (a very loose one: the honor code), school doesn't provide multimedia equipment (its available for use), doesn't stream its radio (our radio is only streamed).

What the study got right: I don't think classes are provided online, students are not required to own a computer, tuition doesn't include a computer, and I don't think courses are offered in emerging technologies (if by emerging technologies you mean MS Word). I wouldn't want to go to a school that has these features.

Personally, I think this idea of connectedness is a horrible measure of a school's IT saviness, and I'm not even talking about the erroneous study itself.

Usenet access

[Octorian]

Ok, I graduated from RPI not too long ago, and noticed a glaring error in their report on the school. Yeah, I know we won this ranking, and I'm happy to see that. However, when I look at the question "Do students have access to Usenet newsgroups?" and see an "X" (no), I see something wrong.

We definitely have Usenet access, and even have a bunch of rpi.* newsgroups accessable inside the school. Someone definitely overlooked something.

Re:Not a surprise?

[Anonymous Coward]

Heh... there seem to be mistakes across the board, actually, glancing through some of the schools.

Only ranked top 25

[Anonymous Coward]

Am I the only one bothered that they only ranked the top 25, and yet when looking at the "sort by rank" option, they act as though alphabetical order is rank for schools below 25? I mean, sure, you don't need to actually rank the bottom 50 schools or whatever, but don't then act as though you did.

Re:Not a surprise?

[qplnm]

After reading some of the posts below (and TFA), the criteria were very generic and didn't really capture true "wired-ness".

They also didn't get accurate info. for example, CMU absolutely allows personal web pages, nearly every student, professor, and class has one. You can run your own server, or use the school's network. There is a campus-wide file system. When I was there, every incoming freshman (humanities and all) was required to take a computer literacy course that included Unix and emacs. And students don't have access to Usenet? Things must have changed an awful lot in the past 4 years.

And things like requiring students to own a computer - CMU was the kind of place where you didn't have to require it, everyone did it anyway.

The more you look at it, the more it seems this study is just a way to get readers over to Forbes.com. Things like how connected a campus is really can't be determined with any accuracy by a handful of vague characteristics. Hopefully people will do their own research before making any decisions, since I'm sure there are many other great "connected" schools that didn't even make this list.

Re:RPI sucks

[pertinax18]

Yes it is true that the administration are a bunch of tools who really only care about rankings. But the other stuff you said was a little misinformed and outdated.

Yes general purpose computer labs have dwindled in the past years, but everyone has a laptop why do you need a lab? And because of this, the money originally budgeted for labs can now be spend on high end specialized labs (like the new math/compsci labs running linux only).

Also, nobody requires students to run windows, in fact there is a large effort by the ACM and other groups to install linux. Many professors encourage it also, especially if you are a comp sci major. And if you need windows to run say maple for calc class, you can always run windows on your laptop and dual boot linux or get your linux jollies by remotely connecting to one of the hundreds of linux, aix, sun or bsd machines available.

Dorms may be firewalled off, but it isn't restrictive like you claim, it just blocks incoming ssh, ftp and a few others. And the problems with the RIAA came because RPI students wrote some amazing software for searching networks, further demonstrating the power of the RPI network.

Yes the canceling of email for life blows, and I probably will not donate to them because of it, but you really are a bit behind the times on the network. Things are a lot better than they were when you were there. I'm sure things will continue to get even better after I'm long gone as well.

Re:Not a surprise?

[Hoplite3]

My experince at RPI this summer was very different. There wasn't wireless coverage in the dorm where we were housed. Worse, to get on the wireless network seemed to require some windows-only tool (according to the confrence organizers), so I was SOL with a linux laptop. I didn't much care for the situation as a visitor. I hope it is different for the students.

Then again, some of the measures of how wired the campus is seem a bit stilted. Online registration? Does it matter for small (1000 students) colleges? I'd rather talk with THE registrar personally than have some webform. She can ask me how things are going, suggest alternate courses, and generally keep the system running smoothly.

Re:Not a surprise?

[AEton]

We can't register online. We can -pre-register online; you have to go to the office physically and hand in a piece of paper to confirm registration (or to add or drop classes), and freshmen don't get to preregister. (Anecdote: the freshman credit limit is 54 credit hours - four x 12ch classes + 1 x 6ch seminar. After the last class drop opportunity, the registrar's office reported one junior was signed up for 160some credit hours.)

Other qualifications that made MIT not a very wired school:
*We aren't provided Web pages - well, sort of. This is probably an error. We get a http://web.mit.edu/loginname/ directory, and the already extant directory /loginname/www/ is by default world-readable; but they don't set up Web pages for us. (You can also request a static IP address & hostname and run your own server. Yay for self-sufficiency!) In the strictest sense, though, I guess you could say they don't provide an easy interface for setting up our page (just ftp & kerberized telnet.)

*A computer isn't required of incoming students. It'd be hard to get by in practice, but in theory there are plenty of Athena clusters & there are several public machines along the Infinite Corridor; there are printers in the clusters and in each dorm, along with at least one workstation in each dorm. (There's also a free color laser printer in the student center! No fliers; one copy only.)

*A computer isn't provided as part of tuition - I doubt students would want to use the computer MIT provided anyway. Most of us have computers (several have many) when coming in; free, working systems and monitors appear on the Reuse mailing list as frequently as several times a day and at least two or three times a week. Finding a machine is no problem. (And tuition is absurd already.)

I was surprised to see it said we had USENET access - will have to figure out where that server is.

Another tangent:
CWRU, in my hometown, held the honor of being the Most Wired Campus once; and they are pretty impressive - there's gigabit Ethernet running over fiber everywhere. The trouble is that the network guy lied on the application to make it look like they were using that capacity; in fact, he lied a lot. He got fired. CWRU isn't Most Wired any more :/

This site is just plain wrong

[Hypharse]

Not only is this study biased towards universities that include new computers in the tuition (which is dumb since if I need a computer I'll get one if I don't I don't want to be forced to, but those that do decide to get a computer aren't included in the computer to student ratio), but it is also full of wrong information. Here is an example of where I go to grad school

North Carolina State University [forbes.com]

It says the school does not supply web pages. This is bull crap since I've had a website on the school server for over a year. Plus it explains right here on state's own server HOW to set up your web page.

Create your own homepage [ncsu.edu]

Heck, every freshman undergrad is required to take a computer class where they make their own website.

Now down to the bottom, it says the school does not provide multimedia equipment. Again, completely false. Look at this site again on ncsu.edu

Multimedia Reserve [ncsu.edu]

This is why I hate school rankings like these. They are usually very misleading and often contain false information.

Re:UTexas

[iMaple]

Yes, I second this, At UT Austin, we do everything online , registartion, fee payment.
Everyone has free webspace, resonable number of computers ( I mean noone as to wait), the library computers are good, the librarians have an online chat so you dont have to go over if you need to ask the librarian something, there is a huge number of online books for students, the best online Map collection. Ok I dont mean to troll, but we should have been ranked for sure ( the stats show NR for most fields, maybe they did not bother to find out ?)

Re:The research done for this article is HORRIBLE!

[wetshoe]

The letter I got back after writing the author:

Thank you for your recent letter to Forbes.com regarding the "Most Connected Colleges" list.

The data contained within this list was provided to us by The Princeton Review, therefore, we are unable to elaborate, clarify or alter the information contained therein. If you would like, you may direct your questions, concerns and comments directly to Erik Olson, Director of Guidebook Publications for The Princeton Review, at [e-mail]. We will also be passing all comments along to the researchers of this list.

We apologize for not being able to help you further.

Thank you again for taking the time to write to us, and we hope that you continue to enjoy Forbes.com.

David M. Ewalt Staff Writer Forbes.com [e-mail]

Re:RPI

[Paridel]

Yes, as an RPI student I had to spend many cold lonely winters in Troy, NY.

The town looks like a Nuclear Bomb went off there? Well maybe there is a good reason!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_accidents [wikipedia.org]

Check the list of nuclear accidents. Troy had a large amount of nuclear fallout twice in 1953. I've seen several articles that state it is the most ever to fall on a US city but I can't find online copies.

-paridel

Re:Not a surprise?

[Anonymous Coward]

Ga Tech, CMU, Mines, Stanford, MIT, DeVry :-), Case, etc. are all missing and I think I know why.

1)If the school runs a windows shop, they need one computer/user. Remember kids, it's a SINGLE USER OS!

2)The 'university owned' metric also skews because most tech schools require the students to buy their own PeeCee rather than providing one.

3)I know of one university that has all the on-line stuff but doesn't advertise the fact beyond, 'students must buy a computer because it's necessary for accessing.... It's not a carrot to attract students, it's standard operations!

4)I know another that shows half their campus set up for wireless on their web site but in fact has only deployed it in a small section of the library!

So there you go, another FLUFF article makes /. news.