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Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Data & Information Overview

371 awards Ranking Badges
Great Price Value for Your Money
53% Acceptance Rate
Want the scoop on Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute? We’ve put together a comprehensive report on the school that covers what majors RPI offers, how the school ranks, how diverse it is, and much more.
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How Well Is Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Ranked?

#106 Best Colleges in Nation
#9 Best Colleges in NY
Engineering Technologies Highest Ranked Major
Quality Badge

2024 Rankings

College Factual analyzes over 2,000 colleges and universities in its annual rankings and ranks them in a variety of ways, including most diverse, best overall quality, best for non-traditional students, and much more.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute was awarded 371 badges in the 2024 rankings. The highest ranked major at the school is engineering technologies.

Explore Best Ranked Schools for You

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Overall Quality

According to College Factual's 2024 analysis, RPI is ranked #106 out of 2,217 schools in the nation that were analyzed for overall quality. This lands it a coveted spot in the top 5% of all colleges and universities in the country.

RPI also holds the #9 spot on the Best Colleges in New York ranking.

See all of the rankings for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Is It Hard to Get Into RPI?

53% Acceptance Rate
34% Of Accepted Are Women
43% Submit SAT Scores

Acceptance Rate

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has an acceptance rate of 53%, which means the school is serious about who it admits. Take your time in putting together a strong application that highlights why you are a good fit for RPI.

Average Test Scores

About 43% of students accepted to RPI submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 660 and 740. Math scores were between 700 and 780.

SAT Reading and Writing Scores for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute  ( 660 to 740 )
200
800

SAT Math Scores for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute  ( 700 to 780 )
200
800
RPI received ACT scores from 15% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT Composite scores ranged between 32 and 34.

ACT Composite Scores for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute  ( 32 to 34 )
1
36

Learn more about Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute admissions.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Faculty

13 to 1 Student to Faculty
88% Full Time Teachers

Student to Faculty Ratio

The student to faculty ratio at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is about average at 13 to 1. This ratio is often used to gauge how many students might be in an average class and how much time professors will have to spend with their students on an individual level. The national average for this metric is 15 to 1.

Percent of Full-Time Faculty

Another measure that is often used to estimate how much access students will have to their professors is how many faculty members are full-time. The idea here is that part-time faculty tend to spend less time on campus, so they may not be as available to students as full-timers.

The full-time faculty percentage at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is 88%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.

Full-Time Faculty Percent  88 out of 100
0
100

Retention and Graduation Rates at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

89% Freshmen Retention
66% On-Time Graduation Rate

Freshmen Retention Rate

The freshmen retention rate of 89% tells us that most first-year, full-time students like Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute enough to come back for another year. This is a fair bit higher than the national average of 68%. That's certainly something to check off in the good column about the school.

Freshmen Retention Rate  89 out of 100
0
100

Graduation Rate

Students are considered to have graduated on time if they finish their studies within four years. At RPI the on-time graduation rate of first-time, full-time students is 66%. That is great when compared to the national average of 33.3%

On-Time Graduation Rate  66 out of 100
0
100

Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Undergraduate Student Diversity

6,262 Full-Time Undergraduates
36.7% Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
31.2% Percent Women

During the 2017-2018 academic year, there were 6,283 undergraduates at RPI with 6,262 being full-time and 21 being part-time.

How Much Does Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Cost?

$33,937 Net Price
52% Take Out Loans
$38,828 Total Student Loans
The overall average net price of RPI is $33,937. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group. See the table below for the net price for different income groups.

Net Price by Income Group for RPI

$0-30 K $30K-48K $48-75 $75-110K $110K +
$22,878 $20,738 $29,788 $31,589 $43,003

The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.Note that the net price is typically less than the published for a school. For more information on the sticker price of RPI, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.

Student Loan Debt

It's not uncommon for college students to take out loans to pay for school. In fact, almost 66% of students nationwide depend at least partially on loans. At RPI, approximately 52% of students took out student loans averaging $9,707 a year. That adds up to $38,828 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at RPI is 1.3%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you'll be able to pay back your student loans.

Get more details about paying for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

How Much Money Do RPI Graduates Make?

$93,416 Avg Salary of Grads
High Earnings Boost
Although some majors pay more than others, students who graduate from RPI with a bachelor's degree go on to jobs where they make an average salary of $93,416 in their early years. That's great news for RPI students since it is 120% more than the average college graduate's salary of $42,485 per year.

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See which majors at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute make the most money.

Location of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

New York State
6,262 Full-Time Undergraduates
Small City Campus Setting
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is a private not-for-profit institution situated in Troy, New York. The surrounding area of the school is a good match for students who enjoy city life.

Get more details about the location of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

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Contact details for RPI are given below.

Contact Details
Address: 110 8Th St, Troy, NY 12180-3590
Phone: 518-276-6000
Website: www.rpi.edu/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RPI.EDU
Twitter: https://twitter.com/rpinews

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Majors

61 Majors With Completions
1,489 Undergraduate Degrees
644 Graduate Degrees
During the most recent year for which we have data, students from 61 majors graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Of these students, 1,489 received undergraduate degrees and 644 graduated with a master's or doctor's degree. The following table lists the most popular undergraduate majors along with the average salary graduates from those majors make.

Most Popular Majors Bachelor’s Degrees Average Salary of Graduates
Computer Science 262 $83,880
Mechanical Engineering 239 $65,319
Aerospace & Aeronautical Engineering 114 $64,354
Biomedical Engineering 105 $63,784
Electrical Engineering 96 $72,826
Computer Engineering Technology 76 $76,042
Chemical Engineering 74 $66,991
Civil Engineering 62 $67,648
Business Administration & Management 61 $56,988
General Architecture 56 $52,282

Learn more about the majors offered at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute along with which ones have the highest average starting salaries.

Learn more about online learning at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

If you’re considering Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, here are some more schools you may be interested in knowing more about.

Curious on how these schools stack up against RPI? Pit them head to head with College Combat, our free interactive tool that lets you compare college on the features that matter most to you!

Notes and References

Footnotes

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

References

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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