Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Data & Information Overview
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. Want to dig deeper into a particular stat? Just click on its tile and you'll be taked to a more in-depth page on the figure. In addition, you can use the links below to quickly jump to any section on this page.- Rankings
- Admission and Acceptance
- Faculty
- Retention and Graduation Rates
- Diversity
- Cost
- Student Debt
- Average Earnings
- Location
- Majors
- Online Learning
- Related Schools
How Well Is Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Ranked?
2022 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 416 badges in the 2022 rankings. The highest ranked major at the school is visual and performing arts.
Overall Quality
According to College Factual's 2022 analysis, RPI is ranked #65 out of 2,576 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 #8 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?
Acceptance Rate
The acceptance rate at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is a competitive 43%, so make sure you take your application seriously when putting it together. Even leaving out a minor detail could be a reason to move you to the rejection pile.
Average Test Scores
About 66% 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 640 and 730. Math scores were between 680 and 770.
Learn more about Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute admissions.
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Faculty
Student to Faculty Ratio
The student to faculty ratio is often used to measure the number of teaching resources that a college or university offers its students. The national average for this metric is 15 to 1, but at RPI it is much better at 12 to 1. That's good news for students who want to interact more on a personal level with their teachers.
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%.
Retention and Graduation Rates at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Freshmen Retention Rate
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has a freshmen retention rate of 92%. That's a good sign that full-time students like the school and their professors enough to want to stick around for another year. It's also a sign that the admissions team did a good job in choosing applicants who were a good fit for the school.
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 63%. That is great when compared to the national average of 33.3%
Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Undergraduate Student Diversity
During the 2017-2018 academic year, there were 6,241 undergraduates at RPI with 6,218 being full-time and 23 being part-time.
How Much Does Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Cost?
The overall average net price of RPI is $35,464. 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 + |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $22,662 | $24,361 | $26,797 | $34,046 | $43,869 |
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 53% of students took out student loans averaging $10,358 a year. That adds up to $41,432 over four years for those students.
The student loan default rate at RPI is 0.5%. 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?
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 $82,000 in their early years. This is good news for future RPI graduates since it is 106% more than the average college graduate's salary of $39,802 per year.
See which majors at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute make the most money.
Location of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
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.
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
During the most recent year for which we have data, students from 60 majors graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Of these students, 1,572 received undergraduate degrees and 520 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 | 255 | $91,900 |
| Mechanical Engineering | 233 | $66,700 |
| Chemical Engineering | 109 | $66,000 |
| Biomedical Engineering | 102 | $66,500 |
| Aerospace & Aeronautical Engineering | 101 | $69,000 |
| Electrical Engineering | 91 | $74,000 |
| Business Administration & Management | 76 | $57,700 |
| Computer Engineering Technology | 74 | $88,400 |
| Civil Engineering | 70 | $66,000 |
| Mathematics | 66 | $70,500 |
Learn more about online learning at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Find Out More About Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Related Schools
If you’re considering Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, here are some more schools you may be interested in knowing more about.
- Case Western Reserve University
- Lehigh University
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Northeastern University
- University of Notre Dame
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
- National Center for Education Statistics
- College Scorecard
- Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System
- Image Credit: By UpstateNYer under License
More about our data sources and methodologies.
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