Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Basic Information

Type Private
Geographical Reach National
Population 550,000

Weather

Comfortable Days 95 (20%) very dry
Sunshine Hours 1,950 (1% 🌧️)
Days Without Precipitation 200 (5% ☔)

Demographics

Total Undergraduates 6,089
Men / Women 69% / 31%
From State 37%
From Region 34%
Athletes 666 (11.8%)

Racial/Ethnic

White 45%
Asian 22%
Hispanic 11%
International 7%
Mixed 6%
Black 5%
Native American 0%

Schools & Majors

⇅ Ranked Trends Degrees Male White Asian Black Hispanic Intl Earnings Earn % Earn z ROI Employment Debt-to-Earn Accept SAT p25 SAT p75
Lally School of Management 79 80% 38% 20% 10% 10% 8% $113,412 98 +1.40 96 95%
Information Technology and Web Science 26 — 69% 38% 27% 12% 4% 12% $136,458 95 +1.86 99 93% — — — —
Business Statistics 9 — 89% 44% 22% 0% 11% 0% $123,099 95 +1.76 98 98% — — — —
Business and Management 44 — 84% 36% 16% 11% 14% 7% $97,813 87 +1.05 88 95% — — — —
⇅ Ranked Trends Degrees Male White Asian Black Hispanic Intl Earnings Earn % Earn z ROI Employment Debt-to-Earn Accept SAT p25 SAT p75
School of Architecture 60 45% 35% 27% 10% 10% 5% $74,868 57 +0.78 59 97%
Architectural Sciences 1 — 100% 0% 100% 0% 0% 0% $79,004 93 +1.25 67 — — — — —
Architecture 59 — 44% 36% 25% 10% 10% 5% $74,798 86 +0.77 59 97% — — — —
⇅ Ranked Trends Degrees Male White Asian Black Hispanic Intl Earnings Earn % Earn z ROI Employment Debt-to-Earn Accept SAT p25 SAT p75
School of Engineering 585 73% 52% 13% 6% 10% 10% $101,717 95 -0.15 90 98%
Aeronautical Engineering 93 — 81% 61% 11% 4% 11% 4% $99,482 29 -0.41 89 98% — — — —
Biomedical Engineering 58 — 38% 47% 21% 10% 9% 5% $100,708 63 +0.17 90 99% — — — —
Chemical Engineering 49 — 49% 53% 16% 4% 10% 6% $99,042 22 -0.66 89 99% — — — —
Civil Engineering 42 — 64% 50% 10% 5% 21% 2% $89,646 32 -0.38 81 100% — — — —
Electrical Engineering 67 — 87% 34% 15% 6% 9% 27% $106,794 29 -0.48 93 98% — — — —
Environmental Engineering 8 — 25% 38% 12% 12% 12% 12% $79,250 20 -0.85 67 100% — — — —
Industrial and Management Engineering 29 — 69% 59% 3% 3% 14% 7% $99,267 17 -0.93 89 98% — — — —
Materials Engineering 14 — 64% 64% 7% 0% 0% 21% $96,067 56 +0.18 87 94% — — — —
Mechanical Engineering 163 — 84% 54% 10% 6% 9% 10% $98,625 53 -0.07 88 98% — — — —
Nuclear Engineering 13 — 77% 69% 8% 0% 8% 0% $97,882 12 -0.96 88 100% — — — —
Computer Systems Technology 49 — 92% 47% 22% 6% 6% 12% $131,276 94 +1.61 99 96% — — — —
⇅ Ranked Trends Degrees Male White Asian Black Hispanic Intl Earnings Earn % Earn z ROI Employment Debt-to-Earn Accept SAT p25 SAT p75
School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences 75 60% 37% 16% 8% 11% 20% $83,585 81 +0.94 74 90%
Games and Simulation Arts and Sciences 35 — 66% 26% 20% 0% 17% 29% $89,619 57 +0.22 81 88% — — — —
Economics 6 — 100% 50% 0% 0% 0% 33% $92,360 53 -0.21 84 — — — — —
Quantitative Economics — — — — — — — — $89,009 45 -0.34 81 95% — — — —
Interdisciplinary Studies 4 — 50% 75% 0% 0% 25% 0% $92,668 99 +3.39 84 95% — — — —
Interdisciplinary Studies 5 — 40% 40% 20% 40% 0% 0% $79,557 96 +2.13 68 — — — — —
Philosophy 3 — 67% 33% 33% 0% 0% 0% $78,347 89 +1.27 66 — — — — —
Science, Technology and Society — — — — — — — — $75,290 85 +1.04 60 — — — — —
Cognitive Science — — — — — — — — $72,021 30 -0.45 52 — — — — —
Communication 11 — 36% 18% 27% 27% 0% 18% $86,750 98 +2.32 78 — — — — —
Digital Communication — — — — — — — — $100,241 100 +3.58 89 94% — — — —
Psychology 4 — 50% 50% 0% 0% 25% 25% $72,782 98 +2.69 54 100% — — — —
Sustainability Studies 1 — 0% 100% 0% 0% 0% 0% $69,951 83 +0.93 46 — — — — —
Music Theory and Composition 2 — 50% 100% 0% 0% 0% 0% $49,807 63 +0.33 5 — — — — —
Visual and Performing Arts 4 — 75% 75% 0% 25% 0% 0% $39,912 32 -0.42 2 — — — — —
⇅ Ranked Trends Degrees Male White Asian Black Hispanic Intl Earnings Earn % Earn z ROI Employment Debt-to-Earn Accept SAT p25 SAT p75
School of Science 467 73% 37% 28% 2% 6% 19% $124,344 99 +0.67 98 93%
Applied Physics 4 — 100% 50% 25% 0% 0% 25% $78,520 5 -1.84 66 88% — — — —
Computer Science 267 — 83% 34% 36% 1% 7% 16% $151,447 81 +0.78 100 93% — — — —
Chemistry 14 — 43% 43% 21% 0% 7% 14% $76,596 78 +0.48 63 — — — — —
Geology 1 — 100% 100% 0% 0% 0% 0% $76,338 89 +1.02 62 — — — — —
Mathematics 57 — 79% 35% 5% 2% 2% 51% $122,479 90 +1.40 98 95% — — — —
Physics 35 — 83% 57% 9% 3% 3% 17% $78,520 35 -0.36 66 88% — — — —
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 19 — 53% 47% 21% 0% 21% 0% $71,347 50 -0.01 50 95% — — — —
Biology 20 — 35% 45% 20% 10% 5% 10% $67,273 55 +0.10 39 100% — — — —
Biopsychology 17 — 6% 41% 24% 6% 12% 12% $72,983 76 +0.53 54 — — — — —
Computational Biology 7 — 57% 71% 29% 0% 0% 0% $73,354 60 +0.17 55 — — — — —
Environmental Science 10 — 50% 40% 0% 0% 0% 50% $69,150 91 +1.32 44 — — — — —
Pre-Medicine 16 — 44% 0% 75% 0% 0% 0% $80,850 89 +0.85 70 — — — — —

Financial

Tuition & Fees $68,565
ROI Percentile 94th

Retention & Graduation

Full-Time Retention 91%
4-Year Graduation Rate 72%
6-Year Graduation Rate 84%
Transfer-Out Rate 0%

Earnings by Major Category

Each major category's degree-weighted estimated median 5-year earnings at this college, expressed as a z-score against the national degree-weighted distribution for that category. 0 is the national average. The shaded band between +1.28 and −1.28 marks the central 80% of the national distribution (10th–90th percentile).

Academics

⇅ % Degrees Male White Asian Black Hispanic Intl Earnings Earn % Earn z ROI Employment Debt-to-Earn
Engineering 42.7% 540 72% 52% 12% 6% 10% 10% $98,864 36 -0.32 89 98% —
Computer Science 29.8% 377 81% 35% 32% 2% 8% 17% $142,052 85 +0.91 99 93% —
Physical Sciences & Math 8.5% 107 76% 44% 8% 2% 3% 35% $101,665 85 +0.70 90 93% —
Arts 5.2% 66 47% 39% 24% 11% 9% 5% $71,990 98 +0.69 52 97% —
Life & Natural Sciences 5.0% 63 35% 48% 22% 5% 11% 6% $70,718 67 +0.19 49 98% —
Business & Economics 4.7% 59 86% 39% 15% 8% 12% 8% $101,116 86 +1.03 90 96% —
Health Sciences 1.3% 16 44% 0% 75% 0% 0% 0% $80,850 66 +0.85 70 — —
Social Sciences 1.3% 16 38% 31% 19% 19% 6% 19% $82,208 97 +2.33 72 100% —
Humanities 0.9% 12 50% 50% 17% 17% 8% 0% $83,625 99 +2.34 74 95% —
Agriculture & Food Science 0.8% 10 50% 40% 0% 0% 0% 50% $69,150 88 +1.32 44 — —

Research R1

⇅ Research $ Rank Federal Industry $ PhDs Rank PhD students Postdocs
Engineering $72.0M #70 52% $5.3M 66 #59 385 23
Computer Science $26.2M #39 21% $3.1M 5 #138 83 5
Physical Sciences & Math $18.2M #141 42% $0.8M 20 #124 117 4
Life & Natural Sciences $9.2M #168 59% $0.2M 4 #185 34 52
Humanities & Social Sciences $6.9M #174 50% $0.1M 12 #220 — —
Business & Economics $3.9M #117 9% $0 5 #188 3 —
Agriculture & Food Science $0 #318 — $0 — — — 6
Education $0 #457 — $0 — — — —
Health Sciences $0 #441 — $0 — — — —
Total $136M #144 44% $9.4M 112 #162 622 90

Expenditure and funding source: NSF HERD, FY2024. Degrees: IPEDS completions, 2023–24. Students and postdocs: NSF Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates, fall 2024, which covers science, engineering and selected health fields only. An em dash means the source does not report the figure, which is not the same as zero.

Sports NCAA D3

⇅ Athletes ▼ Revenue Expenses Net
Track & Field (combined) 190 $354K $297K $56K
Football 114 $808K $790K $17K
Lacrosse 57 $487K $407K $80K
Baseball 40 $231K $213K $18K
Soccer 36 $188K $180K $8K
Ice Hockey 28 $2.9M $2.8M $90K
Swimming & Diving 23 $179K $157K $22K
Basketball 20 $337K $245K $92K
Tennis 15 $171K $170K $1K
Golf 13 $53K $46K $7K
Total 421 $5.7M $5.4M $395K
⇅ Athletes ▼ Revenue Expenses Net
Track & Field (combined) 130 $242K $203K $38K
Soccer 30 $417K $221K $196K
Ice Hockey 29 $2.1M $2.2M -$39K
Swimming & Diving 28 $219K $191K $27K
Lacrosse 26 $195K $177K $18K
Field Hockey 25 $149K $139K $10K
Softball 21 $206K $195K $11K
Basketball 18 $251K $175K $75K
Tennis 11 $147K $158K -$10K
Total 245 $3.9M $3.6M $328K
⇅ Athletes ▼ Revenue Expenses Net
Track & Field (combined) 320 $596K $501K $95K
Football 114 $808K $790K $17K
Lacrosse 83 $683K $584K $98K
Soccer 66 $606K $401K $205K
Ice Hockey 57 $5.0M $5.0M $50K
Swimming & Diving 51 $399K $348K $50K
Baseball 40 $231K $213K $18K
Basketball 38 $588K $420K $168K
Tennis 26 $318K $328K -$9K
Field Hockey 25 $149K $139K $10K
Softball 21 $206K $195K $11K
Golf 13 $53K $46K $7K
Total 666 $13.6M $13.6M $0

Source: U.S. Department of Education, Equity in Athletics Data Analysis. Each team's revenue and expenses are what the college attributes to it. The Total view's totals row is the department's grand total, which also includes money not attributed to any team; the Male and Female totals rows only add up their teams.

Admissions

Uses Common App Yes
Acceptance Rate 63%
Yield (non-ED) 11%
Early Decision 1 Nov 1
Early Action Dec 1
Regular Decision Jan 1
Early Decision 2 Jan 15

Acceptance Rates

In-State Out-of-State International
Regular Decision 64% 64% 64%
Early Decision 58% 58% 58%

This college’s Common Data Set does not break down admissions by applicant demographics, so in-state, out-of-state, and international applicants share one Regular Decision rate.

Early Action and Restrictive Early Action applicants are reported at the regular-decision rate.

Standardized Tests

Test Policy optional
Submitted Test Scores 66%
SAT Range 1380 – 1500
SAT Math Range 700 – 770
SAT RW Range 670 – 740