A private research university in Troy, NY, admitting 63.47% of applicants with $102,051 median earnings at ten years and the longest continuously operating engineering school in the country.
Troy, New York
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is a private research university in Troy, New York, founded in 1824 as the first degree-granting technological university in the English-speaking world. It enrolls 5,714 undergraduates and 1,299 graduate students across the School of Engineering, the School of Science, the Lally School of Management, the School of Architecture, the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, and the School of Information Technology and Web Science.
Engineering, computer science, biological sciences, information technology, and management account for the largest shares of bachelor's degrees. RPI holds accreditation through the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE). RPI is test-optional; submitting SAT or ACT scores is not required. RPI's Rensselaer Medal scholarship, awarded to high-achieving high school students by guidance counselors, provides a competitive merit scholarship for admitted Medal recipients.
Official website: rpi.edu
UCD scores every college on four pillars: Outcomes, Value, Affordability, and Selectivity. Within peer group A (four-year selective institutions), RPI scores 73.82 overall, rated Good. Outcomes (89.20) reflects an 83.62% six-year graduation rate and a 92.74% rate of graduates earning above the high school median at ten years. Value scores 55.10, driven by strong ten-year earnings of $102,051 relative to an average net price of $36,228. Affordability scores 12.57. All scores use verified federal data only.
RPI admits 63.47% of applicants, making it the most accessible private engineering university in this peer group. RPI is test-optional; submitting SAT or ACT scores is not required. Students who submit scores are competitive with peer technical universities. RPI uses the Common App. The Early Decision deadline is November 1 (binding); the Regular Decision deadline is January 15.
The 63.47% admit rate reflects RPI's technical focus: the applicant pool self-selects for engineering and science interest, and the university evaluates academic preparation in mathematics and sciences. The Rensselaer Medal is awarded by high school guidance counselors to their top-ranked student; Medal recipients who enroll at RPI receive a substantial merit scholarship.
Acceptance rate over the last five admission cycles. The trend tells you whether Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is getting harder, easier, or staying about the same.
RPI charges $64,081 in tuition plus room and board, bringing the estimated total cost of attendance to approximately $80,000 before aid. The average net price after all grants and scholarships is $36,228. For families earning under $30,000, the average net price is $24,078. For families earning between $30,001 and $48,000, the net price averages $26,289.
For families earning between $75,001 and $110,000, the net price averages $36,230. For families earning above $110,000, it averages $42,541. RPI's federal loan rate of 50.99% is one of the highest in this peer group; approximately half of all RPI students carry federal loans, with a median debt of $23,750. RPI does not have a no-loan aid policy.
Published cost of attendance, the sticker price before grants and scholarships. Most students underestimate room & board and other expenses.
Application fee: $70 (one-time, due at submission)
Aid is need-based, so net price varies by family income. Here's what each bracket typically pays after grants and scholarships.
Cumulative federal-loan debt across the full borrowing distribution. The 10th and 90th percentiles bracket the typical range; the median sits in the middle.
Median federal-loan debt at graduation broken down by demographic. Each slice's size is proportional to the dollar amount that group typically borrows.
RPI completes a large majority of the students it enrolls. The six-year graduation rate is 83.62% for full-time, first-time bachelor's-seeking students. The four-year rate is 79.60%, and first-year retention stands at 89.59%, below the peer group average. The federal loan rate of 50.99% and median debt of $23,750 are among the highest in this peer group, reflecting the high cost relative to available grant aid.
RPI graduates earn strongly above the national median, particularly at the ten-year mark. Median earnings are $83,054 six years after first enrolling and $102,051 at ten years. At the ten-year mark, 92.74% of former students earn more than a typical high school graduate. The strong ten-year earnings reflect RPI's concentration in engineering, computer science, and management, with graduates entering technology, defense, finance, and manufacturing industries.
RPI graduates are recruited by semiconductor manufacturers, defense contractors, financial technology companies, and engineering firms in the Northeast and nationally. The School of Engineering and School of Science feed directly into the Albany, NY technology corridor (GlobalFoundries, IBM, and state government research) and broader Northeast markets.
Median annual earnings 6, 8, and 10 years after students first enrolled.
Mean annual earnings 10 years after entry, segmented by demographic. Reveals gaps the headline median can't show.
Median earnings for female grads ten years after first enrolling here.
Median earnings for male grads ten years after first enrolling here.
Earnings of grads from the bottom-third of family incomes at entry.
Earnings of grads from the middle-third of family incomes at entry.
Earnings of grads from the top-third of family incomes at entry.
Share of completer-cohort borrowers paying down at least $1 of principal at the 1-, 3-, 5-, and 7-year mark. Climbing rates show graduates settling into careers and managing debt; flat or declining rates are a warning.
RPI enrolls 5,714 undergraduates on its hilltop campus in Troy, New York, a small city of approximately 50,000 on the Hudson River, adjacent to Albany, the New York state capital. White students account for 44.82% of undergraduates; Asian 21.61%, Hispanic 10.94%, and Black 4.95%. Twenty percent of undergraduates receive Pell grants, and 13.75% are first-generation college students. RPI's student body is approximately 70% male by traditional measures, reflecting the engineering and science focus of its programs; efforts to improve gender balance are ongoing.
The Albany-Troy metro area is home to state government, GlobalFoundries (semiconductor manufacturing), IBM's research laboratories, and a growing technology sector associated with the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (now part of SUNY Polytechnic). The Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) on campus is a notable research and performance facility.
Undergraduate student body composition reported to the US Department of Education.
Where students live, learn, and connect at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. The campus setting, housing profile, and signals that shape day-to-day life here.
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute offers an extensive catalog of programs: 91 distinct programs across 16 majors. Below are its strongest majors, each with flagship programs and typical earnings. Open a major to explore it in depth, or browse the full program catalog.
RPI operates at a student-to-faculty ratio consistent with smaller technical universities. 89.25% of instruction is delivered by full-time faculty. Instructional spending per full-time equivalent student is $20,696 per year, lower than the peer average for a technical university. The endowment stands at approximately $1.00 billion. RPI operates the Rensselaer Technology Park and several research centers in nanotechnology, biotechnology, and lighting. The Lally School of Management and the School of Architecture round out RPI's program offerings beyond pure engineering and science.
446 instructional faculty across 4 ranks. The rank mix shows how many senior faculty are teaching versus contingent or junior staff, with average salary equated to a 9-month contract.
| Rank | Faculty Count | Share | Avg Salary |
|---|---|---|---|
| Full Professors | 163 | 37% | $163,722 |
| Associate Professors | 72 | 16% | $126,441 |
| Assistant Professors | 74 | 17% | $110,947 |
| Lecturers | 137 | 31% | $73,031 |
RPI's defining strengths are its 73.82 Good UCD score, ten-year earnings of $102,051 (driven by engineering and CS concentrations), the accessible 63.47% admit rate (the most accessible private engineering university in this peer group), and the oldest tech university pedigree in the English-speaking world. UCD 73.82 Good.
The challenges are primarily financial: the federal loan rate of 50.99% (highest in this batch), median debt of $23,750, and net price for low-income families ($24,078 for <$30K earners) are high; the 89.59% first-year retention is below the peer average; and Troy, NY is a small, struggling city without the job market density of Boston or New York. Best fit for students targeting engineering, CS, or architecture who want a smaller technical university experience and can qualify for the Rensselaer Medal or other merit aid to reduce net cost below the average.
The questions below address what students and families most commonly search about RPI: what the Rensselaer Medal is, how the engineering programs compare, what Troy is like as a college city, and what graduates earn.
One federal dataset, 3,839 colleges. The median school costs $16,371 a year, admits 78% of applicants, and enrolls 1,259 students. The shape of US higher ed.
Across 1,645 four-year colleges, graduation rates climb steadily with selectivity, from 54% at open-admission schools to 93% at the most exclusive. The gap is real.
For-profit colleges post the highest median net price of any sector and the lowest graduate earnings. They cost more than private nonprofits and pay less than publics.
Browse our full directory: every college, major, program, and career we track, all built from verified government data.
Scout uses AI and can make mistakes. Verify important numbers on the page.
