Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Troy, NY
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is a private research university in Troy, New York, a small city, with 5,714 undergraduates. Engineering and computer science are its signature fields: together they make up 64% of its bachelor's degrees, about five times their share across the colleges we cover. 84% of students finish within six years, and former students who are working earn a median of $102,051 ten years after starting.
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute admitted 9,655 of 14,356 applicants for the fall 2025 entering class (67.3%).
- Acceptance rate
- 67.3%
- Fall 2025 class
- Tuition and fees
- $64,081
- 2024–25 school year
- Paid after aid
- $36,228
- Average, students with aid
- SAT, middle 50%
- 1380–1500
Every figure on this page is published by the college or a federal survey, compiled by GoodGoblin, and carries the source it came from. They describe the fall 2025 entering class, a read on the school, not a prediction about any one applicant.
What Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is known for
Measured by the 1,379 bachelor's degrees it awarded in 2022–23, and what its graduates went on to earn.
Engineering
43.7%
of its bachelor's degrees: about six times the 6.9% share across the colleges we cover.
Computer science
20.7%
of its bachelor's degrees: three and a half times the 5.6% share across the colleges we cover.
- Computer Science25018.1% of degrees$141,528+32% vs $107,009 nationally
- Mechanical Engineering16211.7% of degrees$92,952About the $92,135 national median
- Aerospace, Aeronautical, and Astronautical/Space Engineering1178.5% of degrees$94,750About the $98,207 national median
- Mathematics755.4% of degrees$105,768+52% vs $69,562 nationally
- Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering695.0% of degrees$104,596About the $100,647 national median
- Biomedical/Medical Engineering654.7% of degrees$103,306+11% vs $93,451 nationally
Source: the College Scorecard (U.S. Department of Education), field-of-study data. Degrees are bachelor's degrees awarded in 2022–23. Earnings are the median for 2017–18 and 2018–19 graduates, in 2024 dollars, working and not enrolled, four years after graduating. Shares across the colleges we cover count every bachelor's degree at the colleges with a page here.
The place
Where it is, how big it is, and how students live.
Setting
Small city
Troy, NY
Undergraduates
5,714
Fall 2024
Type
Private, nonprofit
Doctoral university, very high research activity
Living on campus
Half or more
of undergraduates live on campus
Students per faculty member
14 to 1
Fall 2024
International students
7%
of undergraduates, fall 2024
Source: the College Scorecard (U.S. Department of Education), including the Carnegie Classification and the federal locale code it publishes.
What stands out at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Three things Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute published, ranked by how much each could change what you actually do, not by how impressive it looks. Every one describes a class that has already enrolled.
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute files test scores under “very important”.
That is the school’s own placement on the grid it publishes every year. 53% of the enrolled class sent an SAT.
Source: their Common Data Set, fall 2025
6 admitted from a waitlist of 1,008.
599 students accepted a place on that list, and 6 were admitted from it, 1% of the students who waited. A waitlist offer here is not a near-miss anyone can plan around.
Source: their Common Data Set, fall 2025
Families paid $36,228 on average after aid.
Averaged across students who received federal aid: the price after grants and scholarships, not the sticker price.
Source: the College Scorecard
Every figure, in full
The same measured fields on every one of these pages. Nothing is filled in where the school published nothing.
Acceptance rate
67.3%
9,655 admitted of 14,356 applicants
Source: their Common Data Set, fall 2025
SAT, middle 50%
1380–1500
Source: their Common Data Set, fall 2025
ACT, middle 50%
31–34
Source: their Common Data Set, fall 2025
Average GPA of admitted students
3.93
Source: their Common Data Set, fall 2025
Enrolled students who sent an SAT
53%
Counted per test: a student may send both.
Source: their Common Data Set, fall 2025
Enrolled students who sent an ACT
13%
Counted per test: a student may send both.
Source: their Common Data Set, fall 2025
Where do you actually stand at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute?
The figures on this page describe a class that already enrolled. GoodGoblin reads them against your own transcript, scores, activities and budget, then builds the balanced list, the essay plan and the deadline calendar around what it finds.
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What Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute costs
The published price first, then what students who received aid actually paid, by family income.
Tuition and fees for 2024–25 were $64,081, and the full cost of attendance, with housing, food and books, was $82,404. After grants and scholarships, students who received financial aid paid $36,228 a year on average.
Tuition and fees
$64,081
2024–25 school year
Full cost of attendance
$82,404
Tuition, fees, housing, food and books
Paid after aid
$36,228
Average, students who received aid
What students paid, by family income
Each bar is that figure as a share of the $82,404 full cost.
- Under $30k$24,078Typical public university: $10,013
- $30k–$48k$26,289Typical public university: $10,847
- $48k–$75k$28,212Typical public university: $13,703
- $75k–$110k$36,230Typical public university: $17,979
- Over $110k$42,541Typical public university: $22,475
Source: the federal College Scorecard. Tuition and cost of attendance are for the 2024–25 school year; colleges usually raise them each year. What students paid is the average net price for first-year students who received federal financial aid. Typical public university: the median across the 338 public universities on GoodGoblin, for in-state students, compiled by GoodGoblin from the same federal data.
Where it leads
Who finishes, who stays, and what they earn and owe afterwards.
Finish within six years
84%
Our colleges' median: 63%
Return for a second year
91%
Our colleges' median: 79%
Earnings after 10 years
$102,051
Our colleges' median: $57,440
Median debt at graduation
$23,750
Our colleges' median: $23,725
Source: the College Scorecard (U.S. Department of Education). Six-year completion describes students who started in fall 2018; second-year return describes students who started in fall 2023; earnings describe students who started in 2009–10 and 2010–11, measured in 2020 and 2021, in 2022 dollars; debt describes federal loans of students who graduated in fiscal years 2020 and 2021. Medians are across the 1,034 colleges with a page here.
How the rate has moved
Two measured admit rates from the federal survey, the years apart it reports them. A rate that moved, not a forecast.
Over 5 years the admit rate rose from 43% to 58%.
What Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute says it weighs
The school's own words, from the form it fills in every year. Ranked as it ranks them.
- Course rigorvery important
Source: their Common Data Set, fall 2025
- GPAvery important
Source: their Common Data Set, fall 2025
- Test scoresvery important
Source: their Common Data Set, fall 2025
- Recommendationsimportant
Source: their Common Data Set, fall 2025
- Class rankimportant
Source: their Common Data Set, fall 2025
- Essayconsidered
Source: their Common Data Set, fall 2025
Not considered
- Legacy
Source: their Common Data Set, fall 2025
- Interview
Source: their Common Data Set, fall 2025
The early round, in counts
Two published rates side by side. Early applicants are a different group of students, so the gap is a fact about those pools, not a lever anyone can pull.
Early Decision
1× the rateEarly Decision admitted 69.1% (219 of 317), against 67.2% in the regular round.
9,436 of 14,039 in the comparison pool.
Source: their Common Data Set, fall 2025
The waitlist, as the school reported it
Published counts, including the ones schools rarely lead with.
- Offered a waitlist place
- 1,008
- Accepted the place
- 599
- Admitted from the waitlist
- 6
Source: their Common Data Set, fall 2025
Essays on this application
7 essay prompts on the application: you would write 2.
Published deadlines
Each date is read from the college's own materials and re-checked on a schedule.
Guides for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute applicants
More colleges on the record
Each of these pages carries the same measured figures and sources.
Other colleges in New York
Closest acceptance rates in the same state.
Colleges with a similar acceptance rate
Closest acceptance rates anywhere in the country.
The GoodGoblin College Data Report: five findings counted across 1,034 colleges ›
Build the list this school belongs on.
The figures on this page describe a class that already enrolled. GoodGoblin reads them against your own transcript, scores, activities and budget, then builds the balanced list, the essay plan and the deadline calendar around what it finds.
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