Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Worcester, MA
Worcester Polytechnic Institute is a private research university in Worcester, Massachusetts, a midsize city, with 5,447 undergraduates. Engineering and computer science are its signature fields: together they make up 79% of its bachelor's degrees, about six times their share across the colleges we cover. 90% of students finish within six years, and former students who are working earn a median of $103,470 ten years after starting.
Worcester Polytechnic Institute admitted 7,647 of 12,355 applicants for the fall 2025 entering class (61.9%).
- Acceptance rate
- 61.9%
- Fall 2025 class
- Tuition and fees
- $60,965
- 2024–25 school year
- Paid after aid
- $43,071
- Average, students with aid
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 Worcester Polytechnic Institute is known for
Measured by the 1,225 bachelor's degrees it awarded in 2022–23, and what its graduates went on to earn.
Engineering
59.8%
of its bachelor's degrees: about nine times the 6.9% share across the colleges we cover.
Computer science
19.6%
of its bachelor's degrees: three and a half times the 5.6% share across the colleges we cover.
- Computer Science22218.1% of degrees$134,208+25% vs $107,009 nationally
- Mechanical Engineering21117.2% of degrees$97,308+6% vs $92,135 nationally
- Biomedical/Medical Engineering1219.9% of degrees$92,806About the $93,451 national median
- Mechatronics, Robotics, and Automation Engineering1169.5% of degrees$111,103+9% vs $101,649 nationally
- Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering776.3% of degrees$109,386+9% vs $100,647 nationally
- Aerospace, Aeronautical, and Astronautical/Space Engineering594.8% of degrees$105,171+7% vs $98,207 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
Midsize city
Worcester, MA
Undergraduates
5,447
Fall 2024
Type
Private, nonprofit
Doctoral university, high research activity
Living on campus
A quarter to half
of undergraduates live on campus
Students per faculty member
13 to 1
Fall 2024
International students
6%
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 Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Three things Worcester 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.
Early Decision admitted 78.1%. The non-early rounds admitted 38.6%.
2×
the non-early rate
A ratio between two rates the school published. Not a change in anyone’s odds.
310 of 397 early applicants were admitted, against 1,186 of 3,076 in the non-early rounds. Early Decision is binding, and you can only use it at one school, which is exactly why the gap is worth knowing before you choose where to spend it.
Source: their Common Data Set, fall 2025
2×
the non-early rate
A ratio between two rates the school published. Not a change in anyone’s odds.
460 admitted from a waitlist of 2,293.
980 students accepted a place on that list, and 460 were admitted from it, 46.9% 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 $43,071 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
61.9%
7,647 admitted of 12,355 applicants
Source: their Common Data Set, fall 2025
Average GPA of admitted students
3.90
Source: their Common Data Set, fall 2025
Where do you actually stand at Worcester 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.
See where I stand ›3 days free · $0 today · cancel anytime
What Worcester 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 $60,965, and the full cost of attendance, with housing, food and books, was $78,679. After grants and scholarships, students who received financial aid paid $43,071 a year on average.
Tuition and fees
$60,965
2024–25 school year
Full cost of attendance
$78,679
Tuition, fees, housing, food and books
Paid after aid
$43,071
Average, students who received aid
What students paid, by family income
Each bar is that figure as a share of the $78,679 full cost.
- Under $30k$24,018Typical public university: $10,013
- $30k–$48k$24,452Typical public university: $10,847
- $48k–$75k$32,350Typical public university: $13,703
- $75k–$110k$37,753Typical public university: $17,979
- Over $110k$49,716Typical 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
90%
Our colleges' median: 63%
Return for a second year
94%
Our colleges' median: 79%
Earnings after 10 years
$103,470
Our colleges' median: $57,440
Median debt at graduation
$27,000
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 42% to 58%.
What Worcester 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
- 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
- Test scoresconsidered
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
2× the rateEarly Decision admitted 78.1% (310 of 397), against 38.6% in the non-early rounds.
1,186 of 3,076 in the comparison pool.
Source: their Common Data Set, fall 2025
Early Action
1.8× the rateEarly Action admitted 69.3% (6,151 of 8,882), against 38.6% in the non-early rounds.
1,186 of 3,076 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
- 2,293
- Accepted the place
- 980
- Admitted from the waitlist
- 460
Source: their Common Data Set, fall 2025
Published deadlines
Each date is read from the college's own materials and re-checked on a schedule.
- Early ActionNovember 1, 2026
Verified October 10, 2026 · Source
- Early DecisionNovember 1, 2026
Verified October 10, 2026 · Source
- Early Action IIJanuary 5, 2027
Verified October 10, 2026 · Source
- Early Decision IIJanuary 5, 2027
Verified October 10, 2026 · Source
- Regular DecisionFebruary 1, 2027
Verified October 10, 2026 · Source
More colleges on the record
Each of these pages carries the same measured figures and sources.
Other colleges in Massachusetts
Closest acceptance rates in the same state.
- University of Massachusetts-Amherst59.9%
- Gordon College58.8%
- Simmons University66%
- Springfield College70.2%
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.
See where I stand ›3 days free · $0 today · cancel anytime
