by our College Data Analytics TeamPhysics is a major offered under the physical sciences program of study at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. We’ve gathered data and other essential information about the bachelor’s degree program in physics, such as diversity of students, how many students graduated in recent times, and more.
You can jump to any section of this page using the links below:
If you're having trouble deciding which school is best for you, you may want to check out our many college rankings. RPI is in the top 10% of the country for physics. More specifically it was ranked #24 out of 334 schools by College Factual. It is also ranked #4 in New York.
Here are some of the other rankings for RPI.
Part-time undergraduates at RPI paid an average of $2,320 per credit hour in 2019-2020. This tuition was the same for both in-state and out-of-state students. The average full-time tuition and fees for undergraduates are shown in the table below.
| In State | Out of State | |
|---|---|---|
| Tuition | $55,600 | $55,600 |
| Fees | $1,412 | $1,412 |
| Books and Supplies | $1,250 | $1,250 |
| On Campus Room and Board | $15,954 | $15,954 |
| On Campus Other Expenses | $1,608 | $1,608 |
Learn more about RPI tuition and fees.
You may also want to consider how much in student loans you’ll need when thinking about the overall cost to attend a school. Students who received their bachelor’s degree at RPI in Physics walked away with an average of $27,000 in student debt. That is 21% higher than the national average of $22,379.
physics who receive their bachelor’s degree from RPI make an average of $44,747 a year during the early days of their career. That is 13% higher than the national average of $39,724.
RPI does not offer an online option for its physics bachelor’s degree program at this time. To see if the school offers distance learning options in other areas, visit the RPI Online Learning page.
Women made up around 22.7% of the physics students who took home a bachelor’s degree in 2019-2020. This is in the same ballpark of the nationwide number of 24.4%.
Of those graduates who received a bachelor’s degree in physics at RPI in 2019-2020, 18.2% were racial-ethnic minorities*. This is lower than the nationwide number of 27%.
| Race/Ethnicity | Number of Students |
|---|---|
| Asian | 3 |
| Black or African American | 1 |
| Hispanic or Latino | 2 |
| Native American or Alaska Native | 0 |
| Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander | 0 |
| White | 33 |
| International Students | 3 |
| Other Races/Ethnicities | 2 |
Physics students may decide to major in one of the following focus areas.
| Focus Area | Annual Graduates |
|---|---|
| General Physics | 28 |
| Other Physics | 16 |
You may also be interested in one of these majors related to physics.
| Related Major | Annual Graduates |
|---|---|
| Chemistry | 9 |
| Geological & Earth Sciences | 2 |
View All Physics Related Majors >
*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.
More about our data sources and methodologies.
