Physical Sciences at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

If you plan to study physical sciences, take a look at what Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has to offer and decide if the program is a good match for you. Get started with the following essential facts.

RPI is located in Troy, New York and has a total student population of 7,501. In the 2020-2021 academic year, 73 students received a bachelor's degree in physical sciences from RPI.

Want to know more about the career opportunities in this field? Check out the Careers in Physical Sciences section at the bottom of this page.

RPI Physical Sciences Degrees Available

• Bachelor’s Degree in Physical Sciences
• Master’s Degree in Physical Sciences
• Doctorate Degree in Physical Sciences

RPI Physical Sciences Rankings

The following rankings from College Factual show how the physical sciences progam at RPI compares to programs at other colleges and universities.

Note: Although rankings can help you see some information about a school, it's not a good idea to depend on them alone. Be sure to check out other things about the school before making your decision to attend.

Bachelor’s Degree Overall Quality & Other Notable Rankings

The physical sciences major at RPI is not ranked on College Factual’s Best Colleges and Universities for Physical Sciences. This could be for a number of reasons, such as not having enough data on the major or school to make an accurate assessment of its quality.

Ranking Type	Rank
Best Physical Sciences Doctor’s Degree Schools	45
Best Physical Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools	61
Most Popular Physical Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools	90
Most Focused Physical Sciences Schools	99
Most Focused Physical Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools	120
Most Popular Physical Sciences Master’s Degree Schools	133
	134
Best Value Physical Sciences Schools	213

In 2021, 16 students received their master’s degree in physical sciences from RPI. This makes it the #134 most popular school for physical sciences master’s degree candidates in the country.

There were 10 students who received their doctoral degrees in physical sciences, making the school the #145 most popular school in the United States for this category of students.

Physical Sciences Student Demographics at RPI

Take a look at the following statistics related to the make-up of the physical sciences majors at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

RPI Physical Sciences Bachelor’s Program

For the most recent academic year available, 70% of physical sciences bachelor's degrees went to men and 30% went to women.

About 64% of those who receive a bachelor's degree in physical sciences at RPI are white. This is above average for this degree on the nationwide level.

The following table and chart show the race/ethnicity for students who recently graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with a bachelor's in physical sciences.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Students
Asian	6
Black or African American	0
Hispanic or Latino	6
White	47
International Students	12
Other Races/Ethnicities	2

RPI Physical Sciences Master’s Program

Of the 16 physical sciences students who graduated with a master's degree in 2020-2021 from RPI, about 63% were men and 38% were women.

Of the students who received a physical sciences master's degree from RPI, 69% were white. This is above average for this degree on the natiowide level.

The following table and chart show the race/ethnicity for students who recently graduated from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute with a master's in physical sciences.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Students
Asian	0
Black or African American	1
Hispanic or Latino	4
White	11
International Students	0
Other Races/Ethnicities	0

RPI also has a doctoral program available in physical sciences. In 2021, 10 students graduated with a doctor's degree in this field.

Concentrations Within Physical Sciences

If you plan to be a physical sciences major, you may want to focus your studies on one of the following concentrations. The completion numbers here include all graduates who receive any type of degree in this field from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Some of these focus areas may not be available for your degree level.

Concentration	Annual Degrees Awarded
Physics	64
Chemistry	28
Geological & Earth Sciences	6
Astronomy & Astrophysics	1

Related Majors

• Natural Resources & Conservation
• Architecture & Related Services
• Engineering Technologies
• Biological & Biomedical Sciences
• Mathematics & Statistics

Careers That Physical Sciences Grads May Go Into

A degree in physical sciences can lead to the following careers. Since job numbers and average salaries can vary by geographic location, we have only included the numbers for NY, the home state for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

Occupation	Jobs in NY	Average Salary in NY
High School Teachers	74,830	$85,300
Architectural and Engineering Managers	7,330	$161,670
Professors	6,440	$112,000
Environmental Scientists and Specialists	4,400	$79,340
Chemists	3,360	$85,590

References

*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.

• College Factual
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• Image Credit: By UpstateNYer under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.