Information for Prospective Students

We welcome accepted students and their families to the Computer Science Department at Rensselaer!  Use this webpage to familiarize yourself with our department and get your questions answered.

About the Department

The undergraduate program in computer science prepares students to solve real-world problems and carry out fundamental research.  Our undergraduates distinguish themselves by landing high-income jobs at such companies as Google, IBM, Microsoft, Bloomberg, Epic Systems, Facebook, Amazon, and numerous other companies both large and small.  Many of our students go on to prominent graduate schools.  Given our strengths and successes, in 2019, our incoming class of first-year students was again one of the largest ever in our 34-year history.  And recently, in the Fall 2018 semester, computer science became the largest major at Rensselaer.

Our undergraduate program is both rigorous and flexible.  Our rigor makes our students highly desirable for employment after graduation, with the average starting salary for computer science students graduating in 2019 just over $96,000.  Our program's flexibility enables our students to earn dual majors in computer science and another discipline, including various fields of engineering, e.g., computer and systems engineering (CSYS), as well as mathematics (MATH), information technology and web science (ITWS), business and management (BMGT), games and simulation arts and sciences (GSAS), electronic media arts and communication (EMAC), and many more.  Approximately 35% of our majors are dual majors, and many students also pursue minors in other fields.

Select the URLs below for more specific information (all URLs open in a new browser window):

CS Clubs and Organizations

Our students are very active in extracurricular activities.  Within our department, students participate in the RPI Computing Club, Upsilon Pi Epsilon (or UPE, the computer science honor society), RPISEC (the computer security club), ACM-W (women in computing), HackRPI, and Coding&&Community.  With well over 200 student organizations on campus, students find many opportunities to pursue their extracurricular interests.

Select the URLs below for flyers and/or links to websites for these organization (all URLs open in a new browser window):

CS News

A few recent news and articles involving our students and faculty are included below (all URLs open in a new browser window).  Also consider following our Twitter feed (click here)!

Past Events

All 2020 events have ended.  Below is a summary of past events specific to computer science for which we have recordings.  Use the URLs below to navigate to these events.

  • Meet a Professor [April]  Our computer science professors were available to meet and discuss the department, their coursework and research, and answer your questions.  Of the six sessions we held, we did record one of them, so feel free to watch and listen in below.
  • Women in Computer Science Panel [April 6 at 6:00PM EDT]  At this session, female student leaders talked about their experiences, in particular with our student-organized mentorship program, Rensselaer's women in computing chapter ACM-W, informal gatherings, and other resources specifically for women in the department.  Click here to watch a video of this past event.
  • Accepted Students Day (ASD) Celebration [April 4 at 11:00AM EDT]  Professor and Department Head Chuck Stewart introduced our department, our curriculum, and our students via a live online presentation that also included a Q&A session.  Click here to watch a video of this past event.
  • Computer Science Student Webinar [March 26 at 6:00PM EDT]  At this session, a panel of current students were available to answer questions and describe their experiences at Rensselaer.  Click here to watch a video of this past event.