Private nonprofit · Suburban campus · founded 1829 · full profile

Rochester Institute of Technology

Hands-on technical students — especially in games, security, imaging or engineering technology — who want required co-op experience and do not have single-digit-admit credentials.

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Rochester, New York13,215 undergraduatesMean consensus percentile 34STEM-focusedCo-op programCareer-focused

The short answer

RIT is a career-first technical university where co-op is required in most majors, and it houses the National Technical Institute for the Deaf — making it the most accessible research-scale campus in the country for deaf and hard-of-hearing students. Its game design program is widely cited in specialty rankings (though not on our current Princeton Review category badge for RIT), and a 66.9% acceptance rate makes it reachable for strong-but-not-perfect applicants.

The six numbers that matter most

Acceptance rate: 66.9%
Average net price: $34,906
Median earnings, 10 yrs: $76,571
6-year graduation rate: 69.9%
Median debt at graduation: $26,778
SAT middle 50%: 1300–1460

Where RIT ranks, and why the answers differ

Each publisher's position, the list it belongs to, and how many institutions it was drawn from.

Source	List	Rank	Percentile	What it measures
US News2026	National Universities	#88of 436National universities	Top 20% on this list	The list admissions offices care about most, now weighted heavily toward graduation outcomes rather than reputation and spending.
Forbes2026	America's Top Colleges	#195of 500Top colleges (Forbes)	Top 39% on this list	A return-on-investment list: it asks what graduates earn and how much debt they carry, and largely ignores prestige.
Washington Monthly2026	Best Colleges for Your Tuition (and Tax) Dollars	Not ranked by this source	—	Ranks colleges on what they give back to the country — social mobility, research output and public service.
WSJ2026	Best Colleges in the U.S.	#318of 500U.S. colleges (WSJ)	Top 64% on this list	Built almost entirely around value added — how much a school improves graduate salaries beyond what its intake predicted.
Niche2026	Best Colleges (Overall)B+	#330of 2,605Overall (Niche)	Top 13% on this list	Federal data blended with millions of current-student reviews, which makes it the best read on what campus life actually feels like.
Money2026	Best Value Colleges	Not ranked by this source	—	A five-star affordability rating that weighs net price against graduation odds and early-career pay.
Princeton Review2026	Best Colleges (Overall)	ListedOverall (Niche)	No ordinal position given	Survey-only category lists — best classroom experience, best financial aid, best career services — with no overall ranking at all.
QS2026	World University Rankings	Not ranked by this source	—	A global research and reputation ranking — useful for graduate school and international standing, close to useless for undergraduate fit.

Methodology sensitivity: RIT's position moves 51 percentile points depending on which published list you read. That is a wide spread, so which list you consult substantially changes the impression you get. How we compute this

Ranking positions are the editorial property of their publishers and are reproduced here with attribution for comparison and commentary. Follow each source link for its full list and methodology.

About RIT

RIT sells outcomes rather than prestige, and the data broadly supports it. Co-op is a graduation requirement in most programs, so students complete paid professional work terms as a condition of the degree rather than as an optional extra. Median earnings of $76,571 ten years after entry are strong for a school admitting two-thirds of applicants.

The programmatic profile is genuinely distinctive. Game design and development is consistently ranked in the national top five. Computing security, imaging science and packaging science are niche fields where RIT is a leading national name. And the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, a federally chartered college within RIT, supports roughly 1,100 deaf and hard-of-hearing students with interpreting, captioning and notetaking across the whole university — an infrastructure no other technical university matches.

The honest weak spot is completion. A 69.9% six-year graduation rate and 88.8% retention are below what the earnings data would predict, which suggests the rigor and the co-op sequencing cost some students their degree. Prospective students should ask specifically about advising support in their intended major. Rochester's winters are also long and grey, and this is a factor students routinely underestimate.

Strengths and honest considerations

Strengths

Co-op required in most majors, so professional experience is built into the degree.
Leading game design, computing security and imaging science programs by specialty reputation.
National Technical Institute for the Deaf provides unmatched access for deaf and hard-of-hearing students.
A 66.9% acceptance rate with median earnings of $76,571 — strong return for its selectivity.

Considerations

A 69.9% six-year graduation rate is below what its outcomes would predict.
Average net price of $34,906 despite heavy merit aid discounting.
Rochester winters are long, and the suburban campus is quiet.

Who this school genuinely fits

Hands-on technical students — especially in games, security, imaging or engineering technology — who want required co-op experience and do not have single-digit-admit credentials.

What it costs

Published price, then what families actually pay after grants and scholarships.

Tuition & fees: $59,274
Undergraduates on Pell grants: 27.2%
Room & board: $16,142

Published cost of attendance comes to roughly $75,416 a year, but the average family pays $34,906 — a 54% difference. 27.2% of undergraduates receive Pell grants, the federal marker of low family income.

Net price varies enormously by income band, so run RIT's net price calculator for your own household before drawing conclusions. Why net price is the only cost number that matters.

Programs and academics

Standout programs

Game Design & Development
Computing Security
Imaging Science
National Technical Institute for the Deaf
Co-op program

Student-faculty ratio: 13:1
First-year retention: 88.8%
Undergraduate enrollment: 13,215

RIT: questions families ask

Yes. RIT's School of Interactive Games and Media is consistently cited among the strongest game design and development programs in the country, alongside USC and Utah, in specialty rankings and industry hiring — separate from the Princeton Review book list we bulk-load. The program is technical rather than purely artistic, and students build shipped projects and complete required co-op placements with studios.

NTID is a federally chartered college within RIT serving roughly 1,100 deaf and hard-of-hearing students. It provides interpreting, real-time captioning and notetaking support across all of RIT's colleges, not just within NTID, which means deaf and hard-of-hearing students can pursue any RIT major with full access support. No other technical university in the country offers comparable infrastructure.

Very few students pay the $75,416 sticker price: the average net price is $34,906. That is still substantial, so the comparison to make is against your state flagship's engineering or computing program. RIT's edge is required co-op and niche program strength; the flagship's edge is usually price.

Similar colleges

Matched on institutional character, overlapping majors and comparable cross-source standing.

Drexel University

Philadelphia, PAPrivate nonprofit

Drexel runs one of the two largest co-op programs in the country, with a five-year option that includes three six-month paid placements. At a 79.4% acceptance rate it is broadly accessible, but a 78.2% six-year graduation rate and $25,325 median federal debt make it a school where the specific offer matters more than the brand.

Acceptance rate: 79.4%
Average net price: $38,509
Median earnings (10 yr): $84,648
6-yr graduation rate: 78.2%

US News · National universities#80 of 436Forbes · Top colleges (Forbes)#185 of 500Washington Monthly · National universities#118 of 442+2 more on profile

13,233 undergraduates · mean consensus percentile 25 (across ranked lists; lower is better)

Northeastern University

Boston, MAPrivate nonprofit

Northeastern built its identity on co-op: students complete up to three six-month paid full-time work terms before graduating, and roughly half receive a job offer from a co-op employer. That model has driven its acceptance rate from over 60% two decades ago to 5.2% today, and Princeton Review's loaded edition places its career-services office in the national top 10.

Acceptance rate: 5.2%
Average net price: $30,915
Median earnings (10 yr): $92,538
6-yr graduation rate: 90.5%

US News · National universities#46 of 436Forbes · Top colleges (Forbes)#113 of 500WSJ · U.S. colleges (WSJ)#168 of 500+3 more on profile

17,326 undergraduates · mean consensus percentile 19 (across ranked lists; lower is better)

Georgia Institute of Technology

Atlanta, GAPublic

Georgia Tech delivers private-university engineering outcomes at public tuition: median earnings of $102,772 ten years after entry against in-state tuition of $12,058. Its Industrial & Systems Engineering program has been ranked #1 in the country for three decades, and the co-op program places students in paid, multi-semester industry rotations.

Acceptance rate: 14.1%
Average net price: $12,116
Median earnings (10 yr): $102,772
6-yr graduation rate: 94.0%

US News · National universities#32 of 436Forbes · Top colleges (Forbes)#32 of 500Washington Monthly · National universities#21 of 442+3 more on profile

18,785 undergraduates · mean consensus percentile 5 (across ranked lists; lower is better)

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