Last August, the Class of 2007 matriculated with 1,341 members making it the largest class in RPI’s history. While some may have thought numbers would have dropped significantly by now, the numbers tell a different story entirely.
According to Lisa Trahan, dean of the Office of the First-Year Experience, 96.5 percent of the class returned for the Spring 2004 semester. That percentage is right around the average fall-spring retention rate for freshmen classes at RPI, which is 96.6 percent using data from the last eight years. The Class of 2006 and the Class of 2005 retained 97.8 and 97.4 percent, respectively, between the fall and spring semesters of their freshmen year.
When asked what she thought allowed the freshmen class to remain so large, Trahan responded, “I think it’s the investment that Rensselaer has made in its students.” She stated that FYE is a philosophy and approach, not just an office, saying that beginning with Student Orientation and Navigating Rensselaer and Beyond, the goal is to have new students “connect with the campus.”
Trahan said no one within the class has really commented on the repercussions of the large class size, but noted that the “large class is making an impression.” While she expected that the percentage of those participating in leadership roles and student activities was about the same, she said this still resulted in more students being involved.
Last summer, additional class sections were added in anticipation of the very large class. Assistant Registrar Tracy Thomson said that she has not seen many changes from last year in terms of registration for next fall’s sophomore classes. She explained that this is probably due to the class members dispersing into their specific majors.
While the target size for the Class of 2008 is around 1,200, the same as it was last year, fewer students were accepted this year. Trahan said that when compared to the Class of 2007, she did not “anticipate we will see a larger class in the near future.”
Since RPI’s current senior class arrived, the persistence rate between freshmen and sophomore years has increased from 90.8 to 93.3 percent. While these numbers obviously do not exist for the Class of 2007 yet, Trahan said there have been no signs of an unusual number of students planning on leaving.
Trahan said she focuses on “recruitment, retention, and student satisfaction” and hopes that in a few years RPI will have a year to year persistence rate of around 95 percent. She said, “We spend time recruiting excellent students; we want to work equally hard to retain them.”
These retention rates are very high compared to other colleges. According to Jack Mahoney, director of Institutional Research, our persistence rate is on par with “private highly selective Ph.D. bearing institutions” which average a 91 percent persistence rate. Currently, RPI is ranked as a “private selective Ph.D. bearing institution.” The average persistence rate within that category is only 84.2 percent and the persistence rates of institutions only granting Masters or Bachelors degrees average much lower.
