WPI By the Numbers
At Worcester Polytechnic Institute we believe the value of an education can’t be measured in numbers alone—but they’re a good place to start. WPI by the Numbers is our way of capturing some of the qualities that make a WPI education noteworthy and distinctive. It’s a glimpse into the interesting and important work of our students, faculty, and alumni. It’s a reflection of the recognition their efforts have brought this university. It’s a nod to 145 years of academic excellence and innovation.
In other words, the numbers on this page represent the WPI story, boiled down to its essence.
100: Percentage of WPI students who complete a senior capstone project
At WPI, all students complete a rigorous project in which they solve a complex and very real problem. Senior capstone projects often lead to important advances: creating microthreads to deliver stem cells for cardiac repair, automating a telescope imaging system, designing a material to absorb pollutants from coal gasification.
WPI senior capstone projects, or Major Qualifying Projects (MQP) as we call them, encompass high-level design or research experience in a student’s major field.
Each spring, MQP teams present the results of their research or design projects to their sponsors and faculty advisors at Project Presentation Day. Learn more about this event and the projects presented in 2009.
9: WPI’s rank on Forbes.com’s 2009 list of “Top Colleges for Getting Rich”
WPI is in good company: Dartmouth, Princeton, Stanford, Yale, MIT, and Harvard also made the top 10. Forbes.com reported that median salaries for WPI graduates with up to five years of experience averaged $61,000; for graduates 10 to 20 years out, they averaged $114,000.
Learn about WPI’s Career Development Center and how students are regularly recruited by some of the country’s top firms.
50: Percentage of WPI students who complete project work abroad
WPI students are thoroughly engaged in helping solve some of the world’s most pressing problems, even before they graduate. Through WPI’s innovative curriculum, students complete a series of projects, one of which asks them to address an issue that affects society.
WPI is a pioneer in global project-based education. Learn more about our more than 25 global project centers and the work our students do.
All WPI undergraduates complete a project called the Interdisciplinary Qualifying Project (IQP), in which students work at the intersection of science, technology, and society. Learn about this year’s highly coveted President’s IQP Award winners.
- Watch a video about WPI’s approach to purposeful problem solving.
- Read more about some recent projects that have made a difference.
500,000: Top prize, in dollars, won by a WPI team in a NASA robotics contest
Paul’s Robotics, a WPI-sponsored team led by robotics engineering major Paul Ventimiglia won the 2009 Regolith Challenge when their robot, Moonraker 2.0, excavated (and delivered to a bin within 30 minutes) an impressive amount of simulated lunar soil—nearly three times the requirement to qualify for a prize. The robot bested machines built by 22 other teams from around the country. Remarkably, WPI alumni were on the teams that came in second and third.
In 2007 WPI launched the nation’s first and only undergraduate degree program in robotics engineering.
- Read more about the Paul’s Robotics win at the NASA competition.
- See the feature story in Robot magazine about Moonraker 2.0.
0: Days on campus before WPI students start helping solve the world’s great problems
From their first day on campus, WPI freshmen are immersed in solving our planet’s most pressing challenges. Through a rigorous program we call the Great Problems Seminars, students focus on issues related to world health, the environment, energy, and sustainable development. Then, working in teams, they tackle one particular problem that resonates with them.
- Learn more about WPI’s Great Problems Seminars.
- Watch a video about WPI’s approach to purposeful problem solving.
1: WPI’s rank in BusinessWeek’s 2009 report on best part-time MBA programs
Nearly 100 programs across the country were rated. WPI rose to the top with “A+” scores for curriculum, teaching quality, and caliber of classmates. It also ranked No. 1 in the nation for the satisfaction of its MBA students, who lauded the program’s technology focus.
