Admit rate has ranged 73%–77% over the last 5 years. Source: IPEDS via Urban Institute.
Acceptance & SAT from Common Data Set / IPEDS; net price, earnings & graduation from the U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard. Figures lag ~1–2 years — verify with the school.
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology is a small, fiercely focused STEM powerhouse in Terre Haute, Indiana, where undergraduates get a no-nonsense engineering education with an 8:1 student-faculty ratio and a near-guarantee of financial aid. Known for its 'applied nerd culture'—think Human Powered Vehicle Team competitions and midnight problem sets—Rose-Hulman graduates command median early-career salaries of $105,649, topping Indiana's earnings charts.
Admission requirements
Test-optional — scores considered if submitted
Required
High school transcript
Letters of recommendation
College-prep program
TOEFL (non-native English)
Considered (not required)
Grade point average
Class rank
Test scores (SAT/ACT)
Source: IPEDS Admissions survey (2022) via Urban Institute. Covers formal factors only — it does not reflect essays, extracurriculars, or other holistic criteria.
More details
Undergrad enrollment
2,309
In-state tuition
$58,649
Out-of-state tuition
$58,649
Location
Terre Haute, IN
Notable Fact
100% of students receive merit or need-based aid
Student-Faculty Ratio
8:1
4-Year Graduation Rate
82%
Avg First-Year Aid Package
$41,363
Median Early-Career Salary
$105,649
Outcomes & value
Outcomes & value
Median earnings (10 yr)
$101,253
Value (earnings ÷ net price)
2.4×
Median debt at graduation
$25,000
Graduation rate
78%
First-year retention
92%
Reducing loan balance (3 yr)
93%
Pell (lower-income) share
12%
First-gen share (among federal-aid recipients)
14%
Top-earning majors
Median earnings by field of study (highest credential), ~2 years after completion.
Computer Science$111,992
Computer Engineering$90,049
Chemical Engineering$79,473
Mathematics$76,460
Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering$74,341
Mechanical Engineering$72,600
Applicants here also applied to
The schools that most often appear alongside Rose-Hulman on applicants’ lists, from our self-reported outcomes corpus.
On-campus criminal offenses classed as violent (murder/non-negligent manslaughter, rape, robbery, aggravated assault) for the most recent reported year. Source: U.S. Dept. of Education Campus Safety and Security (Clery Act). Counts reflect what’s reported to the school, and urban campuses often report more partly due to non-student incidents nearby — read alongside campus size and setting, not as a standalone safety verdict.
Climate
Pleasant days / yr
87
Summer high
84°F
Winter low
27°F
Annual rain
42.6"
Annual snow
13.9"
Natural-hazard risk
Relatively Moderate
Pleasant days counts days per year with a mean temperature of 55–75°F, a high at or below 90°F, a low at or above 45°F, and little precipitation — a transparent comfort measure, not a weighting we invented. Computed from Open-Meteo ERA5 daily history (2019–2023). Natural-hazard risk is the county’s composite rating from the FEMA National Risk Index.
Deep dive — research, future-scholar output & economic mobility▾
Research output
Institutional h-index
103
Scholarly works
3,935
Institutional research volume and impact from OpenAlex. The h-index reflects large research universities and will be low for teaching-focused liberal-arts colleges — not a measure of undergraduate quality.
Future-scholar output
Science & engineering PhDsper-capita yield 7.1
Share of this school’s graduates who go on to earn research doctorates (2010–20), by national rank and per-capita yield (NSF institutional-yield ratio). A signal of a research-oriented student culture — not a causal promise, since it partly reflects who enrolls. Only top producers appear. Source: NSF NCSES, Baccalaureate Origins of U.S. Research Doctorate Recipients.
Economic mobility
Mobility rate
2.2%
Bottom → top quintile
Quick answers
What is the acceptance rate at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology?
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology's acceptance rate is approximately 77% (Terre Haute, IN), based on the most recent figures we compiled from public and primary sources.
What SAT score do you need for Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology?
Admitted students at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology typically score 1320–1500 on the SAT (the middle-50% range). Scores outside this band are still admitted, especially with strong applications.
How much does Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology cost?
At Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, the average net price (after aid) is about $42,513 per year. Actual cost varies with financial aid and residency.
How many undergraduates attend Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology?
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology enrolls approximately 2,309 undergraduate students.
Where is Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology located?
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology is located in Terre Haute, IN.
Admissions
Rose-Hulman's admissions are somewhat selective with a 77% acceptance rate, though admitted students typically post strong STEM credentials: mid-50% SAT scores range from 1310–1490, while ACT composites fall between 28–33. The institute is test-flexible, accepting both SAT and ACT with or without essay components. What sets Rose-Hulman apart financially is its universal aid policy—100% of students who don’t qualify for still receive merit scholarships, with average awards ranging from $27,000 to $44,500 depending on family income brackets. Applications are due February 1.
Earnings = median of students working ~10 years after entry; debt = median of graduates. Value divides 10-yr earnings by one year’s net price — read it as earnings per dollar of annual cost, not a full lifetime ROI; it favors lower-cost schools. Source: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard. Figures lag ~2 years and reflect all students, not your intended major.
Biomedical/Medical Engineering
$68,331
Civil Engineering$67,273
Source: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard (field-of-study earnings). Figures cover graduates who received federal aid and lag ~2 years; not all programs report data.
Co-application frequency from self-reported results — directional peer discovery, not a recommendation.
78%
From bottom quintile
3%
Mobility rate = the share of students who both start in the bottom household-income quintile and reach the top quintile; bottom → top is that chance conditional on starting at the bottom. Source: Opportunity Insights Mobility Report Cards (Chetty, Friedman, Saez, Turner & Yagan). Reflects 1980–82 birth cohorts, so it’s directional, not current.
Academics
This is a no-distractions STEM factory: 69% of students major in engineering, 21% in computer science, and 4% in mathematics, with zero liberal arts degrees offered. The curriculum is relentlessly hands-on—faculty pride themselves on being "#1 among engineering schools that don’t offer PhDs," focusing entirely on undergraduate teaching. Small classes (the 8:1 student-faculty ratio isn’t just marketing) mean direct access to professors who’ve won teaching awards for their collaborative, mistake-friendly pedagogy. Facilities are cutting-edge, with project-based learning spaces that feel more like tech startup labs than traditional classrooms.
Life revolves around applied nerdery and tight-knit camaraderie. The Mussallem Student Union buzzs with activity from 50+ clubs like the gardening club (yes, engineers grow tomatoes too) and drama productions where calculus jokes land reliably. Greek life claims about 30% of students, but the real social glue is project teams—the Human Powered Vehicle Team competes nationally, while hackathons and robotics builds spill into common areas. Terre Haute isn’t a college town, so students create their own fun: movie nights in the dorm halls, impromptu coding marathons, and road trips to Indianapolis (75 minutes away). The vibe is work-hard-play-hard, with a distinct lack of pretense—you’ll see more graphing calculators than designer handbags.
The ROI here is staggering: four years post-graduation, alumni report median earnings of $105,649—the highest in Indiana and among the top 2% nationally for early-career salaries. An 82% graduation rate (well above peer averages) reflects both the supportive environment and self-selection of students who thrive under intense workloads. Nearly all graduates land in STEM fields, with heavy recruitment from Cummins, Rolls-Royce, and tech firms hungry for engineers who’ve already logged thousands of lab hours. The alumni network is tight-knit and famously responsive to job-seeking graduates.
Sticker shock is real ($55K+ tuition), but Rose-Hulman aggressively discounts through merit and . The average first-year scholarship is $41,363, with 57% of students receiving need-based grants. Even families earning $100K–$150K typically see $28K–$41K in annual aid. The averages $41,678 after aid—still steep, but justified by those post-grad salaries. Every admitted student gets a personalized aid package, and the institute meets 94% of demonstrated need on average. Pro tip: Their net price calculator is unusually transparent about likely out-of-pocket costs.
Rose-Hulman is the anti-Ivy tech school—no pretensions, no distractions, just relentless focus on turning out work-ready engineers. Its singular advantage? Being small enough that every student gets faculty mentorship and big enough resources to rival research universities. The culture celebrates practical ingenuity (think: a student-designed campus geothermal system) over theoretical prestige. If you want to spend four years elbow-deep in robotics projects, trading differential equations jokes at 2 AM, and walking into a six-figure job, this is your tribe. Just don’t expect poetry seminars or Division I football—here, the homecoming game is probably a hackathon.
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology logo · sourcePhoto Tour | Rose-Hulman · sourceAdmissions & Aid | Rose-Hulman · sourceRose-Hulman Institute of Technology - Profile, Rankings and Data | US News Best Colleges · source
