Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) is known for their rigorous engineering program, vibrant campus community, and 200-year history of research advancements. Their accomplished alumni include astronaut Jack Swigert, ARPANET originator Raymond Tomlinson, and Nobel Prize-winner Ivar Giaever, among many others. Hoping to follow in their footsteps? First you’ll need to nail your RPI supplemental essays. Let’s dive in.
RPI 2024-2025 Prompts
Required RPI Supplemental Essays
- Why are you interested in Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute? (250 words or fewer)
- Please briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities or work experiences. (300 words or fewer)
Program-Specific RPI Supplemental Essays
The following prompts are required only for applicants to specific programs. If you are applying to the Accelerated Physician-Scientist (B.S./M.D.) Program, the Architecture (ARCH) program, the Electronic Arts (EART) program, the Games and Simulation Arts and Sciences (GSAS) program, or the Music (MUSC) program, you’ll need to write the respective essay. If not, you’re off the hook!
- Accelerated Physician-Scientist (B.S./M.D.) Program: State your reasons for aspiring to a career in medicine. (500-750 words)
- Architecture (ARCH): State your reasons for choosing architecture as your profession (1–2 pages).
- Electronic Arts (EART): Discuss your interests in the field of electronic arts, and state how this is reflected in your portfolio, if one has been submitted (1–2 pages).
- Games and Simulation Arts and Sciences (GSAS): State your reasons for choosing the field of games and simulation arts and sciences, making reference to your portfolio if one has been submitted (1–2 pages).
- Music (MUSC): Describe your interest in the music major and your goals. Please include completed course work in music, private music instruction, musical performance and production experience, or completed independent projects (1–2 pages).
General Tips
The RPI supplemental essays all have word limits higher than the average college essay, leading to one of the biggest challenges students have in writing successful essays: organization.
An organized essay not only communicates nuanced ideas to the reader, but it does so in a logical fashion. The reader shouldn’t sense that certain topics receive undue attention while others leave unanswered questions. In addition, the essay has a clear introduction and conclusion. In other words, the reader doesn’t see the conclusion as a restatement of the introduction, even if the ideas both parts of the essay espouse are similar. Instead, the reader can follow the progression of ideas in the essay from the beginning to the end.
What does an organized essay look like in practice? Put simply, it’s easy to compose an outline for an organized essay. Although some students find that writing outlines is a helpful tactic, others find it to be a stifling exercise. If that sounds like you, no problem. Yes, an outline is very useful, but it doesn’t need to be written before you’ve drafted your essay. Instead, you can compose a draft via your usual writing process, and then compose a “reverse outline.” Go through each paragraph and write down its main idea. There, you’ve got a reverse outline.
Once you’ve composed your outline (or reverse outline), consider it from a more macro-level. Does each idea build upon the prior one? Do you address each part of the prompt in your essay? Do any of your paragraphs not relate to the prompt (if so, consider removing them)? Does any idea receive undue attention while other ideas receive cursory attention? Do any paragraphs pack in too many ideas? Or do any paragraphs not fully address any ideas? Lastly, is there anything crucial missing?
After considering all of the questions above, the necessary edits to your essay outline (and, by extension, your essay) should be clear. If not, though, feel free to reach out to our College Essay Review service for personalized help!
Required RPI Supplemental Essays
Why are you interested in Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute? (250 words or fewer)
This is your chance to show the admissions team why you’re excited about applying to RPI. In other words, this is your “Why RPI?” essay. Many universities consider the applicant’s level of interest when making acceptance decisions. Therefore, demonstrating how interested you are in attending RPI could make or break your application.
How can you demonstrate interest in RPI in this essay? First, you’ll need to clarify your interests to the reader. Then, you’ll need to point to the opportunities at RPI that relate to these interests of yours. Research will be key to making your response to this prompt shine. When possible, name specific programs, professors, courses, or other opportunities at RPI that will support you on your academic journey.
Ideally, you show the reader why RPI is uniquely fitting for your academic interests and personal ambitions. What does RPI offer that most schools don’t? Once you identify the unique offerings at RPI related to your interests, you can explore them in your essay. If you have space, feel free to connect those opportunities at RPI to your future career or other goals. Demonstrating how RPI’s curriculum and extracurricular offerings will benefit you post-graduation will show the reader your forethought and maturity.
Please briefly elaborate on one of your extracurricular activities or work experiences. (300 words or fewer)
In this essay, you’re free to go into detail on an activity you’ve already listed elsewhere. That said, we recommend instead picking an experience you haven’t already described, because this gives you more opportunities to show off your strengths and diverse qualities.
Use the categories the prompt lists as a jumping-off point to decide on your essay topic. Are there any extracurricular experiences you didn’t list with your other activities? Where have you worked, and how did your work affect you? What lessons did you learn from these experiences?
Again, be as specific as you can. For example:
- Instead of stating how passionate you were about writing your fiction book, explain how facing your fifth rejection email taught you to persevere until you landed the publication
- Instead of saying your retail job taught you to keep a level head in a fast-paced environment, describe how defusing a conflict with an angry customer opened your eyes to new conflict-resolution strategies
- Instead of describing the responsibilities you took on at your software internship, specifically describe how you caught up to the learning curve set for the college-age interns
Remember, this shouldn’t be a superficial experience, but, ideally, something that has shaped who you are. Think carefully about the activity you choose and the accompanying anecdote(s) to avoid coming across as shallow or generic.
Program-Specific RPI Supplemental Essays
Accelerated Physician-Scientist (B.S./M.D.) Program: State your reasons for aspiring to a career in medicine. (500-750 words)
This prompt is simple, but difficult. Writing 500-750 words about your chosen career path may sound intimidating, but there are a few strategies you can implement to make the process easier.
For instance, if you have experienced a particular critical moment in your life that inspired you to pursue this career, or multiple moments, you can also consider writing this narrative/these narratives into your essay. For instance, was there an occasion when you witnessed a healthcare professional doing their job and felt inspired to follow in their footsteps? If so, recounting this experience could help make your essay more vivid and personal. That said, narrative(s) should not be the sole basis for your essay. Most important is that your essay genuinely represents your reasoning
You may also want start with composing a list of your reasons for pursuing a medical career. This can be a casual list, and your reasons can range from “stable future salary” to “it’s what my parents want for me” to a generic “helping people.” At this stage, the list is just for you. What’s most important is getting everything on the page for yourself.
Then, once you’ve got your list down, pick 2-4 specific reasons that you’d like to focus on in your essay. The rest of the reasons can manifest as smaller points or just remain in the back of your mind as more subtle influences in your writing process. Why is it best to whittle your list down and not try to pack every reason into your essay? In most cases, a long list of reasons will make for an unfocused, abstract essay. Ideally, your essay describes concrete reasons and moves between each point with clear transitions. That way, your reader will understand the nuances of each reason and how each reason applies uniquely to you.
Architecture (ARCH): State your reasons for choosing architecture as your profession (1–2 pages).
This prompt requires you to consider your past, present, and future—all in 1–2 pages! Of course, this isn’t easy to implement. Let’s discuss some strategies to make writing this essay a little bit more straightforward.
First, you may want to start with a list of reasons that drive you to pursue the architectural profession. For instance, what experiences in your past led you to consider the field of architecture? What research, internships, projects, etc. are you pursuing currently that solidify your passion for the field? And how do you envision your future in an architectural career?
Given that “architecture” is a broad field, you may want to indicate to the reader what you hope to specialize in. If your drive to pursue architecture is propelled by your visions of a greener future, then perhaps you can explain why environmental protection is one of your reasons for pursuing architecture, as well as being the sub-field that most interests you. This strategy allows your essay to do double-duty by sharing more about your academic interests while still answering the question.
Electronic Arts (EART): Discuss your interests in the field of electronic arts, and state how this is reflected in your portfolio, if one has been submitted (1–2 pages).
This essay prompt seeks to understand your interests, your portfolio (ideally, one has been submitted), and, if possible, what you hope to do with these interests in the future. On their webpage, the RPI EART program lists “videographers, art directors, graphic designers, audio engineers, musicians, gallery artists, animators, storyboard artists, and more” as careers for their alumni. If one or more of these careers speaks to you, then diving into that career here could help clarify your interests in the electronics arts field for the reader.
If you’re having trouble gaining inspiration for this essay, consider the projects, opportunities, etc. that you’ve pursued in the electronic arts field. Alternatively, consider your favorite artists or other creators and how they inspire you to follow in their footsteps—or forge your own path over the foundation they’ve built! Describing your influences and past experiences in the field of electronic arts will help demonstrate to the reader the depth of your interests and engagement.
Don’t forget to discuss how your portfolio reflect your interests. Focus on the works whose influences or messages might not be clear if the portfolio is evaluated in isolation. In other words, you may want to say the most about the works that are most likely to confuse the admissions team evaluating them.
Alternatively, you can focus on the works that reflect the interdisciplinary nature of your interests, the social justice message underpinning them, or the artistic vision driving them, to name a few directions this essay could take. Most crucial is that the interests you choose to discuss in this essay are clearly named and defined for the reader. Write authentically and in direct response to the prompt, and you’ll do fine.
Games and Simulation Arts and Sciences (GSAS): State your reasons for choosing the field of games and simulation arts and sciences, making reference to your portfolio if one has been submitted (1–2 pages).
This prompt might look simple, but many students will find it difficult. If it’s helpful, consider writing an outline to guide your essay draft. You can write a chronological outline that starts with your inspiration, moves onto how you pursue your field today, before describing how you envision your career.
Alternatively, you can try writing up a list of reasons you wish to pursue games and simulation arts and sciences. In your brainstorming process, think broadly with the interests you choose to put on this list. Remember, this exercise is just to get you thinking. If one of your reasons feels too personal or unnecessary for the admissions team to know, you have no obligation to include it in your essay. That said, your list might surprise you. At least in the brainstorming stage, don’t hold back.
This essay should provide specific details and remain focused throughout. In most cases, this means writing thoughtfully and thoroughly about just a few of your reasons.
If you’re unsure which reasons to focus on, try free-writing about the ones you’re deciding between. Give yourself 150 words, maximum, per reason in this exercise. Write until you’ve used up your 150 words. Try to write without lifting your pen from the page (or your fingers from the keyboard)! Hopefully, this process will show you which reasons provide the most room for fruitful discussion.
Lastly, you will ideally submit a portfolio and discuss it in this essay. If a particular work reflects one or more of your reasons, then you can (and should) bring it up in this essay. Remember, your reasons can be as simple as “I enjoy X” or “Y fulfills my creative side.” Whatever reasons you pick, though, you’ll need to explain with detail and examples, if applicable.
Music (MUSC): Describe your interest in the music major and your goals. Please include completed course work in music, private music instruction, musical performance and production experience, or completed independent projects (1–2 pages).
This essay should have three parts:
- Your interest in the music major.
- Your goals as a result of pursuing the music major.
- Your musical history.
Your college application might already cover some of these topics (particularly the third point listed above). You’re still expected to rehash them here, even if in brief. When addressing this third part, you can tie your response to the first and/or second part(s). For instance, you can describe a particular course you took and how it inspired your interest in the music field. Alternatively, you can express how a specific project you completed brought you closer to your goals.
This essay response, more than the other RPI supplemental essays, also provides you with the opportunity to express why RPI is the right school for you. You’re not asked to describe your interest in music, but rather in “the music major.” Thus, conducting some research into RPI’s music offerings could help you build a more effective essay. For instance, mentioning how a particular professor, course, club, or other opportunity at RPI attracts you will help you answer the question about your interest in the music major.
Describing your goals could sound like an intimidating task. However, you should see it as a good opportunity to define what RPI experience you’d most like to have. Entering college with defined goals—whether career, personal, or academic—can help you choose courses with intention, pursue extracurriculars purposefully, and overall get more out of your undergraduate experience. Although your goals may evolve throughout your undergraduate years, starting out with defined, yet dynamic goals can only help.
Regardless, you’ll need to indicate some of these goals in this essay. It can be helpful to visualize yourself in five years. Where are you working? What knowledge do you possess? How have you changed as a person? And, most importantly (for this essay, not in general), how has RPI’s music major helped you become that person you see in your future? If you can answer this question, you’re well on your way to a successful essay.
If you need help polishing up your RPI supplemental essays, check out our College Essay Review service. You can receive detailed feedback from Ivy League consultants in as little as 24 hours.
