Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is the nation's oldest technological university. The university offers degrees from five school, Engineering, Science, Architecture, Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences, and the Lally School of Management, as well as an interdisciplinary degree in Information Technology and Web Science. The Institute also has been a leader in the transfer of technology from the laboratory to the marketplace so that new discoveries and inventions benefit human life, protect the environment, and strengthen economic development.

Rensselaer offers more than 145 programs at the bachelor's, master's, and doctoral levels. Students are encouraged to work in interdisciplinary programs that allow them to combine scholarly work from several departments or schools. The university provides rigorous, engaging, interactive learning environments and campus wide opportunities for leadership, collaboration, and creativity at its campuses in Troy, New York, and in Hartford, Connecticut, as well as at its Southeastern Connecticut regional site and at the Center for Architecture Science and Ecology in New York City.

During the course of almost two centuries, Rensselaer has built a reputation for providing an undergraduate education of undisputed intellectual rigor based on educational innovation in the laboratory, classroom, and studio. In more recent years, driven by talented, dedicated, and forward-thinking faculty, Rensselaer has expanded dramatically its research enterprise by leveraging existing strengths and focusing on five signature research areas such as biotechnology and the life sciences, computational science and engineering, media, arts, science, and technology, energy, environment, and smart systems, and nanotechnology and advanced materials.

Rensselaer's historic main campus sits on a bluff overlooking the city of Troy and the Hudson River. The area offers a relaxed lifestyle with many cultural and recreational opportunities, with easy access to several major metropolitan centers. It also offers a variety of recreational and social opportunities. The Adirondacks, the Berkshires, and the Catskills, all within an hour of Troy, offer hundreds of areas for camping, hiking, and skiing. Many clubs sponsored by the Rensselaer Union take full advantage of these natural resources.