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Campus and Community

The WPI Campus and Its Surroundings

The WPI campus is set on an 80 acre hilltop site about one mile from downtown Worcester, the second largest city in New England with a population of about 170,000. Bordered on two sides by parks and on the other sides by private homes, WPI offers the quiet and peace of a suburban campus combined with convenient access to the opportunities of the city. WPI is one of ten colleges and universities in Worcester which enroll a total of 30,000 college students in the city.

Worcester is located in the heart of New England, an hour from Boston, just a couple of hours from the mountains of Vermont and New Hampshire, the rocky coast of Maine and the beaches of Cape Cod, and three and a half hours from New York City.

Cultural attractions in and around Worcester include the Worcester Art Museum, the Worcester Science Center, a minor league hockey team ("The Worcester Ice Cats"), the John Woodman Higgins Armory Museum, the Worcester Historical Museum, the American Antiquarian Society, Mechanics Hall, a nationally known musical festival, two symphony orchestras, several outstanding choruses, several active community and professional theatre groups, the Worcester Craft Center and Old Sturbridge Village. These facilities and organizations provide students with many academic, social and cultural opportunities. Also accessible to the students is the Worcester Centrum, a 13,000 seat civic center. Many convenience stores, pizza places, and other stores are within close walking distance from the campus.

The Student Body

The undergraduate enrollment is 2,700 with 1,000 graduate students. Women make up roughly 23% of the student body. Around 75 percent of the enrolled students are from public school backgrounds. Approximately 80% of entering freshmen graduate from WPI. Roughly 94% of the entering freshmen class return their sophomore year. Foreign students make up about 8% of the undergraduate student body. Approximately 56 percent of our students pursue engineering degrees. 37% pursue the sciences.

Approximately 48% of the undergraduate student body is from Massachusetts and 77% from New England. However, the percentage of students from out of state his been steadily increasing in recent years.

The Faculty

There are 246 full time and part time faculty and the student/faculty ratio is 13:1. 98% of the faculty hold Doctorate Degrees.

Maintained by webmaster@wpi.edu
Last modified: May 08, 2007 13:54:00