The Polytechnic reported that 96.5 percent of the Class of 2007 returned for the Spring Semester of their freshman year. This is in-line with the average fall-spring retention rate over the last eight years.

The number of freshmen returning for the Spring Semester was carefully watched because of the extreme size of the Class of 2007. This was the largest freshman class in history at 1,347 students. The target size for the Class of 2008 is only 1,200.

The Class of 2007 will undoubtedly shrink a bit between its freshman and sophomore year. The freshman to sophomore "persistence rate" for the three older classes at RPI averages 93.3 percent. If the Class of 2007 maintains this persisitence rate, the class will only have shrunk by 90 students from when it matriculated.

Lisa Trahan of the Office of First Year Experience reportedly said that Rensselaer would like to have a year-to-year persistence rate of 95 percent. This would put RPI four percentage points higher than the average “private highly selective Ph.D. bearing institutions.”