Wentworth Institute of Technology
Boston, Massachusetts
Founded in 1904, Wentworth Institute of Technology is an independent, nationally ranked institution offering career-focused education in mathematics, applied science, architecture, business management, computer science, cybersecurity, computer networking, construction management, design, engineering, and engineering technology. The Institute also offers master’s degrees in architecture, civil engineering, construction management, facility management, and technology management.
Get to know Wentworth Institute of Technology
College Highlights
INNOVATION & ENTREPRENEURSHIP: BOLD EXPLORATIONS THAT BRING THE FUTURE INTO FOCUS
Exceptional academics provide the raw materials for new discoveries, and students are encouraged to leverage what they learn to identify and serve unmet needs. Students learn to design more efficient and effective solutions for existing problems, building new products, systems, and businesses that will benefit society.
Our world faces a diversity of challenges—technical, medical, economic, environmental, structural, sustainable—that have a profound impact on our daily lives. Wentworth provides opportunities for students to identify and engage with these issues, generating innovative ideas and solutions that make the world a better place. Because such solutions are inherently complex and multifaceted, the very effort to innovate inspires students to collaborate with peers and faculty from other majors and disciplines.
This effort has led students to pursue original research to present at conferences. They have fabricated and constructed prototypes in Wentworth’s studios and developed new, funded business concepts. Wentworth believes that, while not everyone has a career goal of being an entrepreneur, all students can and should learn to adopt an entrepreneurial mindset, thinking creatively and acting boldly in the work they choose to do. It’s about fostering new ideas, not just new businesses.
HOTBED OF ACTIVITY
Accelerate, Wentworth’s Innovation + Entrepreneurship Center was conceived as a logical extension of Wentworth’s already existing strengths and disciplines. Accelerate drives thought partnerships, interdisciplinary engagement, and out-of-the-box ideas among students, alumni, industry, and the Boston community. Being in Boston means that students are learning and working in the midst of one of the country’s leading hubs of innovation, home to a thriving and fast-paced startup ecosystem that includes research centers, venture capitalists, and business and technology experts.
COLLABORATION & PARTNERSHIPS: REAL-WORLD PROJECTS, REAL-WORLD IMPACT
Wentworth collaborates with leading universities, corporations, and other partners on a wide range of projects. These opportunities provide students with hands-on experience and valuable professional connections as they interact with and serve the needs of partners, such as GE Aviation. Wentworth also makes it a priority to engage students in projects that benefit the institute’s host community. The engine for local involvement and service-learning initiatives is the Center for Community and Learning Partnerships (CLP).
For a number of years, major corporations, such as GE Aviation in nearby Lynn, Massachusetts, have approached Wentworth with the desire to leverage the student body as a source of new ideas and inspiration. For example, GE engineers arrange to come to campus and present a problem to a class. Students are asked to work on real projects, like a redesign of a jet engine component. They work on their ideas, often using advanced design software and 3-D printers with coaching from the company’s engineers, and then present their ideas to the company. Later, when a solution has been approved, the class is invited out to the company’s facility for a demonstration. These partnerships effectively place real-world projects into the curriculum and can even expand to co-op and job-placement opportunities for students.
Founded in 2005, the CLP is the result of efforts by faculty, staff, students, and community representatives to create partnerships that address neighborhood concerns while enhancing the educational and professional environment at Wentworth. CLP programming is organized within three areas of concern: College Access, Community Engagement, and Service-Learning.
COLLEGE ACCESS
The Center offers a number of programs that are focused primarily on Boston Public School students. These programs provide mentoring, inspiration, and information to encourage BPS students to pursue higher education. They also aim to boost minority participation in the STEM fields as well as the architecture, construction, and engineering trades.
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Wentworth offers a number of programs that enable students to utilize their skills in service to society. These include:
- Alternative Spring Break: Students spend a week working together on community-based projects both in Boston and around the country.
- Co+Build: Students engage in local hands-on, service-based projects.
- Community Work Study: A federally funded program that provides financial assistance to students who work with a community-based organization.
- Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program: Students are trained to prepare income taxes for low-income clients as a free service.
SERVICE-LEARNING
Infused throughout the Wentworth experience, the project-based Service-Learning program enriches learning, teaches social responsibility, and strengthens communities. Service-learning projects are executed through coursework under the direction of faculty, student clubs and organizations, co-ops with community organizations, or as a senior-year requirement. Students can also receive a certificate and academic recognition for their service-learning and community engagement work.
CLASS SIZE
The number of sections of each class size.
2-9: 46 | 10-19: 196 | 20-29: 284
30-39: 25 | 40-49: 2 | 50-99: 7 | 100+: 0
ENROLLMENT BY ETHNICITY
Non-U.S. Citizen: 5%
Hispanic/Latine: 12%
Black or African American, non-Hispanic: 7%
White, non-Hispanic: 59%
Native/Indigenous American or Alaska Native, non-Hispanic: 0%
Asian, non-Hispanic: 10%
Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, non-Hispanic: 0%
Two or more races, non-Hispanic: 3%
Race and/or ethnicity unknown: 4%
“With its outstanding faculty, hands-on learning, required co-op work experience, extensive alumni network, and strong ties with industry, Wentworth gives its graduates a big edge in getting an initial job and building a career.” – Chuck Hotchkiss; Dean of the College of Architecture, Design, and Construction Management at Wentworth Institute of Technology
E IS FOR EXTERNALLY COLLABORATIVE.
Most people who work in engineering, technology, design, management, and related disciplines work with people outside their own organization: funders, investors, clients, customers, contractors, subcontractors, regulators, or fans. Professionals need to listen to others-—grasping their needs, desires, and concerns—and respond appropriately. Externally collaborative learning helps students develop and practice the skills they need to work well with colleagues and other partners.
Wentworth is open to external collaborators of all sorts, such as new startup businesses, major corporations, nonprofits of all sizes, and government bodies and agencies at all levels (federal, state, and local). The Institute is also interested in engaging learning opportunities wherever they arise. For instance, Wentworth’s mechanical engineering students have refined the design of stoves produced by Aid Africa, a non-governmental organization (NGO) in northern Uganda.
P IS FOR PROJECT BASED.
Wentworth believes that traditional lectures have their place but also understands that students can learn even more by getting involved in experiential learning. At Wentworth, as in most workplaces, experiential learning takes place largely through work on projects—sustained efforts with specified objectives along with constraints on time and other resources. Wentworth chooses projects that offer the best learning opportunities for students. Some of them are over within a few class sessions; others stretch over several semesters with different teams of students carrying out different phases.
I IS FOR INTERDISCIPLINARY.
In their careers, Wentworth students will work side-by-side with people whose academic backgrounds and work experiences vary widely. Wentworth models this interaction by organizing interdisciplinary projects that bring together students from two or more majors. Whether these partnerships consist of future architects and construction managers, industrial designers and biomedical engineers, or mechanical engineers and computer scientists, students who work together ultimately learn more about their own discipline as well as other fields.
C IS FOR CULTURE.
Externally collaborative, interdisciplinary projects are constantly being built into all of Wentworth’s degree programs.
Learning is what it’s all about: EPIC Learning represents a significant departure from traditional models of teaching. Wentworth believes that added value arises when students get hands-on experiences that prepare them for rewarding jobs and successful careers. Such was the rationale when Wentworth began its co-operative education (co-op) program in the 1970s. The same philosophy guides EPIC Learning today.
SPECIAL STUDY OPTIONS
Programs available at this institution.
Accelerated program
Cooperative education program
Cross-registration
Distance learning
Double major
Dual enrollment
Honors Program
Independent study
Internships
Study abroad
Undergraduate research
AWESOME LOCATION: FIRST-CLASS OPPORTUNITIES IN A WORLD-CLASS CITY
Both historic and future-focused, Boston is a truly ideal location in which to study. After all, it is home to 50 colleges within 50 square miles with the highest concentration of students in the world. It is an epicenter for design, technology, construction, business, medicine, and engineering—not to mention higher education—which makes it rich with opportunities for Wentworth students. The Institute’s 31-acre campus is safely and comfortably situated within this world-class city.
Boston provides Wentworth students with an expanded learning laboratory that is rich with resident experts and examples of excellence in a range of fields. Design students can visit the city’s premier buildings, study its sites, and learn from local experts as part of their studio experiences. Engineering and construction students engage with the city’s sophisticated culture of technology and its infrastructure, including the iconic Zakim Bridge, the widest cable-stayed span in the world.
STUDENTS ARE IDEALLY POSITIONED
Wentworth is only steps away from one of the world’s most important medical research centers, the Longwood Medical Area, thus making the campus a convenient source of biomedical-related co-ops and networking opportunities. There is also an area by the South Boston waterfront known as the Innovation District, designed as an urban environment that fosters innovation, collaboration, and entrepreneurship. With the nearby financial district and easy access to the region’s famed Route 128 high-tech highway, Wentworth students are ideally positioned to take advantage of all the opportunities Boston has to offer.
CRADLE OF ART, CULTURE, & RECREATION
Boston is a world-class center of art and culture. Anyone can easily walk to the Museum of Fine Arts or Symphony Hall, shop on Newbury Street or in the Copley Place Mall, and stroll through the city’s many recreational areas or the quiet parks of the Emerald Necklace. And, of course, students can watch a game at Fenway Park, the nearby home to Boston’s beloved Red Sox. The area’s transit system—the “T”—connects to the vibrancy of Harvard Square, the North End, Beacon Hill, the Charles River, the theater district, and the waterfront. Even more adventures ensue in a walk to the historic Freedom Trail, an afternoon watching an indie band in Central Square, and a ferry ride to Cape Cod’s beaches. From the Berkshires in Massachusetts to the White Mountains of New Hampshire and the skiing trails in Vermont, New England affords endless opportunities for recreation, reflection, and relaxation—all a mere day-trip away.
RESIDENCE LIFE
Wentworth Institute of Technology offers six different residential areas. Each area is different, consisting either of rooms, suites, or apartments. First-year students live in Evans Way/Tudbury Hall or Baker Hall, while upperclassmen and transfer students live in 555 Huntington Avenue, 610 Huntington Avenue, the Louis Prang/Vancouver Apartments, the Apartments@525, or Edwards/Rodgers Hall.
SCHOOL LOCATION
Boston provides Wentworth with an expanded learning laboratory. Design students visit the city’s premier buildings, study its sites, and learn from Boston’s professional leaders as part of their studios. Engineering and construction students engage with the city’s sophisticated culture of technology and its infrastructure. The campus is only steps away from one of the world’s most important medical research centers, the Longwood Medical Area. Wentworth students are always encouraged to learn from all Boston has to offer.
Wentworth is a 31-acre residential campus in Boston with easy access to public transportation. It is within walking distance to Fenway Park, Museum of Fine Arts, Symphony Hall, Prudential Center, and dozens of other colleges and universities.
ATHLETICS
National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III, Commonwealth Coast Conference (CCC), Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC), and Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC)
16 intercollegiate varsity teams: Baseball M; Basketball M, W; Cross Country M; Golf M; Ice Hockey M; Lacrosse M, W; Rowing M; Soccer M, W; Softball W; Tennis M, W; Volleyball M, W
Variety of Club Sports run through Student Leadership Programs
Co-ed intramural program
Mascot: Leopard
Colors: Red, Yellow, Black
RESIDENCE LIFE
Percent of students living on campus.
First-time, first-year (freshman) students: 82%
Undergraduates: 50%
Campus housing options.
Coed dorms
Apartments for single students
Special housing for disabled students
Theme housing
Wellness housing
COOPERATIVE LEARNING IN REAL-WORLD ENVIRONMENTS
Wentworth’s cooperative education program (co-op) is one of the most comprehensive in the country, contributing to the firm basis for Wentworth’s high placement rate for graduates among leading organizations—locally, nationally, and worldwide. At Wentworth, two semesters of co-op placements are required (and a third semester is optional). The simple reason for this is that the 21st-century economy moves too quickly to allow newly minted professionals time to get their feet wet and their hands dirty. Wentworth graduates hit the ground running and achieve career success because they already have extensive experience applying classroom knowledge to real-world situations.
BUILDING RÉSUMÉS
Co-ops allow students to become adept at handling new situations where the stakes are real—as are the deadlines, budgets, and expectations. Selected with the help of an advisor, co-op experiences are directly related to a student’s major course of study. They typically begin after the second year at Wentworth (though architecture majors do their first co-op in their sophomore year), ensuring that students have a solid foundation of skills and knowledge to apply in their field. During co-op terms, students earn income yet do not pay tuition; furthermore, if the co-op placement is local, students can choose to live on campus, maintaining close connections to friends and all the activities going on in the Wentworth community.
For students, co-op experiences are some of the most memorable of their Wentworth years.
LOTS OF OPTIONS, LOCATION-WISE
Though a majority of co-ops take place in New England, there are no geographic limits. Recently, students have worked in the mid-Atlantic states, Arizona, California, Florida, North Carolina, Texas, and Washington as well as outside the U.S. in such countries as Australia, China, and France.
For the Class of 2016, some 98 percent of new graduates had either found gainful employment on a career path or had been accepted into graduate school.
CO-OPS HAVE CYCLICAL INFLUENCE
classroom learning prepares students for co-ops, and the co-op experience provides students with greater perspective and concrete examples that enhance their coursework when they return to campus. Upon graduation, the combination of academics, labs, and cooperative learning provides considerable competitive advantage in the job market and the workplace.
Admission
Wentworth practices rolling admissions with a priority deadline of February 15. After this date, please contact the Admissions Office for program availability. High school students can apply any time after the beginning of their senior year. Once all their application requirements are received, their completed application is reviewed and responded to within 4 to 5 weeks. The deposit deadline is May 1 for all students.
Application Requirements:
- Application Form and Fee ($50)
- Official High School Transcript
- Official SAT I or ACT scores
- Personal statement
- At least one recommendation letter
- College transcripts for transfer students
- Portfolio is not required for architecture or design applicants
ADMISSIONS FACTORS
Important
Rigor of secondary school record | Academic GPA | Application Essay
Considered
Standardized test scores | Recommendation(s) | Extracurricular activities
Talent/ability | Character/personal qualities | First generation
Alumni/ae relation | Geographical residence | Racial/ethnic status
Volunteer work | Work experience | Level of applicant’s interest
FRESHMAN PROFILE
SAT Composite
25th Percentile: 1150 | 75th Percentile: 1325
SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing
25th Percentile: 550 | 75th Percentile: 660
SAT Math
25th Percentile: 570 | 75th Percentile: 680
ACT Composite
25th Percentile: 25 | 75th Percentile: 31
ACT Math
25th Percentile: 25 | 75th Percentile: 28
ACT English
25th Percentile: 24 | 75th Percentile: 28
ACT Science
25th Percentile: 26 | 75th Percentile: 33
ACT Reading
25th Percentile: 26 | 75th Percentile: 31
Tuition & Cost
Tuition: $40,410
Fees: $600
Room: $14,054
Board: $4,430
What Others are Saying
Contact Wentworth Institute of Technology
Contact Admissions
wit.edu/admissions
(800) 556-0610
admissions@wit.edu
Campus Location
550 Huntington Avenue
Boston, MA 02115
(617) 989-4085