Rice University

Overview

Rice University sits in Houston, Texas, on a 300-acre campus. It received its state charter in 1891 and opened for classes in 1912. According to Rice’s 2025-26 Common Data Set, a standardized statistical report that colleges publish each year, Rice enrolled 4,807 undergraduates in fall 2025, reports a student-to-faculty ratio of about 6:1, and graduated 95.3% of the students who entered in 2019 within six years. In fall 2026 the undergraduate population reached about 5,000 for the first time, with 1,352 new first-year students, the largest entering class in the university’s history.

Three kinds of families tend to fit. In the first, the student has already settled on science, engineering, architecture, or music and is comfortable naming a school and intended majors at the point of application. In the second, the family wants small classes and a residential college community and is open to a large city in the American South. In the third, household income is under $200,000, and the expanded aid policy that begins in fall 2027 changes the cost picture substantially. The question to settle first is Early Decision: about half of Rice’s entering class is admitted through a binding early plan, so whether Rice is a first choice shapes the whole fall of grade 12. The last section of this page lays out the preparation by grade.

Admissions data

8.0%Class of 2029 admit rate

1. Applied36,791
2. Admitted2,948
3. Enrolled1,263

• Other US states52%
• Texas35%
• International13%

Rice does not publish a separate share for California.

• Asian American35%
• White22%
• Hispanic or Latino14%
• Foreign national13%
• African American or Black7%
• Multiracial5%
• Unknown3%

Of the first-year students who entered in fall 2025, 629 enrolled through Early Decision, about half the class; Rice received 5,748 Early Decision applications and admitted 647. Applications for the Class of 2030, which entered in fall 2026, exceeded 38,000; Rice has not yet published that class’s admit count.

How to apply

Rice accepts the Common Application and also QuestBridge. The application fee is $75, and students can request a waiver through the Common App. Materials include the Rice writing supplement (two short essays of 150 words each, plus one 500-word essay chosen from two prompts), an image for The Box (a Rice tradition that is not used in evaluation), a counselor recommendation, recommendations from two teachers of core academic subjects (ideally one related to the intended major), and a transcript covering grades 9 through 12. Applicants select a school of study and up to three majors or areas of interest, and Rice assesses how well prepared they are for those choices; every application is discussed by at least two admission officers. Architecture applicants also submit a portfolio of up to 10 pages and two 250-word essays. Music applicants must complete their materials and audition steps by December 1 and are not eligible for QuestBridge, ED I, or ED II.

The minimum high school curriculum is 16 credits: four in English, two in social studies, three in mathematics, two in laboratory science, two in one foreign language, and three more in any of these areas. Natural science and engineering applicants must also have trigonometry or precalculus and both chemistry and physics; a second year of chemistry or biology may substitute for physics.

Rice is test-optional. Its own wording is that it “recommends” SAT or ACT scores from applicants who have them, and students who do not submit still receive full consideration. Rice has no preference between the two tests and superscores, taking the highest section scores across all sittings. Once an applicant opts in to score consideration, the scores cannot be withdrawn; an applicant who applied without scores may add them later. Students at US high schools may self-report scores and send official reports after they decide to enroll. AP exam scores of 4 or 5 can earn credit at Rice.

Interviews are optional and, for the 2026-27 cycle, entirely virtual, conducted by alumni volunteers or current students. Applicants must submit the application first and then request an interview through the applicant portal: by November 3 for ED I, by December 16 for Regular Decision priority, and by January 6 for ED II and Regular Decision. Rice cannot guarantee an interview for everyone, and not being matched has no effect on the decision. Domestic applicants may also submit an optional 60- to 90-second video through Glimpse.

Admission is need-blind for domestic applicants, meaning an aid request never affects the decision, and this holds for students admitted from the waitlist. International applicants are reviewed on a need-aware basis, and Rice offers need-based aid to a limited number of international first-year students; international applicants whose first language is not English also submit TOEFL, IELTS, or Duolingo scores. Separately, about 20% of admitted students receive a merit scholarship each year, awarded automatically by the admission committee with no separate application.

Cost and financial aid

2026-27$92,654billed total

• Tuition$71,140
• Fees$984
• Housing and food$20,530

What a family pays, by income (students entering fall 2027 and later)

1. Under $100,000Billed $0Tuition, fees, and room and board fully covered
2. $100,000 to $200,000Tuition $0Full tuition covered
3. Above $200,000Assessed on need; full need met without loans

Rice’s aid program is called the Rice Investment. Rice meets 100% of demonstrated need, and its aid contains no loans. The income thresholds above take effect with students entering in fall 2027, which means students who are seniors in the 2026-27 school year; the previous thresholds were $75,000 and $140,000. Families with assets well above what is typical for their income may not qualify for these thresholds, though Rice still meets their demonstrated need. International students are not eligible for the Rice Investment but may apply for need-based aid. For 2026-27, Rice reports an average first-year aid package of $75,643 and an average family responsibility of $16,819, and more than 54% of undergraduates receive some form of aid. Applying requires the CSS Profile (the College Board’s aid application), the FAFSA (the federal aid form), and 2025 tax documents; the forms open October 1.

Schools and fields of study

Rice organizes undergraduate study into seven divisions: architecture, business, engineering and computing, humanities and arts, music, natural sciences, and social sciences. They correspond to the School of Architecture, the Virani Undergraduate School of Business, the George R. Brown School of Engineering and Computing, the School of Humanities and Arts, The Shepherd School of Music, the Wiess School of Natural Sciences, and the School of Social Sciences. The Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business admits graduate students only. The admission office describes more than 50 undergraduate majors; Rice’s official catalog, the General Announcements, lists 81 bachelor’s degree programs, 22 of them in music, where most are single-instrument performance degrees. The map below groups the 17 performance programs as one entry.

Every bachelor’s degree requires at least 120 credit hours. In the first year, each student completes a First-Year Writing-Intensive Seminar (FWIS). The distribution requirements call for at least three designated courses in each of three groups (humanities; social sciences; natural sciences and engineering), drawn from at least two departments within each group, and every student also completes one Analyzing Diversity course. Many fields offer both a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Science; the engineering BS degrees carry the field in their names, such as the BSCS in computer science and the BSME in mechanical engineering. Double majors are possible, but on-time graduation depends on planning the course sequence with an academic advisor.

Rice’s admission office notes that students in any major can take part in research from their first year on campus. For a student aiming at science or engineering, the school of study is chosen at the point of application, and Rice’s minimum course expectations for those divisions are trigonometry or precalculus plus chemistry and physics, so those courses need to be in place before senior year. After enrolling, AP scores of 4 or 5 and IB higher-level scores of 6 or 7 can earn Rice credit.

Campus life

Every new undergraduate is randomly assigned to a residential college and keeps that membership through all undergraduate years. The system began in 1957, and there are now 12 colleges: Baker, Will Rice, Hanszen, Wiess, Jones, Brown, Lovett, Sid Richardson, Martel, McMurtry, Duncan, and Chao. Chao College opened in August 2026 with nearly 300 beds. Each college has a faculty magister, the faculty head of the college, who lives in a house next to it and supports student self-government. Rice has no fraternities or sororities and no honors or athlete dorms; social events, intramural sports, student plays, and college-designed courses are all organized through the residential colleges.

A timeline for Irvine families

The five Irvine Unified high schools differ in when AP courses open, how weighting works, and how the math sequence accelerates. Those four years of scheduling shape the depth of an application and decide whether a science or engineering applicant finishes chemistry, physics, and precalculus on time. School-by-school rules are in the IUSD high school guides.

1. Grade 9Set the path, protect grades
   • Settle a math sequence that reaches precalculus before grade 12
   • Science and engineering: plan the order of chemistry and physics
   • Choose one or two activities that can run four years
2. Grade 10First AP courses
   • Take the first AP courses the school allows
   • Turn activities into visible output
   • Consider an academic summer program or research
3. Grade 11Finish testing
   • SAT or ACT: first sitting in spring, second before summer ends
   • Dates on the test calendar; prep on the SAT page
   • Choose two core-subject teachers to write recommendations
4. Fall of grade 12Choose ED I, ED II, or RD
   • ED I: apply by November 1, aid materials by November 15
   • File the UC application in the same window; withdraw it if admitted ED
   • ED II or Regular Decision: apply by January 4

Dates and registration deadlines are on the 2026-27 test calendar, and preparation options are on the SAT page.

How EDUBUS helps

EDUBUS college planning runs year by year from grade 9: a four-year course plan built around the rules of each Irvine high school, with chemistry, physics, and precalculus completed on time for students headed toward science or engineering; a testing schedule and a clear judgment on whether to submit scores; an activities direction that matches the school of study and majors named on the application; and in grade 12 a counselor review of the Rice supplement essays and the choice of image for The Box. Preparing the CSS Profile and FAFSA for financial aid is part of the service. Whether Early Decision makes sense depends on the family’s expectations for aid and on the student’s first choice, and a free assessment is a good place to start that conversation.