Houston, TX · Private · 4,776 undergraduates · urban
Rice University
Extremely selective
Rice is the small research university in Houston best known for residential colleges and strong science and engineering. Every undergraduate joins one of 11 colleges, which function as social homes rather than academic divisions. The campus stays intimate while Houston supplies hospitals, energy companies, aerospace, arts, food, and civic work at metropolitan scale.
Institutional profile
Top tier Exceptional in affordability, and exceptional in career outcomes.- Admission
- 7.9% admitted
- Price by income
- Varies across five income ranges
- Completion
- 93.6%
31,059 applicants in the reported year
Compare recent average annual costs by household income
$89,718 median earnings 10 years after enrollment
What sets Rice apart
Eleven colleges carry student identity
Residential-college membership connects housing, dining, events, advising, and traditions across class years.
There is no Greek system
The colleges and student organizations create the social infrastructure that fraternities and sororities provide elsewhere.
Houston adds professional range
Medicine, energy, aerospace, arts, and civic institutions broaden opportunities beyond the campus specialties.
The Rice structure
Eleven colleges make a research university personal
Rice gives every undergraduate a lasting residential community inside a major city.
Join a college during O-Week
Orientation introduces the peers, advisers, traditions, and spaces that form the first social base.
Build across the university
Courses, research, clubs, and performances extend well beyond college membership.
Use the city’s institutions
Professional and civic work adds scale that Rice itself deliberately lacks.
Can I get in?
7.9% admitted
Rice expects strong preparation and reads for students who will participate in a cooperative residential community. The application should connect an academic direction to a concrete use of Houston or the college system.
Recent applicant pool
31,059About 8 in every 100 applicants were admitted.
Academic range
Of admitted students, 50% submitted an SAT, and 22% submitted an ACT. Submission rates alone do not settle the choice. Submit a score if it strengthens the application.
In the season card
Where your GPA sits in the entering class
The full entering-class GPA distribution for Rice, in nine bands from 4.0 down, with your own record marked on it.
See where I landIn the season card
What Rice weighs when it reads a file
See how this college describes the role of grades, testing, essays, recommendations, activities, and demonstrated interest.
- Course rigor
- GPA
- Test scores
- Essay
- Recommendations
- Extracurriculars
- Demonstrated interest
What moves the application
The evidence that separates a strong file
Academic fit at small scale
Show readiness for the intended field and a reason to prefer close faculty and peer contact.
Residential contribution
Use examples that reveal how the student joins, improves, or creates community.
A practical Houston connection
Tie the city to existing interests in research, health, energy, art, service, or design.
Substance behind the personality
Rice’s prompts can be playful, but the file still needs evidence of judgment and follow-through.
How to apply
Rounds, route, and required materials
Rice offers Early Decision and Regular Decision. The strongest application is specific about academic fit and shows how the student behaves in a community where participation is expected.
Fee waiver: accepted
Major and program admission
Some fields have their own entry path.
The college admit rate above covers the university as a whole. These requirements apply only to the named program.
ArchitectureAdmits separately
What this program asks for, and when it closes.
Can I afford it?
Compare annual cost by household income.
Need-based aid and merit scholarships can reduce the published price. Houston’s cost structure may compare favorably with coastal cities, but travel remains household-specific.
College funding
Scholarships and financial aid
Review available aid, application requirements, and renewal terms.
Rice University publishes two merit awards. one require a separate scholarship application.
Open across the university · Merit · Competitive
Through one school within the university · Merit · Competitive
MusicIn the season card
These two awards, by name
What each one is called, what it pays, the grades and scores it asks for, and what to send.
- The name of each award
- What it pays
- The grades and scores it asks for
- How to be considered
- What to send, and where
In the season card
Average annual cost by household income at Rice
Compare recent average net prices across five federal income ranges and estimate a 4-year cost for yours.
- $0–30k
- $30–48k
- $48–75k
- $75–110k
- $110k+
Is it worth it?
Completion, debt, and earnings
Engineering, computing, energy, medicine, research, architecture, business, and graduate study benefit from Houston institutions and Rice’s small undergraduate scale.
Degree completion across the reported entering cohort
First-year students who return for year two
And what that comes to against what they earn.
Reported 10 years after enrollment
Academic portfolio
Largest bachelor’s fields
How many students finish in each field, and median earnings four years after completing the program.
Computer and Information Sciences, General
Admits separately
Economics
Biology, General
Psychology, General
Mechanical Engineering
Admits separately
What is campus life like?
Rice beyond the classroom
Residential colleges organize housing, dining, traditions, and intramural competition. There is no Greek system, so the colleges and student organizations carry the social center.
College membership lasts beyond one room
Students join one of 11 residential colleges that connect housing, advisers, traditions, and alumni identity.
Meals belong to college life
College serveries and commons turn ordinary meals into recurring contact with the same community.
Small scale supports broad participation
Research, design, music, theater, publications, service, athletics, cultural groups, and entrepreneurship remain accessible.
Residential colleges replace Greek life
Rice has no fraternities or sororities; colleges, clubs, public parties, teams, and city outings organize social life.
Houston changes the opportunity set
The Texas Medical Center, energy, NASA-linked work, arts institutions, and a large nonprofit sector are close enough for sustained involvement.