7.5% acceptance rate marks lowest in Rice history

By Brandon Chen     3/28/24 4:11pm

Rice admitted 2,439 students from 32,459 applicants March 26, according to Vice President for Enrollment Yvonne Romero da Silva. With a 7.5% admit rate, this is the third consecutive year of record-low acceptance rates. The Thresher previously reported 7.7% and 8.56% acceptance rates for the Class and 2027 and 2026 respectively.

This cycle saw 4.5% more applicants than last year’s 31,049. 

Despite shrinking acceptance rates, Rice continues to expand its undergraduate enrollment to a projected 4,800 by Fall 2024 and begins construction of two new residential colleges, which would raise undergraduate on-campus capacity to over 3,500.

---

---

Rice has remained test-optional for the class of 2028. 22% of this year’s admitted students did not submit test scores, compared to last year’s 21%. While some universities, such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Georgetown University and Dartmouth College have reinstated test policies, Rice will maintain its test-optional policy for the 2025 application cycle.

“This was another spectacular class for Rice, and the newest admits represent the most selective class in Rice’s history once again,” Romero da Silva wrote in an email to the Thresher.

---