6% of students admitted in first-ever ED II round

By Abigail Chiu     2/18/25 10:57pm

Rice’s inaugural round of Early Decision II saw a single-digit acceptance rate, admitting only 6% of its 2,513 applicants on Feb. 7, said Yvonne Romero, vice president for enrollment.

A total of 36,749 people applied to Rice this admissions cycle, including applicants across the ED I, ED II, regular decision and QuestBridge National College Match programs. This year’s applicant pool is 13% larger than last year’s 32,000. 

“We are delighted by the continued interest in Rice from applicants around the world,” Romero wrote in an email to the Thresher.

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The class of 2029 has already welcomed 491 students from the ED I and QuestBridge cycles, the former of which saw a 13.2% acceptance rate.

The class of 2028 accepted 7.5% of 32,459 applicants in its regular decision round last year, marking the third year of record-low acceptance rates. As applicant pools continue to grow, Rice’s acceptance rates have steadily declined over the years, first dipping into the single-digits in 2019. 

This year’s admissions cycle caps off the end of a five-year plan, announced in 2021, to expand Rice’s undergraduate population by 20% to 4,800. As of fall 2024, undergraduate enrollment was 4,776, and a twelfth new residential college will soon join campus.

“The most important thing that we will do in the next 10 years is to bring the most talented students, faculty and staff to us,” President Reggie DesRoches said in his Oct. 1 presentation of the 10-year plan. “We have ambitions to grow the university more than we’ve ever grown before, and more than any of our peers.” 

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