Rice Class of 2023 ED Discussion Thread

Truly makes me wonder what the Rice RD number is, and what the acceptance rate will be this year…in 2018-18, ED was up 19% and RD was up 13%. This year, ED up 39%.

Class of 2023 #applied #accepted rate matriculated
Early Decision 2,628 ~420 16% ?

Class of 2022 #applied #accepted rate matriculated
Early Decision 1,978 371 18% 362
Regular Decision 18,945 1,957 10.3% 598

Class of 2021 #applied #accepted rate matriculated
Early Decision 1,603 329 21% 313
Regular Decision 16,460 2,535 15% 735

Very interesting to see the year over year statistics… and not surprised at how much ED was up for the class of 2023 - I presume largely due to the Rice Investment (which was really always there, just not formalized?).

RD yield is ~30% … where do people think the rest of the students end up? And what happens if the yield jumps this year??

Rice had more students enroll for the Class of 2021 than expected. This led to some housing shortages. Rice requires all incoming students to live on campus. Rice gave financial incentives to upperclassmen to double up or move off campus to free up some dorm space. After the over enrollment for the class of 2021, Rice admitted fewer students RD for the class of 2022 and kept the entering class size under 1000. With about 420 of the seats in the class of 2023 already filled, I expect Rice will be very stingy on RD admits this year.

@DCCAWAMIIAIL - I spoke with an admission officer last year at Owl Days, and he told me that the goal for the class of 2022 was 930 students -compared to 1050 or so who matriculated for 2021 (2022 ended up with about 965). That was a big part of the reason why Rice accepted over 500 fewer applicants in 2018. In 2017 the yield was higher than expected, and Rice anticipated the same for 2018. Given the Rice investment, and the higher than usual ED acceptances, I suspect yield will be strong and that will definitely factor into the equation for RD acceptances.

Where do the other students end up? Often students will get amazing deals at their state flagships that are hard to turn down. Plus the usual suspects - other top 20 schools. I personally know of kids who turned down Rice and went to Brown, Penn, Georgia Tech, University of Texas, Harvard, Princeton, Baylor, Duke, Wash U, Dartmouth. But I also know of kids who turned down many of these schools to go to Rice. One of my daughters classmates turned down Stanford for Rice, because she felt that Rice would be a much better undergraduate experience and Stanford would be better for grad school.

Also, Rice has always had a generous financial aid policy, but I think the Rice Investment takes the financial aid to a new level - above and beyond where it was before (and now among the most generous policies in the nation).

According to a facebook post from Yvonne M. Romero Da Silva, there were 408 people accepted through ED and QB.

RD is going to be a slaughter this year. They’ve already filled 40% of their class!

Are there any statistics out about how many people typically get deferred, and about how many of those people get in RD?

Good data on the exact number of ED, @awesomepolyglot !

I have never heard any insider information on the number of students deferred, but have heard that generally Rice does not defer many from the ED round. Based on what I have read about deferral in general, deferred students get a fresh look in the RD round which means that senior grades and any further awards/test scores can be considered. It also means that those who are deferred will also be evaluated in the context of the entire applicant pool. I suspect that the fact that the deferred student applied early will be taken into consideration as a plus.

Looking at past year, for current year +20,000 RD applications will be submitted and guessing 2,000 additional students will be admitted by RD.

If math is right? ED Admission is only +/-20% and +/-80% for RD admit. Enrollment percentage will be much higher with “The Rice Investment” roll-out. I’m guessing 750 RD + 400 ED will be enrolled?

Good Luck to Future Owls.

The Class of 2021 was Rice’s biggest class ever with 1048 students matriculating. This put a huge strain on housing at Rice, which requires all incoming students to live on campus in a residential college setting. The next year Rice reduced the number of RD admits to compensate for the over enrollment. Rice cannot enroll 750 RD as it doesn’t have the space. Last year Rice’s target class was less than 950. http://www.ricethresher.org/article/2018/08/welcome-home-rices-most-selective-class-matriculates

Rice likely will assume its yield will increase due to the new financial aid program. Rice will probably admit even less RD than it did last year and may use the wait list more than it has in the past.

@Houston1021 I hear you, Rice will try to control enrollment with # of Admission/Wait listing.
If they decide to go 8% RD admission, ED admission at 15%, under 1000 students is possible.
Past 2 yrs__ Applied__ Admitted__ Enrolled
2021 ED/RD 18,063___ 2,890___ 1,025 16%
2022 ED/RD 20,923___ 2,328____ 960 11%

Rice Investment will increase enrollment up 10% and Rice will stay admission at 10%.
2022 Early Decision__ 1,978_____ 371____ 362___ 18%
2022 Regular Decision 18,945___ 1,957___ 598___ 10.3%

if @awesomepolyglot is right about ED and base on last year’s numbers, applications are up 12%
2023 Early Decision__ 2,220____ 408____ 408___ 18%
2023 Early Decision__ 2,650____ 408____ 408___ 15%

2023 Regular Decision 21000___ 2,170___ 710___ 10.3%
2023 Regular Decision 21000___ 1,957___ 598___ 09.4%

New number is ED 400 + 710 RD Enrollment = 1110 total.
BTW, Enrollment predictions are all for fun.

strange. My friend told me that he was accepted to Rice ED yesterday ???

He got his acceptance yesterday?
Did he not check it when decisions came out three weeks ago?

Article from the Thresher. http://www.ricethresher.org/article/2019/01/early-decision-application-pool-rises-39-percent ED admit rate was roughly 15.5 percent not 16 percent

Wow! Number tells me, RD Application will be higher and RD Admission Percentage will be lower.
On previous post, I said Rice had to go to 8% RD admission and ED admission is 15% to stay under 1,000 freshman.

Prior Prediction 2023 Early Decision__ 2,650____ 408____ 408___ 15%
Actual Number 2023 Early Decision__ 2,658____ 408____ 408___ 15.5%

Prior Prediction 2023 Regular Decision 21,000___ 2,170___ 710___ 10.3%
NEW Prediction 2023 Regular Decision 23,000___ 2,170___ 710___ 9.4%

enrollment prediction has not changed. 1110 total, ED 400 + RD 710.

Here is my prediction (no inside info)

RD applications up 20% - (pure speculation)

Rice can’t have a class of 1110 unless they build another residential college, and that won’t happen anytime soon.

Predicted 2023 ED/RD
25,000 Apply
2100 Admitted
975 Matriculate - 400 ED, 575 RD
8.4%

When the class of 2021 matriculated over 1000 freshmen, it put a huge strain on the residential college system. Rice offered free rooms to upper classmen that would overcrowd existing rooms (doubles into triples), etc. Rice also gave financial incentives to upperclassmen willing to move off campus. So many responded to the offer that there were 17 empty beds at the end. Rice then pulled 17 from the wait list. http://www.ricethresher.org/article/2017/08/high-yield-causes-bed-shortages

Rice is rebuilding Sid Richardson College and that new facility potentially will house more students, but the construction hasn’t gotten very far. It is not projected to be done until 2021. I also predict that Rice will have single digit acceptance rate for the first time, somewhere between 8 and 9 percent. In order to avoid a housing squeeze again, Rice may admit a lot fewer and go to the wait list as necessary. http://www.ricethresher.org/article/2018/01/sid-rich-new-building

@Faulkner1897 I’m trying to wrap my head around your prediction @ 7.5% (575 RD)
@Houston1021 @ 8.5% (guessing around 575 RD?)
Me, I’m staying @ 9.4% (710 RD), I still think this is doable.

@Faulkner1897 predicting 2023 RD admit at 7.5%
22,442 RD Apply
1,692 RD Admitted
575 RD Enrolled
7.5% RD (wow, that’s like IVY numbers)

Base on ED, I’m starting to believe both @Faulkner1897 and @Houston1021 could be right.

Additional reason why admit will go higher than 7.5%, elite applicant’s multiple offers, how many will choose Rice instead of HYPS?

Either way, this is a good problem to have…

Many Texas students want to stay in Texas near family and some for better odds at affordable Texas medical schools.

Every year many full pay applicants who need merit scholarships to offset no FA, take that offer. Rice’s COA is is 10K less than most peer schools like Ivies and a merit scholarship of $25K can make it best value for them. Attending a top 20 college for only a little bit more as they’ll have to pay at UT Austin is a great deal. Not as cheap as taking free rides offered by less selective Texas schools to high star students like them but a much better value.

I doubt Rice’s RD acceptance would go below 9% but it’s not completely impossible.