Rice University

William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a private research university in Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center.

  • Admission to Rice is rated as “most selective” by U.S. News & World Report. For fall 2020, Rice received 23,443 freshmen applications of which 2,346 were admitted (10.0%) up from a record-low 8.7% acceptance rate in 2019. The middle 50% range of SAT scores for the class of 2023 were 1470–1560; the middle 50% range of the ACT Composite score was 33–35.
  • Rice was ranked tied at 17th among national universities and 108th among global universities, 6th for “best undergraduate teaching”, 5th for “Best Value”, and tied for 16th “Most Innovative” among national universities in the U.S. by U.S. News & World Report in its 2022 edition.
  • Forbes magazine ranked Rice University 21st nationally among 650 liberal arts colleges, universities and service academies in 2019, 19th among research universities and 2nd in the South.[In 2020, Rice was ranked 105th in the world by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings. In 2020, Rice was ranked tied for 95th internationally (41st nationally) by the Academic Ranking of World Universities. Rice University was also ranked 85th globally in 2020 by QS World University Rankings.
  • Rice is noted for its entrepreneurial activity, and has been recognized as the top ranked business incubator in the world by the Stockholm-based UBI Index for both 2013 and 2014.
  • The Princeton Review ranked Rice 4th for “Best Quality of Life”, 8th for “Happiest Students”, 20th among the most LGBT friendliest colleges (2014-2015), and one of the top 50 best value private colleges in its 2020 edition.
  • Rice was ranked 41st among research universities by the Center for Measuring University Performance in 2007. In 2011 the Leiden Ranking, which measures the performance of 500 major research universities worldwide, using metrics designed to measure research impact ranked Rice 4th Globally, for effectiveness and contribution of research.
  • In 2013 the university was again ranked first globally for quality of research in natural sciences and engineering, and 6th globally for all sciences.

The online short courses from Rice University explore both traditional and emerging professional principles, applying them to real-world challenges of today.