Rice ranks No. 18 in U.S. News

By Riya Misra     9/24/24 6:56am

Rice ranks No. 18 in the the U.S. News and World Report’s 2025 national university rankings tied with Vanderbilt University and the University of Notre Dame. Rice has also placed No. 8, 9 and 29 in the Niche, Forbes and Wall Street Journal rankings, respectively.

USNWR placed Rice No. 17 last year, and No. 15 in 2023. This year’s methodology no longer accounts for first-generation graduation rates and performance, instead weighing the outcomes of federal financial aid recipients more heavily.

While Rice has been dipping in the USNWR rankings, every other ranking is higher than last year’s. Rice placed No. 9, 22 and 64 for Niche, Forbes and the WSJ.

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Rice’s 13-spot ascent in the Forbes rankings — marking its first time in the list’s top 10 — was largely due to low student debt for graduates, Forbes wrote. Meanwhile, the WSJ said Rice’s 35-spot rise is partially owed to its expanding operations research major.

The WSJ honed its methodology, which was brand-new last year. The 2025 rankings reflect how surveyed universities “develop character strengths that help students make a meaningful contribution to society,” the WSJ wrote, and fine-tuned its model for weighing graduation rates and salary.

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