Rice University

What are the graduation rates for students at Rice University?

Rice reports high completion rates for its tracked first-time, full-time undergraduate cohorts. In the 2024-25 institutional reporting, 87% completed within four years and 95% within six years. Its reported first-year retention rate was 97%, meaning most students in the measured cohort returned for the following fall.

These measures follow particular entering cohorts over specified periods. They should not be read as the graduation rate for every transfer student, part-time student or graduate student, nor do they show whether an individual student finished a particular major on schedule. Students weighing a double major, study abroad or a change of field should examine that plan's course sequence alongside the university-wide figures.

What is the earning potential for graduates at Rice University?

Field-of-study earnings figures give a limited view of early post-college outcomes, not a forecast of what a Rice degree will pay an individual. College Scorecard program data report median earnings about one year after completion for graduates captured in the underlying federal data.

In the October 2026 Scorecard snapshot, the reported one-year median was $122,770 for computer and information sciences and $87,989 for economics. Other reported examples were $78,801 for chemical engineering and $28,009 for English language and literature. These figures describe different groups of graduates, not the starting salaries offered to every student in those majors.

Program figures may be unavailable when reporting thresholds are not met. Earnings data also cannot fully account for differences in further study, occupation, location, hours worked or career stage. A student comparing majors should consider curriculum, career paths and the time horizon of the measure, rather than treating a one-year median as a lifetime return.