Rice University is a mid-sized private university in Houston, Texas. The school has about 4,500 undergraduate students, who make up about half of the overall student body. The campus culture is, however, truly driven by the enthusiasm of the undergraduate community. At Rice, they seek to build a campus community full of diverse perspectives and voices, and that shows. There is also a real emphasis on practical learning — or learning with a career in mind. About a third of all new students express interest in engineering, and the Rice business program is widely known as exceptional. One in ten undergraduate students pursue the business major, which was launched in 2021 to much academic fanfare and even greater student enthusiasm.
Over the past few years, Rice has moved up the ranks from a selective university to a highly-selective school. In the 2021-2022 admissions cycle, they admitted 2,730 out of 31,443 applicants, or 8.7%. The following year, for the 2022-2023 admissions cycle, the number of applications continued on an upwards trajectory to 32,373 — and the acceptance rate with 7.7%. We don’t expect to see this slow down anytime soon, as the number of applications for first-year admission to Rice has nearly doubled since 2017.
As they’ve become a preferred college of top high school students, Rice hasn’t had to lean on their waitlist to fill the first-year class. But they also don’t brag about how few students they let in off of the waitlist (which some other schools do — rude, we agree). As a result, it can be confusing for students who get a waitlist decision and can’t find much information about what that actually means for Rice, or what to do next.
The most recent confirmed statistics available for the waitlist are from the 2021-2022 admissions cycle, when Rice offered 4,244 students a spot on the waitlist. 3,112 accepted a spot, and 0 (yes, zero) were admitted. This is, unfortunately, not an aberration but instead indicative of the norm for Rice. It is typical for them to admit a handful of students off of the waitlist, if any, each year. The reason for it being so hard to get in off the waitlist is, of course, partially attributable to the length of the waitlist. With nearly three times as many students on the waitlist as will even be in the first-year class, that’s a deep list. Rice’s impressive yield rate is another reason why it’s so hard to get off of the waitlist.
Nearly 50% of students who are offered a spot at Rice choose to enroll. 50% may not sound like a lot, but in the world of college admissions yield rates it’s quite impressive. They know that if they accept about twice as many new students as they want to end up with on campus in the fall, they’ll just about fill the first-year class. The waitlist exists to fill in any gaps if they under-estimate, but that hasn’t been happening much recently.
So, if you’ve been offered a spot on the Rice waitlist you may be thinking, “what am I to do?” While your chances of getting into Rice off of the waitlist are truly tiny there is, indeed, a chance. And we’re here to help. This post will be your step-by-step guide on what to do next for Rice if you want to play the waitlist game and continue to fight for a spot in the first-year class.
If you’re on the receiving end of a waitlist decision and feeling overwhelmed, send us an email. We’re pros at turning a disappointing decision into a spot at a dream college.
Get on the Waitlist
First, you need to get on the waitlist. This may seem obvious, but when you receive a waitlist decision you actually aren’t on the waitlist yet. You need to let them know that you want the spot they’re holding out in your direction. The Rice waitlist is unranked, so you don’t need to freak out and rush to say yes, but moving quickly is generally encouraged. Definitely reply before April 1st.
Now you’re on the waitlist, what’s next? Well, a back-up plan.
Get a Plan B
As we’ve said about a dozen different ways already in this post, it has historically been extremely hard to get into Rice off of the waitlist. That’s not because the waitlist of years past was weak or flawed — it has nothing to do with who is on the waitlist at all, actually. It’s because students like Rice, so they have a high yield rate and few, if any, spots open up for waitlisted applicants to fill.
All of this is to say that you need to plan as if Rice isn’t going to happen for you. Once you’re on the waitlist, you need to accept a spot at a school you were accepted to that you would be satisfied attending. This may feel like a defeat or a disappointment, and that initial feeling is valid. But you also should be celebrating that you’re going to college in the fall, and we highly recommend celebrating your successes instead of dwelling in challenges. Sure, Rice might happen, but enjoy your senior spring as if it won’t.
Reinforce Your Interest
Once you’ve lined up a college for the fall, it’s time to get into gear. Getting into Rice off of the waitlist is extremely difficult, but there’s one thing that can guarantee that it will be impossible: doing nothing.
Rice will not admit you if they are not 100% certain that you will accept a spot and enroll if they offer it to you — even if a space opens up and you’re a perfect fit. If you are not 100%, they are 0%.
We encourage students who are on the Rice waitlist to write an email to the admissions team assigned to your region that reinforces your interest and tells them that, yes, you will for sure attend if accepted. You can find the best email for your admissions team by going to the “Find Your Admission Counselor” page and then clicking on “Contact X Team” to email that group. Rice also has a general email address for application updates (riceapps@rice.edu), but we much prefer emailing your regional admissions team directly following a waitlist decision.
Once you know who you’ll be emailing, it’s time to write a Letter of Continued Interest, or LOCI. This letter will be short (up to about 450 words) and should only include relevant information and updates. It must be polite, professional, and perfectly edited — and it helps to have guidance from a pro.
Formal Greeting: Start the letter with a formal opening directed towards the admissions team that you are emailing. You shouldn’t name each person, but instead should open with something like, “Dear Rice Admissions North Team.”
Reinforce Interest: Next, you should start with a sentence signposting for the recipients that you are in their region of interest, so they know that you aren’t just emailing randomly. Then, you want to go straight into making them feel 100% confident that if you are accepted you will enroll. Simply saying as much isn’t enough, either. Convince them with specifics. What are you going to pursue at Rice? How are you going to become engaged in the community? Read the Rice Thresher, the student paper, to see what’s happening on campus, which you can use to inform what you emphasize as far as community involvement. Don’t neglect your academics, though. Mention a program or professor, or two, within your prospective major, that you are especially excited for. This section should be no more than 250 words.
Short Update: The next paragraph should be a short update of no more than 200 words focused on new awards, honors, activities, recognitions, or leadership positions. Pick things that are related to what you want to do at Rice, and stay super focused. Between 2 and 4 updates is ideal.
Professional Closing: Close out the letter with one more sentence reinforcing that you will attend if accepted, and then a “Sincerely,” or “Respectfully,”.
Then edit a few times, ask a friend or mentor to proof-read, and then submit!
Follow Instructions
Rice does not want to receive additional letters of recommendation from waitlisted candidates, but they do like to receive updated grades, which illustrate that you’ve continued achieving at a high level since you submitted your application. Then, you wait. Do not call, do not pester, and do not become known to them as a bother. Check your email regularly, and reconfirm your interest in the waitlist if requested.
Be Patient
Patience is probably the hardest part of the waitlist process. You’re going to have to wait until at minimum early May, and likely well into summer, to hear back. You need to keep your cool, and try your best to enjoy the end of your high school career even though you still have this question mark in the air above you. You will do great things, whether or not you are at Rice come fall.
Getting into Rice off of the waitlist is very hard to do, but by handling it correctly and proactively confirming that you will attend if accepted you can increase your chances exponentially. There’s no guarantee, but there is a chance — so chase it.
If you’re passionate about Rice, send us an email. We help top students become owls.