rice university chemistry phd acceptance rate

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• Department of Chemistry

Houston, TX

Department of Chemistry / Department of Chemistry is located in Houston, TX, in an urban setting.

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Degrees offered, degrees awarded, earning your degree, degree requirements, acceptance rate, application deadlines, entrance requirements, tuition & fees, financial support, student body, race/ethnicity, location & contact.

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• William Marsh Rice University
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• Wiess School of Natural Sciences

111th Commencement of Rice University - May 3-4 - Watch All Ceremonies

Admissions | Information for Applicants

How to apply.

Thanks for your interest in graduate study at Rice University! Selecting the right graduate school will greatly influence your professional success. We are so glad you are considering Rice, one of America's leading research universities.

To help you with the application process, we've put together some helpful links. Want to learn more about Rice? Watch the video below!

Programs of Study:

At Rice, graduate study is offered in two broad categories:

• Research-based programs leading to the M.A., M.S., and various doctoral degrees,
• Professional master's programs which provide advanced course work and lead to degrees in specific disciplines.

Graduate programs at Rice usually require full-time study, however, many professional master's programs can be completed on a part-time basis. Check with your department of interest for specifics.

Prospective graduate students apply to Rice through the department in which they wish to study. Each individual department, rather than the Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies, handles their own application deadline, program specifics, and offers of admission. Read more about our departments and degree programs here.

How to apply:

1. Find your graduate program(s) of interest and submit an interest form . Click here for a listing of schools and departments. 2. Research the cost of study and available financial support . Qualified doctoral students often receive tuition waivers and a generous stipend. 3. Look at our facts and stats on admissions, enrollment and degrees awarded. 4. Learn more about research at Rice . 5. Find out what living in Houston is like.

You will need to:

1. Consult with your program of interest on exact requirements. You may be required to submit some or all of the following:

• Official transcript from previous post-secondary institutions
• Rice waives application fees for doctoral applicants who are graduates of institutions in Texas and bordering states Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma and New Mexico or who have a permanent address in these states. This does not include programs in the Jones School of Business. Other fee waivers granted can be found here .
• **For 2024 admissions, Rice generally is not requiring the GRE. However, individual degree programs have the option of recommending, strongly recommending, or requiring the general GRE. Prospective students should check with their program of application for details.
• TOEFL, IELTS or Duolingo if international applicant. More information here .
• Letters of recommendation
• Writing samples
• Statement of purpose

2. Read our list of Frequently Asked Questions .

Submit your application:

Submit your application here . Applications generally open on or around September 1. Consult your program of interest for more information.

HIRING: Rice CHBE and School of Engineering invite applicants for five school-wide research specific faculty positions →

PhD Program

Our students and faculty are part of a collaborative community working on interdisciplinary research projects in the areas of materials and nanotechnology, energy and sustainability, and biomolecular engineering.

About the Program

Our PhD program is aimed at developing each student's ability to conduct independent creative scientific research. We pride ourselves on providing students ample opportunities to work on interdisciplinary projects with our world-class faculty as well as researchers from interdisciplinary institutes.

Research & Faculty

Our faculty and their research teams focus on a variety of areas while our home in Houston provides rich resources for collaboration with industry and the Texas Medical Center. Some of our key research areas include biomolecular engineering, energy and sustainability, and materials and nanotechnology.

• Living in Houston

Rice University's location in Houston helps provide faculty and students with endless opportunities for collaboration outside the campus. It is the center of the oil and gas industry, the home of the Texas Medical Center, and NASA’s Johnson Space Center is just down the road. Living in Houston means employment opportunities throughout the region, parks, professional sports teams, world-class dining, and other attractions make it a great place to call home.

Learn more about Life in Houston .

For New & Current Graduate Students

2023-24 graduate policies, graduate forms.

• Candidacy Memorandum
• Emergency Contact Form
• Evaluation of Progress
• 2nd Year Exam Form
• Travel Authorization
• Course Approval
• MChE Part-Time Status Request

Policies & Resources

• Academic Calendar
• General Announcements
• Course Catalog
• Code of Student Conduct
• Student Accounts
• Plagiarism: Recognize and Avoid It

Health & Safety

• Student Health Data
• Student Health Insurance
• Rice Crisis Management
• Disability Resource Center

Student Life

• Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies
• Graduate Student Association
• Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
• Campus Maps
• Awards & Scholarships

Getting Settled

• Off-Campus Housing
• Temporary Housing
• Graduate Student Loan Closet

GIVE TO CHEMISTRY

Department of Chemistry

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OPEN POSITIONS : Rice MSNE seeks applications for multiple faculty positions including a full professor →

PhD Program

Rice MSNE offers PhD students a collaborative atmosphere and an environment that values independence, innovation, and scholarship.

Rice University's Department of Materials Science and NanoEngineering PhD program offers students a collaborative atmosphere and an environment that values independence, innovation and scholarship. Our doctoral students are members of a highly selective academic community. Many MSNE faculty members have joint appointments in other science and engineering departments, assuring a diverse program in the broad field of materials science.

About the Program

Our PhD program offers students a collaborative atmosphere and an environment that values independence, innovation and scholarship. Our students are members of a highly selective academic community. MSNE programs emphasize applied as well as theoretical aspects of materials science and nanoengineering. Many MSNE faculty members have joint appointments in other science and engineering departments, assuring a diverse program in the broad field of materials science.

Research & Faculty

Faculty in the Department of Materials Science and NanoEngineering hold joint appointments in several other departments: mechanical engineering, bioengineering, chemistry, chemical and biomolecular engineering, electrical and computer engineering, civil and environmental engineering and physics and astronomy. This diversity of disciplines only hints at the interdisciplinary nature of MSNE research at Rice, which goes beyond nanotechnology.

Living In Houston

Rice University's location in Houston helps provide faculty and students with endless opportunities for collaboration outside the campus. It is the center of the oil and gas industry, the home of the Texas Medical Center, and NASA’s Johnson Space Center is just down the road. Living in Houston means employment opportunities throughout the region, parks, professional sports teams, world-class dining, and other attractions make it a great place to call home.

With more than six million people, Houston is the most diverse city in the United States and the soon-to-be third-largest. More than 90 languages are spoken in the city making it truly an international city.

Learn more about Life in Houston .

Rice University

4 year • Houston, TX

Rice University is a private institution that was founded in 1912. It has a total undergraduate enrollment of 4,494 (fall 2022), its setting is urban, and the campus size is 300 acres. It utilizes a semester-based academic calendar. Rice University's ranking in the 2024 edition of Best Colleges is National Universities, #17. Its tuition and fees are $58,128.

Rice University, located in the heart of Houston’s Museum District, offers a dynamic student life in the nation’s fourth-largest city. The Rice Coffeehouse, Valhalla Pub and Willy’s Pub are all student-run institutions offering on-campus food and drink. Before stepping foot on campus, all students are assigned to one of 11 residential colleges, of which they remain members even if they decide to move off campus. The residential colleges provide housing, dining, and academic and social events. The Rice Owls boast 14 varsity NCAA Division I athletic teams and are well known for their strong baseball program. Students receive free tickets to all varsity athletic events.

Rice is comprised of eight schools, including the School of Social Sciences, School of Humanities and Wiess School of Natural Sciences. Its graduate schools include the highly ranked Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business  and George R. Brown School of Engineering . Rice also has a well-regarded School of Architecture and the Shepherd School of Music. Rice is home to the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, a nonpartisan think tank, which offers coursework, internships and lectures. When a private detective found Rice’s stolen owl mascot at rival school Texas A&M  in 1917, he sent a coded message back to Rice students letting them know that "Sammy" was OK, thus bestowing a name on the school’s mascot.

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At-a-Glance

Tuition & Fees

Undergraduate Enrollment

Acceptance Rate

From the School

What if your next four years exceeded all expectations? Rice University sits in the heart of Houston on a 300-acre, tree-lined campus next to the Texas Medical Center and the Houston Museum District. As a top-tier research institution, we offer more than 50 majors across seven schools of study where students have the freedom and ability to choose their own path. From your first semester on campus, no matter your major, you'll have the opportunity to conduct research alongside experts. You'll be able to apply your skills, gain valuable professional experience and interact with industry leaders as you address real-world issues. Bright, curious and diverse, our students have a thirst for knowledge and a desire to shape the world around them.

Our student life begins with our residential colleges, where we randomly sort new students and where they stay throughout their time at Rice. Because each student is randomly assigned and stays in the same college throughout their undergraduate years, the diversity of our student body creates a rich tapestry of traditions, culture, and, most importantly, community. And by focusing on a culture of care, students find support from their peers resulting in an environment of collaboration over competition.

And at Rice, we believe that talent deserves opportunity, which is why with generous financial aid policies, more students have access to the aid they need. We strive to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to pursue a Rice education, starting with The Rice Investment, our signature financial aid program. The Rice Investment is an investment in the promise of all students who demonstrate talent, initiative and drive to positively impact the world. Rice is one of a select number of institutions that admits students based on academic merit rather than ability to pay. Rice also meets 100 percent of demonstrated need for admitted students through financial aid, regardless of whether they qualify for The Rice Investment.

This combination of excellence in academics, a vibrant and caring student life and our commitment to access and affordability forms the heart of Rice University.

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2024 Rankings

Schools are ranked according to their performance across a set of widely accepted indicators of excellence. Read more about how we rank schools.

• #17 in National Universities
• #5 in Best Value Schools
• in Business Programs

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High School GPA*

Admissions Website

* These are the average scores of applications admitted to this school. Ranges represent admitted applicants who fell within the 25th and 75th percentile.

Will You Get Into Rice University ?

College admissions calculator.

Data provided by U.S. News College Compass Users.

See Upcoming Events at Rice University .

Room & Board

$15,900 (2023-24)

Average Need-Based Aid Package

*Average cost after aid

Popular Majors

% OF GRADUATES

ALUMNI STARTING SALARY

Computer and Information Sciences, General

Psychology, General

Mechanical Engineering

Economics, General

Biology/Biological Sciences, General

* In cases where salary data at the specific major level is unavailable, a general salary for the major category is displayed.

Faculty Research Impact

Bibliometric Rank

Publications Cited in Top 25% of Journals

Publications Cited in Top 5% of Journals

Total Papers published between 2018-2022

Citations Per Publication

Big Questions Classes

At Rice, students from diverse academic backgrounds and career interests can take unique cross-disciplinary classes such as the Big Questions courses which examine enduring and not-so-straightforward topics. Students have delved into thought-provoking questions like “What is Love?” and “What is an (Ab)Normal Body?” These courses demonstrate how humanistic and artistic inquiry can help us make sense of our world and the daily dilemmas we face.

Pick the Perfect Major

Discover the perfect major for you based on your innate wiring. The Innate Assessment sets you up for success by pairing you with majors, colleges and careers that fit your unique skills and abilities.

Graduate Enrollment

Total Enrollment

Full-Time Degree-Seeking Students

Student Diversity

Gender Distribution

Ethnic Diversity

Minority Enrollment

International

Two or more races

Not Specified is not included in this breakdown due to an enrollment of 0%.

Campus Life

Housing and Dorms

Types of campus housing available:

• special housing for disabled students
• wellness housing
• other housing options

Student Activities

Sports Teams

Fraternities

Come visit Rice this summer! While you're here, don't miss engineering student Andrew Linhart's Lego scale model of Rice’s campus now on display in the Welcome Center lobby. #RiceOwls

Congratulations to the Class of 2024! These Rice Owls are now our newest Rice alums! #RiceGrad2024 #RiceAlumni #Rice2024 #RiceOwls

Rice Owls of Color United (ROC-U) is an affinity group on campus dedicated to empowering BIPOC student-athletes to serve Rice Athletics, Rice University and the Houston community through outreach events and service initiatives. Click on the link in our bio to learn more! @riceowlsofcolorunited #RiceOwls

After College

Graduation Rate

Graduating Students Who Have Borrowed (any loan type, 2021)

Average Debt at Graduation

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Reviews & ratings.

See reviews and ratings of this school from students, alumni, staff and others. These reviews are not written by U.S. News and have no impact on any of the Best Colleges rankings. Read an explanation of user ratings .

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Featured User Review

THE BEST SCHOOL EVER! Couldn't have asked to be admitted in a better, and more student-friendly school. Top-notch for almost anything one can name, and most certain to make one's careers and future bright. It is the underdog and for me, an IVY PLUS! The campus, the life, the pre-arrival guidance, everything speaks for itself and is a marvel of its own. Let's go OWLS!!

Kush M. Class of 2025, Houston, Texas.

Undergraduate data are based on the 2022 school year.

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Class Profile

Rice’s CBE evaluation and selection process yields a strong class each year. We seek students who demonstrate academic prowess and show strong promise of leadership and interest in bettering their communities. The application has many areas of evaluation, and we are careful not to weigh any one section over the rest in our contextual review.

Still, we recognize some find comfort in knowing the profile of a student accepted to Rice. Below are the statistics for the class of 2027.

Test Scores (Ranges of Deposited Students)

Enrolled students by gender, enrolled students by geography, enrolled domestic students by ethnicity (based on federal definitions), enrolled domestic students by ethnicity (based on all self-identified race/ethnicity data)*.

*Students indicating more than one race/ethnicity are counted in each of their self-identified race/ethnic categories. The percentages add up to more than 100.

Enrolled International Students by Geography

Admission statistics for the Class of 2027 as of Aug. 21, 2023.

Helpful Links

713-348-7423

[email protected]

M-F 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. CT

HIRING: Rice Statistics and the School of Engineering invite applicants for a teaching faculty position .

PhD Program in Statistics

The research interests of the faculty in the Department of Statistics cover a wide spectrum of topics in applied and theoretical statistics from engineering, natural sciences, business, medicine, and social sciences.

Our graduate students have the opportunity for rigorous training in computational and theoretical statistics as well as applied research in any of the above disciplines. The general PhD program is flexible, allowing you the opportunity to design a program that interests you, provided that it fits with the strengths of the department.

About the PhD Program

The MA in Statistics is earned as part of working toward the PhD program, which is designed around a three-year course of study. By the end of the third year, successful students will have completed courses and started on full-time research.

Research & Faculty

Research informs the direction of inquiry in statistics at Rice and brings the latest discoveries into the classroom. Research work done by graduate students alongside our faculty contributes significantly to the body of knowledge in the field.

Living In Houston

Rice University sits in the heart of Houston, which is home to the energy industry, as well as the world's largest medical complex, and NASA's Johnson Space Center is just down the road. With that, Rice researchers have endless opportunities for collaboration and careers.

Learn more about living in Houston .

PhD Program

The Department of Computer Science offers a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Computer Science. Ph.D. students work closely with one or more faculty members who serve as research directors and mentors. 

The Ph.D. degree is intended for students planning to pursue a career in computer science research and education. The doctoral program normally requires four to six years of study. Ph.D. students must spend at least four semesters in full-time study at Rice, where full-time study is defined as enrollment in nine or more hours of coursework. The Ph.D. degree requires a combination of coursework and original research, as evidenced in a written thesis and a public oral defense of that thesis.

Our multi-disciplinary research activities often go beyond engineering, as we begin to observe a major X+CS worldwide movement in which innovations in any discipline X occur at the boundary between X and Computer Science.

The Office of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies and the Rice General Announcements are definitive sources of general information related to obtaining a graduate degree from Rice. Explore the links below to find out more about financial support options while at Rice, life at Rice, living in Houston and graduate student organizations such as CS GSA. 

May. 8, 2024

Rice’s online master of computer science degree ranked no. 3 by fortune.

With more than 54,000 computer and information sciences master's degrees being awarded in recent polling by the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics , some of the best equipped students in the field are learning at Rice University. Its online Master of Computer Science program was honored by Fortune Magazine with the No. 3 designation in its national rankings.

This is the second consecutive year for the program to clinch a top three spot in Fortune’s rankings.

The publication used several criteria to evaluate candidates: average undergraduate GPA of incoming students, the program’s acceptance rate, one-year retention rates, graduation rates and the number of applicants each program received in the 2023-24 academic year.

“Our repeatedly high ranking is an acknowledgment of the hard work and dedication of the faculty, the quality of the curriculum and the success of the students,” said Scott Rixner, director of professional programs in the computer science program and professor of computer science. “Designed to bring the high-quality education that Rice is known for to the online space, the program offers a rigorous curriculum and fosters regular faculty-student interaction.”

Rice’s online Master of Computer Science blends high-quality graduate education with 100% online convenience, offers small class groups and one-on-one interactions with fellow students and is designed for working professionals with or without computer science backgrounds.

The full list of Fortune’s latest rankings is available online .

For more information about Rice’s online master’s program in computer science, visit its website .