This Texas College is Tougher to Get Into than an Ivy League Power: Surprising New Rankings Reveal the Real Admissions Angst
BY Chris BaldwinRice University's Lovett Hall where administrators offices will be reconfigured to accommodate social distancing.
A University of Texas admissions battle may have gone all the way to the Supreme Court, but it turns out that another school is actually much harder to get into in the Lone Star State. In fact, this Texas college is more difficult to get into than an Ivy League power.
Lofty “dream schools” such as Notre Dame, Cal and UCLA are also much easier to gain entry to than this Houston school.
Rice University — the Harvard of the South — is one of the hardest colleges to get into in America. It accepts only 15.1 percent of the students who apply and the composite SAT/ACT scores of 75 percent of its successful applicants measure in at 1550 and 34 respectively. That makes Rice the 19th toughest college to gain entry to in the United States.
It is harder to get into Rice than it is to Ivy League power Cornell, which ranks 23rd. The Office‘s Andy Bernard will be devastated. It turns out some of the real Ivies aren’t as selective as the still somewhat underrated gem right in the middle of Houston.
Texas A&M University is way down at No. 323 and the University of Houston ranks just 10 spots behind the Aggies at No. 333.
No other Texas college is close to providing such a barrier. The University of Texas is the next state school to show up in the rankings and for all its admissions angst, it’s only the 89th hardest college to be accepted at. Southern Methodist University comes next at No. 107. Trinity University in San Antonio ranks 109th while Texas Christian University rounds out the tough Texas Top 5 at 135th nationally.
Houston Baptist University makes a surprise appearance as the sixth toughest college to be admitted to in Texas (No. 153 nationally). Baylor clocks in at No. 157, Texas A&M University is way down at No. 323 and the University of Houston ranks just 10 spots behind the Aggies at No. 333.
If exclusivity is what you’re after, it really is an Owl’s life. If you can get into the club — something that’s only becoming harder to do. Rice ranked 22nd in the previous Toughest Colleges rankings. It jumped three spots in one year.
Nationally, Cal Tech reigns supreme as the toughest college to get into in America, edging out both Harvard (No. 2) and Yale (No. 3). This is the kind of company Rice University is fast approaching.