Rice is No. 5 in Niche.com’s first best overall college rankings

Rice University is No. 5 in a new national ranking of colleges by Niche.com that is based both on student surveys and hard data.

For Niche’s first best overall college rankings since being founded 12 years ago as the online review site College Prowler, more than 1,000 schools were evaluated on a combination of factors that included academics, student life and affordability. The rankings were based on more than 50 statistical factors and nearly 12 million opinions from 300,000 students.

Leading Rice in the top five were, in order, Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard and Yale. Niche noted that schools of all types, including leading research institutions like Rice, liberal arts colleges, Ivy League schools and large public universities, are among the top 25 because its rankings represent a comprehensive assessment of each school and no one factor accounts for more than 7 percent of the overall ranking.

Rice received an A, A-minus or A-plus for best academics, best campus, best athletics, most diverse campus, best students and other categories. The rankings also factored in student reviews, average net price, endowment per student, loan-default rate and private giving per student.

“We’re always delighted when Rice University fares well in rankings that incorporate input from students, and Rice’s top-five position on Niche.com is no exception,” said Rice President David Leebron. “This analysis also takes into account Rice’s generous financial aid policy and our efforts to keep a high-quality education affordable to families from all socio-economic backgrounds, and we’re proud to be ranked highly with our peers.”

To view the complete rankings, go to http://niche.com.