Rice featured in recent college rankings

Rice University has been cited in a number of college rankings that have been reported during the first half of the summer. Below is a sampling.

* Rice is No. 1 in Texas and No. 4 nationally on Money magazine’s list of best colleges. This ranking features the college and universities that “deliver the most value — that is, a great education, at an affordable price, that prepares students for rewarding careers.”

* Rice is No. 16 on Money’s list of 50 most affordable private colleges and No. 33 among the 50 colleges that add the most value, which reflects colleges that help students perform much better than would be expected from their academic and economic background, as indicated by graduation rates, earnings and repayment of student loans.

* On Forbes’ list of best value colleges, Rice is No. 8 among private universities and No. 20 nationally. The ranking is based on tuition costs, school quality, graduation success and postgraduation earnings. Rice is No. 4 on Forbes’ list of the top 25 southern schools.

* When Forbes’ best value colleges that specialize in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) are ranked, Rice is No. 4 among the top 21 STEM colleges of 2016.

* Rice is No. 5 on Forbes’ list of the 10 most diverse top colleges. Minority enrollment and graduation rate were used for this ranking. Rice is also No. 5 on Priceonomics’ ranking of the top 100 most diverse colleges in America, based on info from the U.S. Department of Education and bestcolleges.com.

* Forbes ranked Rice No. 20 among the 25 largest school endowments.

* Forbes gave Rice an A-plus for its financial health – a rating received by only 66 private universities. The grade was based on the balance sheet strength, operational soundness and other higher education specific health indicators.

* Forbes ranked Rice No. 30 on its list of top 100 schools whose financial aid policies make the school a bargain for high-performing, low-income students.

* Rice is No. 31 on Forbes’ 2016 list of America’s top colleges. The ranking is based on postgraduate success, student debt, student satisfaction, graduation rate and academic success.

* Rice is No. 26 on Forbes’ list of top 60 grateful-grad and return-on-investment colleges, which factors in private donations and gifts per student over 10 years and the alumni participation rate averaged over three years.

* Rice is No. 18 on Forbes’ list of top 25 colleges whose alumni earn the highest salaries; SmartAsset’s comparison of average starting salaries of recipients of undergraduate degrees ranked Rice No. 1 in Texas and No. 27 nationally.

* Rice is No. 114 among the top 1,000 universities around the globe for 2016, according to the Center for World University Rankings. These rankings take into account the quality of education (measured by the number of alumni who have won major international awards), the number of alumni who have CEO positions at the world’s top companies, the quality of faculty (measured by the number of academics who have won major international awards), the number of research papers in reputable journals and in highly influential journals, the number of highly cited research papers, the broad impact of the university (based on the h-index, which measures the productivity and citation impact of a scientist’s or scholar’s publications) and the number of international patent filings.

* College Choice, an online publication dedicated to helping students and their families find the right college, cited Rice in multiple rankings: No. 13 among best national research universities, No. 13 among best colleges and universities for women, No. 20 for best schools for a master’s in computer science, No. 25 for best women’s studies programs, No. 36 for best bachelor’s in engineering programs and No. 38 for best MBA programs. (The criteria for each ranking varies and can be found on the accompanying websites.)

* Rice is No. 16 among the top 50 computer science degrees for international students, according to College Values Online. The ranking is based on tuition rates, return on   investment, percentage of international students and distinguishing characteristics of the university.

* Business Insider ranked Rice No. 2 on its list of 25 colleges with the best off-campus dining options. The company Niche compiled data from students about their opinions the quality of food around campus, the variety of restaurants and whether restaurants catered to a student lifestyle by providing free Wi-Fi, staying open late and offering student discounts. Food trucks and restaurants in the Rice Village area were cited in Rice’s ranking.