Rice University is a private research university with an undergraduate enrollment of 4,247 students, plays a total of 14 NCAA sports, 7 of them for men and 7 for women. In the 2021/2022 season, Rice University had a total of 366 NCAA athletes comprising 9% of the total student body.

Rice is likely to have recruited many of the athletes on its NCAA sports teams through the Division 1 athlete recruitment process, enabling these recruited athletes to leapfrog the normal admissions process. It is our best estimate based on team profiles that about 50% to 75% of their teams comprise of recruited athletes while the remaining athletes are “walk-on” athletes who were admitted to Rice University on merits unrelated to sports.

How Top Colleges in Division 1 Select their Athlete Recruits

The table below lists the NCAA and varsity sports played at Rice University and the number of athletes in each sports team.

All data compiled from Rice University athletic website.