Is Rice University or UIUC harder to get into?

In results reported by OfferLand users, the admit rate is 68.8% at Rice University (78 results) and 68.3% at UIUC (230 results). This is a self-reported sample: admitted applicants report more often, so the rates run high, and they depend on which programs people applied to.

What GPA do admitted applicants to Rice University and UIUC have?

Among applicants who reported an admit, the median GPA is 3.67 at Rice University and 3.70 at UIUC (on a 4.0 scale; OfferLand sample).

Rice University vs UIUC: admit rates, GPA and how Taiwanese applicants choose

Name: Rice University vs UIUC admissions data
Creator: OfferLand
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

OfferLand users have reported 78 application results for Rice University and 230 for UIUC; 41 applicants applied to both. The table puts admit rates, admitted applicants’ scores, top fields and programs side by side.

Self-reported sample from OfferLand users, not official school data; figures based on fewer than 5 results are not shown. Data as of 2026-10-22.

Side by side

Admit rate = (admitted + enrolled) ÷ (admitted + enrolled + rejected); waitlisted and pending results are left out. Median GPA and TOEFL count each admitted applicant once. Figures based on fewer than 5 results are not shown.

Metric	Rice University	UIUC
Country	United States	United States
QS ranking (2027)	#122	#74
US News ranking (2027)	#16	#34
Application results	78	230
Applicants	78	214
Admit rate	68.8%	68.3%
Median GPA (admitted)	3.67	3.70
Median TOEFL (admitted)	103	102
Most-reported fields	Electrical Engineering & Computer Science (60),Data Science (6),General Engineering (4),Physics & Chemistry (3)	Electrical Engineering & Computer Science (100),Finance & Investment (27),General Engineering (25),Information Technology (24)

Most-reported programs

Programs with at least 5 results, by number of results.

Rice University

Program	Results	Admit rate
Master of Computer Science (Master's)	55	70.4%
Data Science (Master's)	6	33.3%

UIUC

Program	Results	Admit rate
Computer Science, M.C.S. (Master's)	58	39.7%
Electrical and Computer Engineering, M.Eng. (Master's)	35	60.0%
M.S. in Finance (MSF) (Master's)	27	100.0%
Information Management, Master of Science (Master's)	21	95.2%
Materials Science & Engineering, MS (Master's)	12	83.3%

Applicants to both schools

41 applicants reported results at both schools: 32 were admitted to Rice University, 21 to UIUC, and 19 to both.

Of those admitted to both who reported a final choice, 0 chose Rice University and 3 chose UIUC. A small sample; treat it as a hint only.

AI summary (from OfferLand data and posts on the site, 2026-10-21)

Rice and UIUC have nearly identical overall admit rates in OfferLand's data (68.8% and 68.3%), and similar median admit GPAs (3.67 and 3.70) and TOEFL scores (103 and 102). Rice's results are concentrated in the Master of Computer Science (55 results, 70.4% admitted), while UIUC's are spread wider: its CS M.C.S. admitted 39.7% of 58 results, and it also has high-admit programs in finance and information management. Of the 41 people who applied to both, 19 were admitted to both, and the 3 who reported a decision all chose UIUC, a very small sample.

Comparing professional CS master's programs, Rice's MCS admitted 70.4% and UIUC's M.C.S. 39.7%, so UIUC CS was the harder admit in this data.Source: data on this page
An NTU electrical engineering graduate with a TOEFL of 105 was admitted to Rice's MCS and rejected by UIUC's MCS in the same cycle.Source: 2023 Fall CS 申請心得

Written by AI from the data on this page and the cited posts and interview reports. It may contain mistakes and is neither official school information nor application advice; check the original posts and the schools’ own announcements.

When citing these figures, please credit OfferLand. How the data is collected: About the data.