Top Ranked Programs
Rice University's program mix is anchored in engineering, quantitative sciences, and applied business fields. Engineering accounts for 16% of graduates, followed by Social Sciences at 12% and Arts at 4%. The largest programs by cohort size are Artificial Intelligence (121 graduates), Kinesiology (104 graduates), Economics (75 graduates), Mechanical Engineering (60 graduates), and Psychology, General (77 graduates). Across 38 programs serving roughly 1,209 students annually, 9 meet Azimuth's ranking threshold. The earnings leaders illustrate where Rice University's strongest financial outcomes concentrate. Azimuth ranks Artificial Intelligence #7 nationally for median earnings four years after enrollment among nonprofit four-year institutions, with 121 graduates earning $182,443. Azimuth ranks Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering #8 nationally for median earnings four years after enrollment among nonprofit four-year institutions, with 49 graduates earning $136,656. Azimuth ranks Economics #21 nationally for median earnings four years after enrollment among nonprofit four-year institutions, with 75 graduates earning $129,575. Mechanical Engineering and Political Science round out the top earners, with Azimuth ranking them #11 and #31 nationally for median earnings four years after enrollment among nonprofit four-year institutions, respectively. Several of these programs are high-mobility pathways where graduates enter the national labor market directly — particularly Artificial Intelligence, Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering. Psychology, General and Mechanical Engineering are more likely grad-school-dependent pathways, where four-year earnings undercount the lifetime trajectory of graduates who continue to medical school, doctoral programs, or professional study.