YESTERYEAR

Rice has never been a large school, but that doesn’t mean enrollments haven’t risen steadily over the years. Fifty-nine students enrolled when Rice opened its doors in 1912, although by the time that class graduated in 1916, 18 more students had joined, making the first graduating class number 77. By 1952, undergraduate enrollment was 1,304, and that grew to 2,740 in the next fifty years. While the university now holds freshman admissions steady at about 650, Rice remains a first choice for many of today’s top high school students. This year already, more than 500 students have sent in early applications—a school record.