How to Apply to Economics at Rice: Three Majors in the Department of Economics (School of Social Sciences), Entered by Choosing a School and Areas of Interest When You Apply and Declaring Later, for U.S., International (Including Chinese) and Transfer Applicants

Rice University’s economics degrees are taught by the Department of Economics in the School of Social Sciences. The catalog says Rice offers more than 50 undergraduate majors across seven schools, and every applicant must name one of the seven as the primary intended area of study, plus up to three specific areas of interest (majors, minors or pre-professional tracks). This guide follows Rice’s own pages for fall 2027 entry and speaks to U.S. applicants, international applicants (including those from China) and transfer applicants.

1. What the programs are

• Three majors, and you can major in only one (the department’s “Degrees Offered” page): Economics (ECON), Mathematical Economic Analysis (MTEC), and Managerial Economics and Organizational Sciences (MEOS). All three lead to the Bachelor of Arts; the pages I read list no B.S. in economics. The page says the three share many common elements and that students have considerable flexibility among them.
• ECON: a 14-course major that the department compares to the liberal arts majors at many universities, with basic math and statistics, a set of economics core courses and a wide choice of electives.
• MTEC: a 16-course, mathematically intensive major, recommended for students heading to graduate work in economics or to business or government jobs that need extensive analytical and quantitative skills. It adds multivariable calculus, mathematics for economists, econometrics and a research capstone.
• MEOS: a 15-course (46–50 credit hours) interdisciplinary major with core courses in economics, psychology, mathematics and statistics, a consulting or finance practicum and a management consulting capstone (MEOS 404). The department says it suits students who want a career in business or business school.
• Minor and honors: the Department of Economics and the Department of Statistics jointly oversee the Financial Computation and Modeling (FCAM) minor. The department runs a two-semester Honors Program (ECON 498/499) for ECON and MTEC majors; MEOS is not included.
• STEM designation: not stated in the department or catalog pages I read, so ask Rice.
• Business (management and finance) has its own article on this site; here MEOS is only noted as the business-leaning major inside the department.

2. How admission and entry to the major work

• At application: the catalog’s admission page says all applicants must specify one of seven schools (architecture, business, engineering and computing, humanities and arts, music, natural sciences and social sciences) as the primary area and up to three specific areas of interest; the schools look for different strengths and qualities, so choose the school that most accurately reflects your interests. Economics is in the School of Social Sciences. The pages I read publish no separate admission standard for that school or for economics.
• Declaring the major: the pages I read do not say when or how to declare, and they state no GPA threshold, seat cap or grade requirement for entering the economics major. This is not published there; ask the Director of Undergraduate Studies (listed in the catalog as James P. DeNicco) or the department’s undergraduate coordinator. For graduation, the departmental GPA must be at least 2.0.
• Catalog year: students may graduate under the requirements of the year they matriculated or the year they graduate; the default is the matriculation year, and changing it means notifying the Registrar.
• Moving into economics from another Rice major: not described in the pages I read.

3. Prerequisites and course sequence

• High school courses (university-wide): at least 16 credits: English 4, social studies 2, mathematics 3, laboratory science 2 (for example biology, chemistry, physics), one foreign language 2, and 3 more in any of those categories. The page adds that the natural science and engineering divisions require at least trigonometry or pre-calculus and both chemistry and physics; economics is not in those divisions, and the page lists no separate requirement for social sciences. Students whose international curriculum offers no foreign language (for example A-levels) are exempt from that requirement. If you are admitted with curriculum deficiencies, you complete them in the summer before enrolling.
• ECON major (14 courses, departmental GPA at least 2.0): three math and statistics courses — MATH 101 Single Variable Calculus I (or MATH 111+112), MATH 102 Single Variable Calculus II, and ECON 307/STAT 310 Probability and Statistics or STAT 315 Probability and Statistics for Data Science; five core courses — ECON 100 Principles of Economics, ECON 200 Microeconomics, ECON 203 Macroeconomics, ECON 209 Applied Econometrics and one game theory course (ECON 205, 300 or 305); and six economics electives, at least two at the 400 level.
• MTEC major (16 courses): MATH 101, 102, MATH 212 Multivariable Calculus (or honors MATH 221+222) and one probability/statistics course; ECON 100, 200, 203, 209, one game theory course, ECON 308 Mathematics for Economists, ECON 310 Econometrics and ECON 496 or 497 research; four economics electives, at least three at the 400 level.
• MEOS major (15 courses; 120 credit hours for the degree): MATH 101 and 102 (or the AP-style MATH 105 and 106) and one statistics course; ECON 100, 200, 203, PSYC 101, PSYC 231 Industrial and Organizational Psychology and SOSC 444 Consulting Practicum or SOSC 445 Finance and Banking Practicum; four electives in management, economics and analytical methods and two in the social sciences; and the MEOS 404 capstone, taken in the senior year after at least half of the major requirements.
• Transfer credit after you enroll: the department allows at most three transfer courses toward the ECON, MTEC and MEOS majors, does not transfer online courses, generally gives no transfer credit for core courses (rare exceptions), and requires more than half of the upper-level (300 and 400) major work to be done at Rice. It does not pre-approve outside courses.

4. AP / IB / A-Level credit

• Admission page: AP scores of 4 or 5 earn transfer credit; the IB Diploma with 6 or 7 on Higher Level exams earns credit; A-Levels, the Abitur, CAPE, CEGEP (science option), the French Baccalauréat (science option), the Italian Maturita and the Swiss Federal Maturity Certificate with a grade of A or B may earn credit.
• The department’s transfer-credit procedures (for students who transfer in) say a 4 or 5 on AP Microeconomics, or an IB Diploma with 6 or 7 on HL economics, earns ECON 111 credit; the same scores on AP Macroeconomics or HL economics earn ECON 113 credit. These count toward total credit hours but not toward the major requirements (the micro paragraph names ECON, MTEC and MEOS; the macro paragraph names ECON and MTEC), and cannot be “upgraded” to ECON 100 or 203. A footnote to the ECON major says students with ECON 111 and 113 credit and a B- or better in MATH 102 taken at Rice may substitute any economics elective for ECON 100, after informing the Director of Undergraduate Studies.
• College courses taken in high school can be considered for Rice credit only for students with more than 20 college-preparatory courses; dual-credit courses used for high school graduation do not earn credit.

5. Rounds, deadlines and materials (fall 2027 entry)

• Early Decision I: November 1; decision by mid-December; binding, with the deposit due January 4.
• Early Decision II: January 4; binding. The decision date contradicts itself: the admission page says late January and the catalog’s admission page says mid-February; the deposit date is mid-February on the domestic page and March 1 on the international page.
• Regular Decision: January 4; decisions by April 1; deposit by May 1; non-binding. Outcomes are admit, waitlist or deny.
• Application fee: $75, non-refundable; U.S. applicants can request a waiver through the Common Application; international applicants cannot.
• Materials: Common Application and the Rice supplement (2026-2027 prompts: two 150-word short answers — what draws you to the academic areas you chose and what elements of Rice appeal to you — plus one 500-word choice of two prompts about the residential college system or your background); “The Box” (one two-dimensional image, not used for evaluation); an official high school transcript (grades 9 through 11 plus the courses in grade 12, and mid-year grade 12 grades for Regular Decision); three recommendations: one counselor and two teachers, ideally one related to your intended area. Interviews are optional and in 2026-2027 all are virtual, with alumni volunteers or current students; Glimpse (domestic) or InitialView (international) videos are also optional.
• Testing: SAT or ACT is recommended but not required; applicants who do not submit receive full consideration. Rice has no preference between the tests, uses the highest score from each section, and does not consider essays; students graduating from a U.S. high school may self-report and send official scores before matriculation. Rice’s code (including TOEFL) is 6609; the ACT code is 4152. Once you opt in to score consideration you cannot opt out. AP, IB and AICE scores can be self-reported in the Common Application.

6. By reader

1. U.S. applicants

• Domestic applicants include U.S. citizens, permanent residents, DACA holders, long-term resident undocumented students and refugees/asylees. Rice is need-blind for domestic applicants and meets 100 percent of demonstrated need without loans through the Rice Investment.
• Merit scholarships: the Admission Committee automatically considers every admitted student with no separate application; about 20% of admitted students are offered one each year, based on merit and not on financial need.
• In-state versus out-of-state tuition: Rice is private, and the admission pages state no residency price difference or in-state preference; this is not published there.
• QuestBridge National College Match is open to U.S. citizens and permanent residents, or students attending high school in the U.S.; Rice has been a QuestBridge partner since 2004.

2. International applicants

• English: applicants whose first language is not English must show proficiency in one of two ways: at least two years of full-time study in an English-language curriculum before applying, or an official score — TOEFL iBT 100 (exams before January 21, 2026) or 5.0 on the updated scale (on or after that date); IELTS Academic 7.0 (General Training is not accepted); Cambridge C1 Advanced or C2 Proficiency 185; Duolingo 130. Scores must come from a single sitting; TOEFL MyBest is not accepted.
• Academic records: documents must be in English or come with an official translation, which the school you attended or an authorized translator can provide. Applicants in an exam-based curriculum send all transcripts, final exam results (for example IGCSE/GCSE, CBSE X/AISSCE X) and any predicted results. Transcripts must reach Rice from a school official through the Common Application, an electronic delivery service (such as Parchment, SCOIR or WES) or by post, not as an email attachment.
• Funds and aid: Rice is need-aware for international applicants and offers need-based aid to a limited number of them, using the CSS Profile. Every international applicant, including those living in the U.S., completes the International Student Financial Statement in the applicant portal after submitting: say whether you will request aid, upload bank statements or affidavits and scholarship letters (tax documents and proof of income are not accepted), and explain how you will cover costs if available funds total less than $101,634. International students admitted without requesting aid cannot apply for it in later years.
• Scholarships: merit scholarships are considered automatically for international applicants too.

3. Applicants from China

• Rice’s international application page, the catalog and the economics pages do not say whether the gaokao is considered or how to send school-exam records, and give no China-specific note. This is not published in the pages I read; ask the Office of Admission (admission@rice.edu, 713-348-7423).
• What is confirmed: the English-exam, translation, financial-statement and need-aware aid rules are those above, and SAT or ACT is recommended but not required.

7. Costs and scholarships

• The cost breakdown (tuition, housing, food) is on financialaid.rice.edu. My scan of that site returned HTTP 406, so I did not read it; check the Rice financial aid office.
• The only figure on the pages I read is on the international page: if available funds total less than $101,634 you must explain how you will cover the cost. The page does not say what the figure consists of, and it is not a tuition breakdown.
• No separate program surcharge for economics is listed in the pages I read.

8. Internships and research

• The department lists several routes to research for ECON and MTEC majors: 400-level courses with a research project; ECON 399 Independent Research; ECON 496 and 497 (the MTEC capstone research courses); the ECON 498/499 Honors Program; and research assistantships arranged with faculty, with a list of interested students kept by the department. It names research prizes such as the Gaston Rimlinger Prize and the Peter Mieszkowski Prize for Honors Program Research.
• Honors entry: a GPA of at least 3.67 in the courses required for the major (the ECON major page says “3.67 or better”, the Honors Program page says “surpassing 3.67”), completion of the core, completion of the 400-level course(s) closest to the research, and acceptance by the supervising professor; a B+ or better in each of the two semesters earns departmental honors.
• Outcomes: the department says about 30 percent of ECON and MTEC graduates go to graduate or professional school; among graduates who report an occupation, the most popular are management consulting (30% of ECON majors, 21% of MTEC) and investment banking (42% of MTEC, 16% of ECON). This is the department’s own tally of recent graduates and the page prints no year.

9. Transfer

• Deadlines: fall entry March 15, with decisions on a rolling basis in June; spring entry October 15, with decisions by December 1.
• Eligibility: at least 12 semester hours of college credit after high school, with at least a 3.2 GPA in your most recent college work; admitted transfers typically have 3.5 or higher, judged in the context of course difficulty. If you have 12 or more credits since high school you must apply as a transfer. Transfer students must complete at least four semesters (60 semester hours) full time at Rice for a bachelor’s degree.
• Coursework: transfer applicants have no specific coursework requirements based on intended area of study, but the committee considers your pursuit of and performance in relevant coursework.
• Materials: Common Application and Rice supplement (two 150-word prompts plus one 500-word choice); the $75 fee; the final high school transcript (or GED); all college transcripts; the College Report; two college instructor recommendations (personal or employer recommendations may replace them if you have been out of school two or more years); SAT or ACT recommended but not required; international transfers also need English proof and the financial statement.
• Aid: domestic transfers are need-blind with 100% of need met, but transfer students are not eligible for merit scholarships; international transfer applicants receive neither financial aid nor merit scholarships, a policy that applies at review and throughout their years at Rice.
• Into economics: see the transfer-credit rules above. Credit awarded to transfer students for courses before they matriculate does not count against the three-course cap, but more than half of upper-level major work must still be done at Rice. A single economics transfer GPA threshold is not published in the pages I read.

Checklist

U.S. applicants:

• Common Application; primary area School of Social Sciences, with economics among your areas; ED I November 1, or ED II / RD January 4
• 16 high school credits including 3 years of math; three recommendations (counselor and two teachers); tests optional
• After enrolling, choose one of ECON, MTEC or MEOS; start with MATH 101, 102 and ECON 100, then 200, 203, 209
• Aid: need-blind for domestic applicants, with need met without loans

International applicants (including China):

• Same as above, plus English proof (TOEFL 100 or 5.0 on the new scale, IELTS Academic 7.0, Duolingo 130, Cambridge 185, or two years of English-medium study), the International Student Financial Statement and certified translations
• Need-aware; aid is limited; no application fee waiver
• China: gaokao requirements are not published; ask the admission office
• AP/IB micro and macro credit counts as ECON 111/113, not directly as ECON 100 or 203

Transfer applicants:

• Fall March 15 / spring October 15; at least 12 semester hours and a 3.2 GPA in recent college work (3.5 or higher is typical)
• Four semesters (60 hours) at Rice; core courses generally do not transfer in after you enroll

Sources: Rice University, Office of Admission: first-year domestic applicants; First-year international applicants; Transfer applicants; Academics; Economics: degrees offered; Economics major; Mathematical Economic Analysis major; Managerial Economics and Organizational Sciences major; Honors program; Doing research in economics; Transfer credit procedures; Five facts about our grads; General Announcements: Economics; General Announcements: Admission. The deadlines on the admission pages carry no year (the page source has a comment saying the dates are for the 2020-2021 cycle, while the essay prompts on the page say 2026-2027). Check Rice for the latest details and confirm the entry year (fall 2027). The financial aid and cost page (financialaid.rice.edu) was not read.