Rhodes College

In the 2027 U.S. News rankings for National Liberal Arts Colleges, Rhodes College placed 49th, improving from 55th in the preceding year and regaining a spot in the top fifty. Admission is moderately accessible compared to other selective institutions, but the college faces notable competition when securing enrolled classes. In 2025, the overall acceptance rate reached 50.4%, making admission more open than at 63% of peer private liberal arts colleges. In contrast, Rhodes struggles to persuade admitted candidates to matriculate. Its yield rate stood at 12.1% that same year, which was lower than all peer schools in its comparison group. This modest yield highlights that many admitted candidates opt for alternative programs. For prospective applicants, these trends suggest that qualified candidates face favorable admission odds, though Rhodes must actively compete against other regional and national liberal arts institutions to build its incoming cohort.

Applicants targeting Rhodes College should present strong academic credentials to align with the middle range of enrolled students. For the entering class of 2025, the median SAT score was 1385, which was higher than 57% of peer private liberal arts colleges. Among students who submitted ACT results, the middle 50% composite score spanned between 26 and 32. Standardized test reporting has become less prevalent among matriculating students over recent cycles, with a minority of freshmen choosing to submit exam results during the admissions process. High school applicants seeking to stand out in the review pool should aim for performance that meets or exceeds these standardized thresholds alongside rigorous course preparation. Meeting these score benchmarks places a prospective student in a competitive position relative to the current student body.

Curricular pathways at Rhodes College center on traditional liberal arts disciplines, natural sciences, and commerce, awarding 531 bachelor's degrees and 10 master's degrees in 2025. The undergraduate academic landscape is moderately balanced rather than heavily concentrated, with the top three majors accounting for 30.1% of all bachelor's recipients. Biology/Biological Sciences led the graduating class, followed by Business Administration and Management, Computer Science, Psychology, and Neuroscience. Graduate training is limited to a small Master of Accounting cohort. While the undergraduate Computer Science program was ranked 396th by US News in 2027, its graduates achieved strong financial outcomes. According to 2023 earnings data measured one year after graduation, Computer Science bachelor's recipients earned a median salary of $84,979, the highest among all measured fields at the college. Business and political science graduates also recorded solid early-career earnings, confirming practical career tracks across both STEM and social science divisions.

The student body at Rhodes College is centered primarily on undergraduate education, alongside a tiny graduate division. Demographic composition shows an evolving mix of domestic and global backgrounds. In the 2025 incoming freshman cohort, international students numbered 45, accounting for an 11.6% share of the group. Asian learners also represented a key component of the new class, totaling 40 students and comprising a 10.3% share. Continuing undergraduate classes reflect broader representation across domestic minority and international groups, while graduate students account for only a fraction of total enrollment. For prospective applicants, these figures illustrate an intimate liberal arts community where international and Asian students comprise distinct, visible cohorts within the campus population.

Rhodes College maintains a predominantly traditional-age student body, with undergraduates concentrated in standard college years. In 2025, 49.3 percent of the 1,838 undergraduates fell into the 20 to 21 age bracket, while another 40.7 percent were between 18 and 19 years old. Older students make up only a small fraction of the undergraduate population. The graduate student body is also minimal, numbering just 23 students. For prospective applicants, this concentrated age profile points to a campus life centered almost entirely on young adults progressing through their degrees directly after secondary school.

International student enrollment at Rhodes College has followed an upward trajectory over the past decade. By 2025, international students comprised 6.2% of the undergraduate student body, expanding from lower levels seen in earlier years. At the graduate level, where overall enrollment is very small, international scholars represented 17.4% of the cohort. Among degrees awarded in 2025, international students earned 5.8% of all bachelor's degrees, while the master's cohort in accounting had no international graduates. At the undergraduate level, international degree recipients were concentrated primarily in quantitative and scientific disciplines. Computer Science had the highest international concentration at 10% of its graduating class, followed by programs in biology, chemistry, and business administration. For international applicants seeking a liberal arts education, these figures demonstrate an expanding presence on campus with established academic pathways in STEM and pre-professional fields.

Applicants evaluating Rhodes College can explore several other higher education options within the broader regional radius. Just 3.9 kilometers away in the same city sits the University of Memphis, a public national university ranked 288 in the 2027 US News rankings. Located 60.3 kilometers south across the state border, the University of Mississippi provides a larger public university environment with a 2027 national university rank of 179. For students considering another private liberal arts setting in the region, Hendrix College is located 138.6 kilometers away and ranked 100 on the 2027 liberal arts colleges list. Further east, Vanderbilt University sits 191.6 kilometers from Rhodes, positioned at rank 16 among national universities.

Campus safety metrics at Rhodes College indicate that campus security issues are overwhelmingly non-violent and dominated by student conduct enforcement. Forward Pathway's weighted crime rate per 1,000 students was 16.7 in 2025, down from 27.6 in 2016. The vast majority of reported incidents stem from campus alcohol and substance policies rather than predatory crimes. Between 2023 and 2025, the campus recorded 286 disciplinary referrals for liquor law violations and 59 disciplinary referrals for drug violations. Criminal property and personal offenses occurred at much lower levels over that three-year span, including motor vehicle thefts, burglaries, dating violence, and stalking incidents. For prospective families evaluating safety, these numbers indicate that administrative substance referrals account for the bulk of safety reports, while serious property and violent incidents occur with far less frequency on campus grounds.