So just for the record, I am skeptical ED helps as much as some people seem to think from looking at the statistics, indeed in many individual cases I think it actually makes no difference to the outcome, so I do not actually agree you need to ED at one. I also would not pick where to apply ED, if you do, based on ED statistics.
That said–my takeaway is you might mostly prefer Rice, but are concerned about the STEM focus. So I looked up their latest NCES data for a comparison:
It looks like Rice had something like 58 primary graduating majors in what I would consider Humanities, 32 in Arts. It had 110 in Social Sciences, 76 of which were some form of Econ, so 34 non-Econ in that grouping, and 52 in Psychology.
For WashU, I got 122 in Humanities, 111 in Arts, 242 in Social Sciences, 84 of which were Econ so 159 non-Econ, and 155 in Psychology.
Now WashU had 1868 graduating students to 1053 for Rice. Still, this does feel to me like even accounting for the overall size difference, WashU’s total student community with these sorts of majors is notably more prominent. The biggest differences were actually in Arts, non-Econ Social Sciences, and Psychology, but Humanities was a significant difference as well.
I note I like to break out Econ separately just because as illustrated here, it can be a larger or smaller component of Social Sciences proportionately, and Econ students can also be a variable mix. In this case, WashU actually has a substantial undergrad business program (an entire school with 211 primary majors), and Rice does not, and I suspect some of the “extra” Econ majors proportionately at Rice were at least in part attributable to this difference.
OK, so does this mean you definitely should choose WashU over Rice? No, not at all. I just think it is some verification this is a real factor to consider.
Of course if this was enough of a factor, maybe neither of the above? Like we have no other context, but there are many other great colleges and universities for someone with non-STEM/non-pre-professional academic interests. I think WashU and Rice also have other valuable qualities, but so do many of these other options.
And to circle back around, because in fact there are so many other options, I would really urge not feeling like you have to pick an ED school. Like, you can apply to a robust list–which you should be doing anyway, because lots of highly qualified people get rejected ED by both of these institutions–and see where you actually get offers. You can then maybe do post-offer visits to a select few, and finally decide. You’ll never know for sure what the “best” choice would be, but you can at least go with the offer that is most exciting to you at that point.
Anyway, that’s my thinking. Full disclosure, I have an S24 at WashU, he is likely to end up a premed but also a Classics major, and it has been a great school . . . for him. But he didn’t apply ED, even though he strongly considered it for ED2. In part that was because he was deferred by Yale REA, but also because he just wasn’t ready to be sure that WashU was his second choice. And it all worked out, and I think that happens way more than people realize. And even if he hadn’t ended up at WashU, he had other great choices available.
Again, point is I think you may be putting too much pressure on this ED decision, and it is coming too early for you. With a good overall list, it isn’t really that high stakes in my view, and the right answer might simply be none of the above.