Admission/Scholarships

Colleges and Universities A-Z Rice University
1

<p>So... what are my chances of getting in, and what are my chances of getting financial help besides meeting up to my family's EFC? Rice is my top choice by far, and I'm willing to work/take out student loans to make this happen if possible. My parents just can't contribute much.</p>

<p>Female, White, Alabama, Very Presigious High School (for Alabama... lol)
GPA: 4.11 unweighted, and I've taken 4 AP classes with A's in all of them so my weighted GPA will be higher.
PSAT: 234
SAT: 1480 (taken once... retaking in June and aiming for 1500)
ACT: 33 (same deal... and aiming for 34)
Rank: Top 1-2%
AP's: Junior (BC Calc, Bio, Lang/Comp, US Hist); Senior (Stats, Physics C, Micro Econ, US Govt, Lit/Comp)
I'll be duel enrolling at UAH next year to take Calculus C and Differential Equ.</p>

<p>Honors: EWI Regional Scholarship Recipient, Sewanee Book Award (1 of 200), NCTE Acheivement Awards in Writing, NHS, French Honor Society, Mu Alpha Theta, National English Honor Society, 2005 and 2006 AIME qualifier, multiple superior rankings at solo and ensemble competitions for horn, "tres bien" at state french convention for extemporaneous reading</p>

<p>EC's: I've played French horn for 8 years now. I've been in marching/concert band at GHS for the past three years- top band all three years, section leader 10th and drum major 11th grade. I've participated in a community youth orchestra since 7th grade.
Math team... Several awards... and I am the Scheduling and Personel Director for Rocket City Math League (our international, student-run, mail in math competition).<br>
Also along leadership lines I was a group leader for my AP US History night school group.</p>

<p>Community Service: Lots of stuff through band, Phi Alpha Zeta, and Church. Most notable is our work with children's hospitals...</p>

<p>Work/Summer: Last summer I worked at Bruster's and this summer I'm planning to work at Bonefish Grill. I was also a teacher's aid for a summer math remediation class at my high school and I taught private horn lessons this past year.</p>

<p>I plan on majoring in biomedical engineering and going to grad school to get my PhD/MD and work in medical research, specifically reserach involving genetic engineering and neurological diseases. Both my little sister and grandfather are afflicted with rare neurological diseases... This is a long story but it's one of those "unique perspectives" type situations.</p>

2

<p>very high for admission (95%), merit aid (80%) and even rice baylor (50%).</p>

3

<p>i really think asking people like us is worthless....but ill give u what i think. good chance and as a rice/baylor scholar i would say you need to do alot more to show ur interest for the medical field. we have alot of the same interests and now im working on the MD/PHD admission by doing alot of research starting this summer and hopefully get some articles in some journals. but i think you should do more for your medically related EC's. everybody that gets an interview for R/B will be amazingly qualified. trust me. when i was there...everybody had been accepted into the top scholls in the country ( harvard, etc)</p>

4

<p>Actually I'm not sure if I'll shoot for Rice/Baylor, because I'm not positive I want to get my PhD/MD at Baylor. I have no idea where to look for research opportunities either... there aren't resources like that that I know of around here, and I certainly can't affort to go to any big summer programs.</p>

<p>The big thing I need to know is how merit awards factor in to your financial aid package. Do they count as part of your EFC or does it simply reduce the amount of fin aid from the school and your EFC stays the same?</p>

5

<p>Need based and merit awards are not additive. Need based awards consists of grants + work study + student contribution (summer work) + loans. Merit awards will usually decrease your contribution (loans, work study, summer work) then school's own grants. If there is any left over then it will reduce your EFC. Most colleges 'expect' that parents have an obligation to educate their child.</p>

<p>You can always supplement your EFC by working during the school (but in this case the school is not obligated to find you a job) or in summer and take out loans (interest rate might be different) outside of your need based awards.</p>

6

<p>Hehe, I agree with serge. No point asking us about admissions things... But if you're looking for encouragement, your stats look very strong, and there's great possibility in a merit award, especially if you bring your SAT scores up to make your application numbers closer to perfect. (Then it all boils down to the essay). </p>

<p>I'm still curious though. What did you get on the AIME? I got like... a 2 last year (haha) and a 7 this year. This one kid I was talking to got 11, and his friend got 13. That is insane.</p>

<p>To answer your question: Merit awards, unfortunately, take away from the amount of financial aid. I wish it weren't true... (For selfish reasons, primarily :-p)</p>

7

<p>katryn, you find research opportunities by taking ur own intiative and there is no need to spend much from your own pocket. i took the initiantive to email the stem cell database and they sent me a list of researchers in houston. i emailed them all and i will be working at baylor college of medicine with an MD/PHD this summer alonside my MD anderson cancer research program. am i paying? no they are actually paying me lol...! so i suggest you to make things happen, email a local researcher at a university or a medical school, interview with them and i would say they will give u a chance like they did to me.</p>

8

<p>serge- That is really interesting... I'll have to look in to that. I'm not sure how many resources there are around Huntsville, though, since Huntsville is a very technically-oriented town (NASA, Army, etc...). We don't have a lot of medical research happening here, as far as I'm aware, although we do have one of the best hospitals in the state. (Now if I lived in B'ham, that would be a different situation) I should probably get out and see what there is to be found though, because I've never really looked into it much here (time never allowed it...).</p>

<p>Let's see... AIME... Last year was my first year taking it, and I got a 4... this year things were more stressful and busy and I believe I got a 2? Not positive though. The high scores at my school were a 7 I believe. Last year we had a student who was 1/2 a point away from making it to the USAMO. Brilliant guy... he's at Rice now as a matter of fact.</p>

<p>So do outside scholarships work the same way? I'm planning on taking out a student loan if I have to... Honestly though, it seems like the merit awards should take off some of our burden and not the schools... : /</p>

9

<p>Outside awards work the same way. It is taking off some your burden. You don't have to work, take no loans or summer jobs...</p>

<p>Honestly, don't you think your family should contribute something for your education?</p>

10

<p>I do... but since I can go to school for free at the University of Alabama (full ride, plus $1500 a year on the side, and a laptop) my parents are not incredibly thrilled about paying much of anything for college. Plus, I have three little sisters, the youngest of which is severely handicapped and requires a lot of extra medical expenses. Actually the biggest problem is that our EFC (or the EFC my dad calculated online...) doesn't accurately reflect my family's situation, because of my youngest sister and all the extra $$ involved in taking care of her.</p>

11

<p>Many kids do take that route. If I am not mistaken the EFC calculation (either FAFSA or the profile) does take in to account larger than normal medical expenses.</p>

<p>A month ago this board was full of stories like yours.</p>

<p>"my parents are not incredibly thrilled about paying much of anything for college."</p>

<p>Parents 'un-willingness' does not mean need.</p>

12

<p>katryn, you have 4 years of college left dont worry. the nasa thing sounds intersting. they do alot of things medically related.</p>

13

<p>Actually, NASA in Houston does a lot of things medically related. NASA in Huntsville (Marshall Space Flight Center) is more concerned with flight systems... so we attract a lot of chemical/electrical/mechanical engineers. Houston (Johnson Space Flight Center) does more work with life support systems and medical-related experiements conducted on board the space craft. Actually, I'm considering working for Johnson... Texas Med Center is the other place in Houston I'd be interested in working.</p>

<p>What I may do... although it would take more time to graduate... is co-op with either JSC or TMC (or wherever possible) to help pay for school. I'll be getting a job to save some extra money to help out, but a co-op type situation would not only allow me to earn the money necessary to pay what I can't get through merit/finaid but it would also give me experience in the field I want to work in. I don't know what kinds of options like that are availiable in Houston or through Rice, but I'll be looking into that this summer I'm sure... and I'll probably check it out in person whenever I'm back in Houston for an interview this summer/fall.</p>

14

<p>if money is tight you should definitly consider the MD/PHD program at baylor. you get a full ride to medschool and they pay you to complete your PHD, which would solve the money issue. also, if you are interested in the medcenter baylor is definitly the place to go.</p>

15

<p>Baylor is definately where I'm hoping to end up. Some of the research programs they have there are EXACTLY the kinds of things I'm interested in.</p>

<p>And thanks for the tip about the med research, serge, because I dropped by my councilors office today to ask if she had heard of anything around town, and her brother-in-law happens to be a neurologist in town, so she's contacting him to find out if he knows of anything.</p>

16

<p>hopefully you find something. the thing is that since u said u live in a place with limited range of facilitites you might not find much yet but when you go off to college lets say Rice, here in houston, you will find so much at Baylor and at UTMB. i am subscribed the to them medcenter newspaper and the UTMB newspaper and there is always something to do...research being done all over the place. all you need to do is contact one of those people and "volunteer" (dont expect to be paid, and be humble about it) and then the opportunities will begin from there. the neurologist might be able to offer you some clinical experience and things liek that which will definitly complement you as a person. I am assuming you wish to go to Rice so work hard on that first, the research doesnt matter for Rice unless you are going for the research scholarship they have, but what im saying is that you really need not worry about it until you are in college which is where most people get involved. do the smart program with baylor and try for the Honors premedical academy with rice and baylor in conjuction and try rice/baylor. the research is not even poignant for rice/baylor they didnt ask me any of that. they just really wanna see you as a person.</p>

17

<p>D had similar interview experience with Rice/Baylor. No questions or discussion about medicine. Both interviewers were more interested in her commitment to one sport for 6 years (school and club teams) and she got a spot.</p>

18

<p>mine asked about medicine and my commitment to it. they even threw in a curve ball like when i mentioned that i had lived outside the united states, he asked me about the immigration issue and then tied it to medicine and asked me to give a solution to the whole wellfare and free healthcare for immigrants and low income families. but he didnt ask about research at all, though I mentioned it and he knew the researcher i will be working with since he was an MD/PHD student. so it all worked out well :D</p>

19

<p>mine was all medicine talk, basically. question after question after question, after the formal "so what do you do" questions... so i guess it just depends on the luck of the interviewer you get!</p>