<p>Hi. I have applied to Rice Early Decision but have been wondering about some specifics that I couldn't find direct answers to on the Rice website. I am applying to the School of Humanities as an English major. Will my application be viewed with my intentions as an English major in mind, or as a general applicant to the university? I did read that the school you apply to does influence your application insofar as your HS grades/extracurriculars should reflect an interest in your declared area of study, but I'm concerned my weak math grades will bring down my application as a whole, even though I have no desire to pursue a math or science related path. Will Rice take this into consideration?
On a related note, my combined SAT score is within the range for Rice (2160), but my math score is considerably below Rice's standards. (CR 800 W 750 M 610, Literature 800 US History 750). Will Rice consider the fact that I demonstrate strength in other areas/will these strengths compensate for my weaknesses in math?
I have challenged myself (I am in BC Calculus this year and doing fairly well) -- will this make a difference?
My ECs and leadership are strong, as is my class rank. I am a white male from Texas.
Thanks to all who reply! I know I asked a lot of questions, most of which don't have straight answers. </p>
<p>I applied ED also! I think it should be fine considering you want to major in English and your CR + Writing + Lit proves that you have a strong interest in that area. What’s your class rank and leadership roles? </p>
<p>The answer is a bit of both. Your school of study likely does have impact on your admission, but you are also weighed as a general candidate. Rice wants the school to be reasonably balanced and also ensure that people do not list one major due to their scores with the intent of moving into something else.</p>
<p>In a nutshell, will a 610 count against you some? Yes. Is it a deal breaker? Absolutely not.</p>
<p>Thank you very much for your insight, @Antarius and @JJfresh .
My class rank is top 6% in a large and very competitive public high school and my leadership (especially relating to my intended area of study) is quite strong. I am a little leery of posting specifics, but I’m fairly certain they’re solid, and I have several awards/acknowledgements as well as job experience. I am mostly worried about my SAT math score and specific math grades. </p>
<p>@owl2019 I don’t think your math score will hinder your acceptance into Rice. It may look weak but if your passion is truly for English, it definitely stands out 
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<p>@Antarius do you happen to work for rice admissions or was a previous student? Sorry, I’ve been looking around at many of the Rice threads and have seen your user pop up often. You also seem to know a lot about Rice and how their whole admissions process works! </p>
<p>@JJfresh Thank you! Your response was very encouraging and I actually feel a lot better now. </p>
<p>@JJFresh - I am a former student and was very involved in Rice as a student (and still am actually). I do not and never have worked for the admissions department, so my responses are opinions and based on my experience and talking to several people, but not directly based on anything from the admissions committee.</p>
<p>Trying to help out, so let me know if you guys have any questions</p>
<p>@owl2019 In my opinion, you are a strong candidate. </p>
<p>Rice’s early decision considers more on how much you love for Rice (They particularly pay attention to your supplement essays). Grades and SAT scores won’t destroy your application.</p>
<p>I talked to the admission committee members during their open house in September, and they said that every year they denied a lot of people who did not take supplement essays seriously. So in my opinion, if you have a strong supplement essay and you demonstrate your extremely strong interest in Rice, you will be fine. However, no one can guarantee whether you can get in, and you just have to do your best.</p>
<p>Rice does defer students every year, so please make sure you retake your SAT in December so that you can submit a higher score in case you are deferred.</p>
<p>@Yhz1221 Thank you for the suggestion about taking the SAT again in December. It actually hadn’t occurred to me that I could possibly get another chance to submit an SAT score to Rice. I do believe my essays will be the strength of my application, so it’s good to hear they pay more attention to these for ED applicants.
So far everyone on College Confidential has been very helpful and friendly. Thank you again to everyone who replied! </p>