Another chances thread

Colleges and Universities A-Z Rice University
1

<p>Yes I know there've been a lot of them lately but I was hoping you all could rate my chances at getting into Rice and then possibly getting merit aid if that can be predicted, because my dad is very cheap and if I don't get merit aid I'll be going to a state school because I don't want to graduate with $100k in debt (he makes enough that I won't qualify for any fin. aid). Anyway, Rice is my #1 choice, I'm a rising senior so I'll describe my app., I realize it is very academically heavy and relatively light on the ECs/awards, any suggestions at all are welcome.
I'm a white male from ATL by the way.
SAT scores:
SAT I: 2390 aggregate 800/770/720 first sitting, 740/800/790 second sitting CR/M/W
SAT IIs:800s in Bio M, Physics, US History, Math Level 2, 740 in Spanish(non-native speaker)</p>

<p>Schedule/GPA/Rank:
GPA is 99/100 weighted, 94/100 unweighted (is +7 pts for honors/AP)
Rank is about 25/550 (hopefully top 5% by application time) also, I'm going to try to explain that I'm at a rank disadvantage because my freshman year I wasn't able to take any weighted classes.
9th Grade
Precalculus, Principles of Tech., World History, Biology, English, Spanish III, PE
the school I was at this year did not offer ANY honors classes, I'll get my counselor to explain that
10th grade
AP Calc AB, AP Bio, AP Comp Sci A, English Honors, Spanish IV honors, PE
11th grade
AP Calc BC, AB Physics B, AP English Lang, AP Spanish Lang, AP Stats, APUSH
(self studied AP Physics C Mech and EM)
Proposed 12th grade
AP US/Comp Govt. AP Chem, AP Psych, AP Macro/Micro econ, College English at local CC, Advanced Calculus (Calc II and III) at a local university.</p>

<p>AP Scores: All 5s</p>

<p>ECs:
Boy Scouts 9-12, 2 hours a week + campouts/projects
NHS 10-12, ~1 hour a week+ projects
Volunteering at local library 11-12 ~ 100 hours total
Recreational basketball ~10 hours a week.
Research internship with a professor at gatech this summer, ~30 hours/week, 8 weeks.
Have another internship lined up for during the fall, maybe 15 hours a week
Spanish Natl Honor society 11-12</p>

<p>Awards:
Eagle Scout
Student of the year in Principles of Tech.
Nat'l AP scholar
... thats about it.</p>

<p>Recs:
My physics teacher likes me enough to write me a great rec but I don't know how good a writer he is.
My English teacher liked me and I'll probably ask her to write the other one.</p>

<p>Other notes: This coming year will be the first time I've been in a school for two years in a row since 7th grade(could explain lack of ECs), I'm thinking of making all the places I've lived into my essay topic, maybe describing how each place changed me, does this sound like a good idea or too common?</p>

2

<p>the vast majority of students receive some form of aid. i think actually the average amount a student has to pay per year is about 16k. id say its extremely rare for someone to graduate with near 100k of debt (though that is a little self-selected, since some who would have based on their finaid offer decided not to go for that reason). i would not totally eliminate finaid, even if your parents make 100+ per year. </p>

<p>did you get a paper published at that internship or can you show evidence of research? that is one way to get scholarship money, through Century Scholars or just general impressive points. ive gotten the impression that students who have done research get the most money. </p>

<p>definitely apply ID. looks like youre in a pretty good situation. good luck!</p>

3

<p>I did not publish a paper, I was working on the same project as the prof (when she publishes it she'll probably list me as a contributor but it might not be before app time). I can however get her to write me a recomendation letter, we got along very well and I think she thinks I'm a very hard worker because I would go in weekends alot of the time (mostly because I had nothing else to do). I'll probably talk about it some in the essay too, how does the topic I mentioned sound?</p>

4

<p>Any other opinions on merit aid chances? Are these given mainly for stats or ECs/awards?</p>

5

<p>I think merit aid is mostly ECs/awards and what sort of contribution you will make to life at Rice (whatever that means). I think it's definitely worth applying, but don't count on getting merit aid. Admission is always a silly thing. Just make sure you have a safety and you meet all its deadlines. Sometimes deadlines are earlier for scholarships (I know they are at UT) or honors programs, and you would be a fairly strong candidate for those at a state school.</p>

<p>I believe that National Merit Scholars get $750/year with Rice as their first choice, but I'm not 100% sure.</p>

6

<p>Nat Merit Scholars automatically get $750/year at Rice, but many can get $2000 a year from Rice.</p>

7

<p>I looked on the merit aid part of their website and was wondering, about how many of the engineering scholarships do they give out per year and about what amount(it said they range from 5k-full tuition)? I'm planning on bioengineering/mech. engineering double major unless they try to talk me out of it.</p>

8

<p>Don't count on scholarships! I was offered under $3,000 in loans and WS combined, and my Dad only makes about 100k. Pretty much same stats as you, but heavily weighted in EC's, awards and leadership. No major research or internships. Yeah, my strengths are humanities.</p>

9

<p>I'm not counting on scholarships, I'm just saying that realistically if I don't get scholarships I won't be able to go without incurring 150k in debt. Does anybody know someone who has gotten one of the engineering scholarships?</p>

10

<p>

??????????</p>

11

<p>"Don't count on scholarships! I was offered under $3,000 in loans and WS combined, and my Dad only makes about 100k. Pretty much same stats as you, but heavily weighted in EC's, awards and leadership. No major research or internships. Yeah, my strengths are humanities."</p>

<p><<<
i guess it might depend if your out of state or instate, but for merit scholarships, it doesn't matter how much your dad (or mom) makes. also, i got century program scholarship, but i didn't do any real internships or research (i did volunteer at medical places), so possibly rice looks at the whole picture in deciding merit based scholarships.</p>