<p>My son has always taken rigorous courses....as a Junior, he has 5 AP classes and is getting Bs in most. His GPA is a weighted 3.7 and he's in the top 18% of his class. He took the SAT for the first time in December and his scores are:
Verbal 690
Math 620
Writing 700
He can improve the verbal score, but the math is about as good as it's going to get.</p>
<p>He has Asperger's Syndrome, so he doesn't have long list of awards or leadership positions. He has lots of choir honors...that is his "thing".</p>
<p>His SATs and grades look fine for every school in which he is interested, except Rice. Rice is the only school on the list that requires SATIIs. If he doesn't stand a chance at Rice, he can skip the SATIIs.</p>
<p>He's definitely not a sure thing (but then again, who is?) but acceptance wouldn't be impossible either. I'd suggest that if he likes Rice he go ahead and apply (I know that the SAT IIs aren't the most fun thing on Earth, but it would probably be better to take them and apply, rather than not and look back in a few years and wonder if he could have gone to his first choice school if he had devoted a Saturday to the SAT IIs.</p>
<p>Rice is a pretty selective school, but the admissions office might think that your son is a crusader for trying to surmount Asperger's. It's definitely not a sure thing, but if he devotes time and effort into studying for SATIIs and writes a killer essay, he has a good chance.</p>
<p>Thanks. He's taking APUSH, so it wouldn't take any extra preparation to take the US History subject exam. And his Pre-Cal teacher thinks he can do fine at Math-at least Level 1. Since we're only talking 2 hours of his life, I guess I'll sign him up for May or June....then if he bombs them, we can forget about Rice!</p>
<p>Considering his special circumstances, he is doing an amazing job.
I do think that he has a great chance of getting into Rice.
A few things that could help him be a more competitve applicant are:
1. Make sure to emphasize the obstacles he has overcome considering the syndrome in his essay or in the application.
2. Take SATII's that are related to his subject of interest.
3. DO TRY HARD to get A's for those AP classes.
4. Make sure to emphasize the special circumstances he has in the additional information box in the application. (It does make a difference)
Your son should definitely apply to Rice. I think he does have a great chance of getting in.</p>
<p>Normally your son wouldn't be competitive, since Rice's average GPA of admitees is about 3.7 UW and 4.0 W. However, they will consider his situation holistically, and therefore he becomes a competitive applicant. For this reason, I believe (like the others) that he should go ahead and take the SAT IIs. Even though Rice is a private university, they will consider that your son is an in-state applicant and therefore are more likely to attend if admitted. This works in his favor.</p>
<p>And, yes, Rice requires that if he takes the Math SATII, it must be the Math SAT II Level II test.</p>
<p>After my last post I started looking at some of the SATII threads and realized that he needs to take Math Level II instead of Level I. He's in Pre-Cal and his teacher thinks he can do it. I think I'll sign him up for the June test. Since he has 5 AP classes, plus choir, he really won't have any more tests after the AP exams are over (no final exams) so he can spend that time getting ready for the Level II exam. </p>
<p>Thanks so much for the encouragement....we were ready to give up.</p>