Is it true that at Rice, getting in early decision is more difficult unless you have special hooks (legacy, etc.)? This is something I’ve just been hearing, although the statistics are slightly more favorable early decision. This is making me second guess my decision to apply early…
I hadn’t heard anything to that effect. As you are observing, last year Rice’s ED acceptance rate was around 20% which is a little better than the 14.7% in RD, but not tremendously so. You might want to look through the reports of acceptance and rejection posted on the thread titled “Rice ED Class of 2019 Results OFFICIAL THREAD” which reflects last year’s actions. My daughter is also applying ED because it is her clear first choice. I suspect if your package (GPA and scores) is above the 50% mark for their last class, you are in decent shape and the higher the better. Showing interest is critical at Rice, altho just by applying ED I would expect you are showing the requisite amount of interest. OTH, if Rice is a bit of a reach, your chances in ED might be worse – why should they offer a slot when they might have better candidates later. Just my logic based on what I’ve heard from the school and gleaned through the above thread.
@wandlmink Hm, that sort of makes sense. I have a 34 ACT and 3.98 GPA, which are extremely average for Rice… However, Rice is very clearly my first choice. Do you think I should still do ED?
I wouldn’t think that is extremely average. If the 3.98 is unweighted, it is going to put you up there so long as the work is rigorous enough. A 34 seems to be right in the middle of their acceptance profile. Play around with the scattergrams on Collegedata.com. You may be very competitive. Not a slam dunk, but the kind of person they might want to lock up in ED. I don’t think your chances would be any better in RD, but don’t rely on my guesswork and look to see if some other wiser people will have an input.
@annaerhear … Let me try and shed some light based on our experience. Maybe it would be beneficial. Last year my son got admitted to Rice and is attending as freshman. his stats were 34 ACT and 3.9 GPA top 8% of class. Lots of extracurricular activities etc. He applied RD. The class of 2019 that is attending (not accepted) Rice stats are – 40% of students had a perfect GPA (4.0 unweighted). Also 60% of students scored 1500+ on SAT (equivalent to SAT= 2250 or ACT 34). This was the best stat based class ever admitted and attending Rice as per Rice college. Based on these stats the average student attending Rice as Freshman is around 3.9 GPA and 34 ACT. Based on your stats you are a little above the average and I would put in the Top 40% of students. Which means 60% of students attending Rice as Freshmen have stats similar or lesser than you. So while you are in the top 50% but not so far above that you would be a slam dunk. Every year the stats seem to go up and this year you could be exactly in top 50% instead in the top 40%. A lot would depend upon your essays, letter of recommendation and Extracurricular activities. All in all, you have a above average shot at getting into Rice. Good luck!
@TinTintoo Thank you for your detailed analysis-- based on what you said, maybe applying early would be beneficial after all, since it would show more interest, and Rice is my dream school anyway.