Ask a Rice merit scholar!

Are merit scholarships decided by stats or by essays? Some places like Michigan State and other good state schools give merit to those with really high SATs and GPAs, but I also know schools like Emory give merit to students with interesting backgrounds and essays instead. I’m assuming Rice is the latter, but I’m not really sure…?

It’s not just stats and GPA, although often merit scholars are also exceptional on the GPA and stats side too.

https://financialaid.rice.edu/scholarships.aspx

What does “scholar athletes” mean? Recruited athletes with high gpa/stats? Also, does Rice have men’s swim team? Many thanks OP!

I think Rice is giving some examples of past recipients, and as you can see, many types of students can receive a merit scholarship.

** Only admissions can say for sure, and I am just speculating. ** But generally the highly selective schools that have merit scholarships (Rice, Duke, Wash U, Emory, Vanderbilt to name a few) are looking for students that have an “it” factor. The kind of student that will have offers from many different schools because of impact they are having on their current community, and potential impact on their college community.

Again, just personal speculation, but I also think the merit scholarships might be an effective recruiting tool. The kids I know who have been offered merit scholarships also have offers from HYPSM, etc. A merit scholarship sweetens the deal and will bring many of these kids to Rice.

At the varsity level, Rice does not have men’s swimming, soccer, or volleyball. It has women’s varsity swimming, soccer, and volleyball. However, Rice has men’s varsity football, baseball, and golf. The number of men’s and women’s varsity sports is the same. http://www.students.rice.edu/students/Athletics.asp

Hi! Future Rice undergrad here!

Thanks for helping out the community with your Q&A. So I’ve been admitted to Rice through ED, and have been interested in the merit based scholarships. I know applying with my admission application is all I need to be considered, but what if I would like to add to my list of achievements? Is there a way to upload more information or is the application all that is used to consider students for the scholarships?

Thanks!

Edward

Hey! Rice freshman and merit scholar here. Happy to answer any questions people have.

@edwardenzerliu If you were admitted ED, your scholarships letter should have arrived with your acceptance. If you really want to add to your list of achievements, you can email the admissions office. However, I wouldn’t hold my breath. Merit scholarships usually go to students who the university believes will end up with a plethora of good schools to choose from. Since you are contractually bound to attend Rice, they have very little motivation to offer you a scholarship now.

Hi! I applied RD to Rice (my number one choice, but I was scared that if I applied ED, we wouldn’t be able to pay). On the Rice Financial Aid Website, they list “some” of the merit scholarships they offer https://financialaid.rice.edu/scholarships.aspx. Does Rice offer additional merit scholarships other than these on a case-by-case basis?

This might be a silly question, but when people say they do reasesrch, what exactly are they doing and how? My daughter is one of the very top engineering academy students at her school and number 1 in her class overall, will most likely be a National Merit Finalist (has the score with wiggle room and meets all the qualifications to move from NMSF to NMF) next year, partcpates in Technology Student Association and has qualified for Nationals every year but hasn’t placed there. She has not heard of any research opportunities nor does she know of any classmates doing any. She is an elite swimmer and the time commitment of her training, 9 practices a week averaging 2.5 hours each plus meets and travel meets, means she forfeits some opportunities like robotics team and summer programs at universities. So, I’m not sure how research fits in but first I need to understand what kids are doing, who they are doing it for/through, and how they got the opportunity.

Rice is far and away her number one choice. On our visit she had a realization that she had been so hyper focused on getting her swim times where they needed to be to get recruited that she hadn’t paid enough attention to the fact that students with high stats like hers were still rejected in large numbers! She worries her swimming commitment might keep her from the extras that make or break an application.

@BertieMom - This is an excellent question. I suspect that you would get a lot more answers in the Parents Forum or College Admissions Forum?

Is your daughter going to be a recruited athlete? You said that she has been focused on getting her swim times where they needed to be to get recruited. If she will be a recruited athlete, the process is entirely different than it is for non-athletes.

The goal is to be a recruited athlete. We have barely skirted around the idea of what she would do if she were accepted to Rice but not recruited by Coach Huston. She doesn’t want to let that negativity in her life right now! She does have schools on her list where she would be number 1 in all her events on their roster, but none of them own her heart like Rice does. She broke her foot in December which has been terrible timing but she is still holding on to hopes for a great Speedo Sectionsls meet here in a few weeks.

I’ll post my question about research opportunities in the forums you suggested.

@celara55 The list posted online should encompass all the merit scholarships Rice offers.

@BertieMom Congrats on your daughter’s accomplishments! When Rice kids say they did research in high school, it was usually at a lab/program, usually at a university and sometimes a hospital, on a professor/scientist’s project. It also doesn’t have to be Petri-dish-STEM research; I did social sciences research at a nearby university during my junior year summer.

With regards to the swimming, it’s a personal decision based on information and interests only your daughter knows- does she enjoy it (more than the other activities she could be doing with her time spent on swimming), or would she rather spend that time on something else? Are her times competitive enough to be recruited by Rice; if not, can she/does she want to work to get those times or does she just want to apply as a regular student?

Lastly, I’m not an athlete at Rice but have some familiarity with the athletics program. Not to discourage your daughter or anyone looking to play sports at Rice, but it can be difficult to be an athlete here, likely more so than at other places.

Academics are hard here, and with the intense time commitment of athletes, those students tend to become isolated from the general population. Rice will not “pad” classes or give athletes a grade boost like some state schools. You also don’t get the glory and instant popularity that you might get at another school; the students don’t care about D1 sports here. Games are poorly attended.

Unless sports are your only way into Rice or you truly love your sport, it may not be a path for everyone.

With that said, super excited that Rice is her dream school, and I hope she finds her way here! It’s a fabulous, amazing place.

Swimmers don’t get popularity anywhere! And this is of no concern to her. Swimming is simply a part of who she is and I’m not sure she could cope with its removal from her life. It’s as though she needs chlorine like she needs oxygen. When all the stresses pile up, a tough training session sands down all those rough and prickly edges and recenters her emotionally and psychologically. I would be a lot more worried about her handling college life if she decided to give up swimming.

We are in a similar situation with our daughter who is also a swimmer and applying to Rice. She was a late bloomer in swimming and only this year getting times that are getting close to what Rice is looking for. She just got her first Futures cut. She is also hoping for a walk-on spot if she is accepted and really likes Rice

Very helpful thread. Thanks for sharing your insights so generously.

My daughter is likely valedictorian or salutatorian at a top city independent school and the top math, physics and French student in her class, with high SATs (I and II), good music and arts ECs as well as various leadership creds within the school community. At many of the most selective schools she’d probably be competitive, but I’m not as confident about her chances at Rice because she has no research on her resume. In your experience, is research such a prevalent part of accepted Rice applicants’ backgrounds that statistically she’s at a material disadvantage in the admission process? Many thanks.

Junior merit scholar at Rice here! In answer to your question, I don’t think research is a particularly important part of the admissions process. It’s far more important that you have extracurriculars which correlate to your area of interest and which show an interest in your field. I had absolutely no background in research, but I had lots of experiences that were relevant to my field in other ways.

Acceptances are out!

Overall, we had 16% more applicants compared to last year, and our acceptance rate dropped to 11% from 16%. Quite a significant change.

Congrats to those accepted, and I hope you choose to come to this amazing place!

Totally random question but how’s the food at Rice?

@GoldOwls didn’t answer yet so I will chime in. There are serveries (dining halls) in or attached to each residential college. The biggest dining halls are the north and south serveries on opposite ends of the campus. Any student can use his or her meal swipes at any of the dining halls.

My daughter says the food is pretty good for college cafeteria food. Don’t be expecting gourmet food, but the serveries have a wide variety of things and accommodate people with special dietary needs pretty well. You will get a bit tired of anywhere you eat all the time. The serving hours for dinner and breakfast end pretty early. You can check out the Twitter (Rice U H & D) Facebook (Rice University Housing and Dining) and Instagram (rice dining) feeds of Rice Housing and Dining for photos and more info. I can’t post the links here.

The food is pretty good on the whole, although perhaps a bit repetitive. There’s a decent amount of variety within meals, as each servery has a salad bar, a fruit bar, a main serving line (usually items like fish, tofu, chicken, and a couple of vegetable dishes) along with sides (typically things like rice or fries). There’s always burgers and pizza at lunch, and each servery has certain “stock items” like cereal, baked potatoes, and grilled chicken that are there for every lunch and dinner if you don’t care for the main food choices.