Brutally honest chance me Rice ED1

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

I go to a very very competitive school and am an ORM:

Intended Major: Biochem/Chem

GPA: 3.73 UW, 4.2W - Circumstances were out of my control, had to take care my very ill elder relative independently for the entirety of freshman year, stressful event leaving no time for any school activities and grades dropped tremendously.

Freshman: 3.41 UW 3.75W (5 B’s 1 C) → Sophomore: 4.0 UW 4.33W (all A’s) → Junior: 3.92 UW 4.59W (1 B+ in meaningless class)

No class rank

UC GPA (capped): 4.41

SAT: 1580 // 780/800

APs: Micro 5, Macro 4, Stats 5, Bio 4, Chem 5, BC 5 and planning on taking Psych, APES, Physics 1, Lit, Lang;

I have taken almost every single rigorous class possible.

ECs:

Biochemical researcher: research on maximizing the efficiency of a current cancer

Tennis Competitor: played 4 years of varsity level tennis, captain for past two years, our team has not lost since like 10 years ago lol

ChemE internship: Worked as a qualitative analyst for a chemical engineering company

Tutoring organization for the past two years; one of the largest organizations and recruits from across the country.

DECA Chapter Officer and Leader:

Biochem Club at my school: designed a program to mentor students and prepare them for chem olympiad, over 75 members

Private tennis coach: coached tennis rigorously for the past 4 years and managed clinics of over 25 players.

Clinic Intern: HIPAA workplace certified; worked at front desk and helped with screening forms and patient check-in

LORs:

Calculus Teacher: We had a pretty good relationship and he selected me to tutor other people in our class who were struggling, Don’t know how to rate.

10th grade English Teacher: She’s a great writer and we’ve had a wonderful relationship, but still not comfortable to rate.

Tennis Coach: He’s also going to mention my circumstance in freshman year, overall a great coach and we’re extremely close. Don’t know how to rate.

Counselor: Also going to discuss my situation freshman year, don’t know how to rate.

Please honest chanceme Rice ED1

2

This is an extracurricular activity? Please elaborate.

3

Not impossible but unlikely. The growth in GPA is great and the ECs you list are certainly unique.

4

at the same company where I served as a qualitative analyst, I also managed their laboratory’s equipment, glassware, and lab space.

5

Would you say unlikely due to any specific weakness in my application, or due to the fact that the acceptance rate itself is pretty low, or both? also, would the admissions officers understand that my situation freshman year was out of my control?

6

what is the meaningless class that you received a b+?

7

gym

8

Unique for a school to include gym in a gpa from my experience. I think it is a reach, but your odds are greater than the admissions odds.

9

i see thank you for the response! do you think my gpa would put me at a disadvantage regardless of my explanation? that’s the main part of my profile that im very worried about

10

Managing a commercial laboratory doesn’t sound like an EC. You might want to tone the descriptive language down a little.

I’m sorry you dealt with illness in the family. Not sure how that might affect your chances. Do you have some other great choices on your list in case Rice doesn’t work out? Does Rice work financially in the event that you are admitted? Have you run the Net Price Calculator with your parents financial details?

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11

Thank you for your response! Money is not an issue for my family (thankfully). my parents are more than fine paying the full tuition cost. Also, my commonapp descriptions for each EC is much more detailed, just wanted to share a summary here, apologizes if it was misleading.

I plan on ED2 to either Vandy or Emory if I get rejected Rice, but Rice truly has been my dream school since freshman year and I’m super super nervous for my decision. Fortunately, I also have UCs instate to kind of rely on.

12

Not sure if it is the actual GPA or just the low grades in print, but an opinion will be formed. Your explanation will likely make you better than someone without an explanation, but not as strong as someone with better grades.

13

ED to Vanderbilt will not go your way - a step harder. Emory might be ok, but truly just a hair easier than Rice.

14

alright, I see. thank you for the response! i agree that they can’t exactly just eliminate that part of my transcript, but I thought my trend and sat score could support my case. I perfectly agree with the fact that someone with a better academic profile would be stronger than me in this case though.

15

Good luck with Rice. I don’t think anyone got in last year at my daughter’s school, in contrast to years before. California is an over represented state in their student population as of recent but as a full pay ED applicant you might have a better chance.

The UCs are also not very predictable as of late (particularly the ones I assume you will be targeting). Make sure you have true safeties on your list. I didn’t see any.

16

i thought emory had a relatively high ED rate? i understand vandy would be difficult, but I’ve heard that they value test scores highly.

17

i have an u arizona national merit full ride as my one safety at the moment. i thought rice was need blind, which meant that they wouldn’t care if I paid full or nothing at all?

18

You are a good applicant -

My thought is that Vanderbilt ED will be most difficult and Emory will be least - but still somewhat difficult.

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19

just looked at the numbers, and you are right. Vandy ed2 is much lower than I thought, so thanks for clarifying that. Still sticking with this plan, but not overly confident at the moment.

i guess my chances for Rice just come down to my essays? Fingers crossed and staying optimistic, but honestly not expecting much.

20

I haven’t looked into Rice in detail, so I’m not sure if admissions is need blind. I do know of families whose kids got in a couple of years back and couldn’t afford it because what Rice thought they should pay and what they thought they could afford didn’t match up.

Good job on securing a safety school. If you’re happy to attend if nothing else works out for you you’re good to go. Good luck again!

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