Call from Rice professor

<p>I just got a call today from a Rice professor who said, "we are interested in your application. do you have any questions about rice?" Is this part of Rice's efforts to show interest in prospective students or does this mean I've been admitted?</p>

<p>Keep in mind that the admissions office takes pride and responsibility for final decisions, but any time a professor calls <em>you</em> to make sure you're feeling positive about his school, you can bet a lot of money that your app has ended up in the good stack.</p>

<p>Which professor?</p>

<p>After getting a likely letter from Rice on Feb.15th, my son got a same type of phone call yesterday afternoon from a physics professor Jay Roberts.
Does it mean something?</p>

<p>NYSkins1, she was a professor from dept. of physics and astronomy. and Navidad, I just got a likely letter from the director today too..."does it mean something?" well the likely letter basically said it all. the call, i'm guessing, is to assess your interest of Rice and get you more interested...</p>

<p>You are so in...</p>

<p>You have received both a likely letter and a likely call and, according to age old wisdom, two likelys equal an acceptance.</p>

<p>i got both also, and it was AWESOME b/c my prof was an english one, and I want to major in english. it was quite stimulating. did they choose professors that related well to the students, or was it random, i wonder?</p>

<p>They chose professors based on which field (Humanities, Sciences, etc) you listed as your first choice. Each professor was assigned to call a small number of students. Students are called in alphabetical order. (I learned all this when I got my call yesterday. I received my likely letter a week ago.)</p>

<p>thanks! that was helpful and makes sense. my prof never told me (although i know i asked).</p>

<p>If the purpose of the faculty calls is to improve the school's all-important yield number by getting a subjective impression of applicant intent (and then letting those who weren't enthusiastic go from "likely" to "sayanara") I suppose it's very important to tell the caller you'll <em>just die</em> if you don't get in.</p>

<p>I have a theory. Many students used to go interim decision and know in February whether or not they got in. This may be Rice's way of telling students they are going to get in, but less officially than it used to be. At least it reduces the stress level of many students, earlier than April.</p>

<p>My D1 has also got the call and letter. We think the call was to assess interest and perhaps influence scholarship offerrs. She was pretty tired when she got the call but I think she sounded reasonably interested. Rice really is a fine school and in a nice warm place to spend the winter.</p>

<p>I don't think the call was to assess interest... my professor was very clear about it and said I had no obligation to call him back, it was really just a chance for me to ask questions, it wasn't an interview, and if I needed convincing to pick Rice over HYP, he would do that! He was super nice and had taught at Harvard and a bunch of LACs, so he could really give a good comparison. He also implied that he wouldn't be "reporting back" to the Admissions office about me or anything. As a result, I was honest -- I didn't say "I would die" if I didn't get in. Instead, I asked what he thought made Rice better than the top Ivies, and what made Rice students special. He gave great answers!</p>

<p>hey, so if its alphabetical, can you guys tell me the first letters of your last names then?
i havent gotten a call, and i got a letter, and i really want a call.</p>

<p>thanks!</p>

<p>wel i'm "z" & i havent gotten a call yet just the email</p>

<p>Well, if you got the letter, but not the call, I think that drops your chance of getting in from 98.362% to 96.2349%. So you better be careful to keep those grades up.</p>

<p>Kidding! You're fine. Relax. Rice loves you!</p>

<p>^^^ agreed.
Chill dude, it's last semester of senior year and you got a likely letter :)</p>

<p>well i have notoriously low self-confidence, and i live in perpetual fear that they mixed me up with some far more deserving soul for the letter, and come april, i'll get a depressingly skinny envelope.</p>

<p>plus i just really want a call :)</p>

<p>ceebee, out of curiosity, could you relate what the professor's answers to those questions were?</p>