Accepted: Rice (ED), UNC Charlotte, UTK
Waitlisted:
Rejected:
Major: Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 1600 superscore, 1560 single sitting (800 M), 6/6/8 writing
ACT: 36
SAT II: 800 Math II, 770 Chem, 750 Bio E
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): n/a (top 10% is ranked, but I’m not in the top 10%)
AP (place score in parenthesis): 5 on HG, Bio, Chem, APUSH, Lang; 4 on Physics 1
IB (place score in parenthesis): n/a
Senior Year Course Load: APES, AP Lit, study hall, APCSA, AP US Gov/AP Macro (1 period), AP Calc BC, AP Physics C
Awards on Application: USABO Semifinalist (10), National German Exam gold (9), AP Scholar with Distinction (11), National Merit Commended (11), Jefferson Book Award (11)
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Climbing (9-12), SciBowl (captain 11, 9-12), SciOly (9-12, VP 12), Linguistics Olympiad (9-12, VP 11, P 12), GSA (9-12, VP 11, P 12), BioOly (9-12, but very little time devoted), German Club (9-10), Mu Alpha Theta (11-12)
Job/Work Experience: work at climbing gym (9-12)
Volunteer/Community service: none (not even for MAO)
Summer Activities: Governor’s School
Essays: CA 8/10 (about being afraid of heights), Why Rice 9/10 (about how I could do a lot of stuff there), Why Major 9/10 (about how SciOly has introduced me to a lot of cool science stuff, linked it to Rice), Perspectives 6/10 (about climbing. Also, I didn’t give myself NEARLY enough time to write it!)
Teacher Recommendation: AP Chem teacher predicted about 8/10, AP Lang predicted to be about the same
Counselor Rec: 6/10 she has a LOOOOTTTT of students, and thus doesn’t get to know any of them super well.
Additional Rec: from climbing coach. Probably about 9/10?
Interview: 8/10, was almost 2 hours long. My interviewer and I really clicked, but I also literally dabbed.
Other:
State (if domestic applicant): TN
Country (if international applicant): USA
Intended major(s): Most anything in the science field LOL
School Type: medium public, kind of competitive
Ethnicity: white
Gender: F
Income Bracket: 150k-175k
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): none at all
Reflection
Strengths: Test scores, demonstrated interest at Rice (like, a lot), dedication to one EC and pretty good results in two others, recs from English teacher and climbing coach, interview
Weaknesses: I’m gonna list these out in bullet point format.
-I didn’t prepare much for my interview.
-I wasn’t in the top 10% of my high school class.
-I did NO research and ONE community service hour.
-I didn’t do much in the summers after freshman and sophomore year.
-I’m not a physics god. The last two people from my school to get in to Rice were. Guess it didn’t matter that much
-One of my Rice supps was written kind of last minute.
-I talked about climbing a bit too much in my interview!
Why you think you were accepted to your alma mater: I showed a lot of interest and was able to tie my passion for climbing in to my love for science, my perspective on life, and how I’ll contribute to the Rice community.
Reflections on the whole process: I’m so, so, so glad that I EDed. It’s not for everybody, but it was the right decision for me.
Anything you’d do differently in high school: I would’ve quit orchestra earlier. It wasn’t very fulfilling for me and I would’ve replaced with APCSP.
Advice you have for future applicants:
-Make sure that your essays could only be written by you AND that they’re specific to the school. All of my Rice supps mentioned either student organizations or field work in certain classes.
-Bring a resume for the interview!
-Apply to your safeties EA.
-It’s okay to prepare for the interview and to refine your essays. But make sure that YOU come across.
-You won’t be prepared for every interview question.
-Look up your interviewer on LinkedIn if you can.
-Do NOT build your high school career around college admissions. Do as much as you can for yourself. The only things I did for college applications were taking standardized tests and filling out CommonApp.
-There’s a series of YouTube videos floating around in which a former AO discusses the strengths and weaknesses of sample admissions profiles. Don’t watch them, you’ll stress yourself out!
-Your dream school will likely change. It’s fine. Freshman year, I was obsessed with MIT. Now, I’m going to Rice and my best friend is going to go to MIT.
-Take advantage of little and random opportunities. I first found out about Rice by finding a brochure in a drinking fountain. I tried NACLO because it seemed easier than Biology Olympiad. (It’s a difficult comparison. They’re both harder.)
-Be happy for your friends!
-Decision day, especially if you apply ED, sucks. Until 4:00, it was on track to be the second-worst day of my life. Bring earbuds to school. (I forgot mine…) Listen to music. Watch whatever shows and videos that you think will help you stay distracted. Recruit your friends to help you stay calm. (The only reason I survived from 3 to 4 without having a breakdown is because one of my friends blew bubbles.)
-Be realistic. You can’t plan on being valedictorian or getting a 35. On the other hand, don’t sell yourself short. In my MIT-obsessed phase, I doubted that I’d be able to get a 3.5 or a 31 in high school. (But I also thought I belonged at MIT… huh.)
-College is not the end-all, be-all. You can be happy and successful no matter where you go, and you can almost always transfer!
GOOD LUCK!
