<p>What are my chances at Rice for ED? RD? (I am a junior in the Southeast)</p>
<p>GPA: 4.0 unweighted
-5/5 APs offered will be taken by end of senior year, might do a science self-study (no scores yet on any)
SAT: 2280 composite superscore
-800 math
-800 writing
-680 reading (taking again in March, it's really a coin toss whether I'll get above 700. I've done 700-800 on practice tests for a while, but I got a 670 last time I took it :/...)
-subject tests
---math 1: taking in may/june
---math 2: taking in may/June
---biology m: 730</p>
<p>ECs:
-piano: 13 yrs lessons. I'm doing a grant funded, monthly nursing home music project junior and senior year. I am a devoted member of the chapel band at my school as well (9,10,11,...). I participated/will participate in music rally sophomore and junior years. Sophomore year I got third in district (99/100 on performance) and honorable mention at state. Junior year I don't know yet. i also participated in a local duet concert junior year and will do so again senior year.
-varsity swim team since 6th grade. I've made state times since 9th grade. I am also the anchor of our relay. I made top 24 of my region and all district junior year. I am on some all state swim league team too, something like that, I'm not all too sure.
-student government: I've held a leadership position all three years so far, and each is bigger than the year before. Hopefully the trend will continue to next year!
-speech team: all 3 years so far. I placed at local tournaments every year so far (6 places) and made all state speech team freshman and sophomore year (junior year hopefully). I am president of speech this year.
-guitar: 5 yrs lessons. played in chapel band.
-drama club: secretary/acting president sophomore year. Also in school productions freshman and sophomore year. Got district rally all star cast freshman year.
-quiz bowl: (dropped sophomore year because of issues with tournaments, no one could go to any, they were all so far out and inconvenient; we don't even have a quiz bowl team anymore; my counselor said she'd explain in her recommendation) co-captain freshman year. 2nd at state-qualifying tournament.
-service: piano grant thing mentioned earlier (20 hours projected by December 2014) and chapel band (100 hours projected by Dec 2014). Also, 40 hours (projected to Dec 2014) weekly middle school math tutoring (11,12)
-other: local leadership program, two academic summer programs </p>
<p>Other academics:
-academic rally: went and placed in french/math/math three years. When I went I placed at both district and state.
-placed 2nd at local math tournament sophomore year (it's in January, so it should be this month)
-Will be NM Semifinalist (233, with a 75 CR. could this make up for my 680?)
-other awards about academics specific to my school</p>
<p>My recs should be solid. My speech coach/English teacher and physics teacher will do the teacher ones. My counselor knows me really well too. I feel like they will add to my app.</p>
<p>I’ve also visited rice, have sent emails to admissions officers with questions, and will visit overnight in fall</p>
<p>you are probably over qualified…</p>
<p>^ No, not over qualified. </p>
<p>But I do wonder what your interests are in Rice specifically.</p>
<p>I am interested in rice for several reasons. The size (perfect!), the residential college system, the cog sci major and kinesiology health sciences program, the people (from what I’ve read and seen, they seem cool and pretty down to earth; the people I met were real and not pretentious), the location (I’m used to hot weather, and I love cities), and a couple others things. Rice, Emory, and NU (the weather would not be a plus there!) are pretty much my favorites. I may apply ED to one of these three after more and more research, I may not. Just being hypothetical. </p>
<p>And I am a junior, so if anybody has any suggestions of things I should try to fix or do, it would be greatly appreciated!</p>
<p>You cannot take math 1 and 2 at the same time and there is no reason to take both. What math are you currently taking? Math 2 will give you a Math 1 subscore.</p>
<p>You do a lot of “stuff” and it’s all good, but what is your passion? All of it? What strengths do you have to offer a school specifically? (Doesn’t need a public reply, but something to think about while preparing apps.) Your ECs are very “liberal arts” oriented, but yet you’ve mentioned medical sciences as your intended courses of college study.</p>
<p>The reason I planned to take both was in case I did well on one and not the other. And thanks for your thoughts. It’s definitely something I’ve been thinking about lately, what I am passionate about and what makes me unique, what my strengths are, etc. I think they really lie in making emotional connections with other people (music, tutoring, speech). Also, I want to have some kind of medical EC, but with everything I already do, I feel like signing up to volunteer at the hospital (the only hospital with volunteering opportunities in town) would be overscheduling. I might try to organize something in the summer, but im not even sure if that’ll work. Oh and one thing I did not specify was that the summer program I am attending this summer is a three week pre-med program. Don’t know how much that adds to my validation of medical interest/exploration.</p>
<p>And I am currently taking pre-calc and using PR/Barron’s for prep for math 2</p>
<p>From the OP:
-Will be NM Semifinalist (233, with a 75 CR. could this make up for my 680?)</p>
<p>No, PSAT scores are not considered, although every school will be interested in your NMF status. A higher CR score on the SAT would be great, but then you would be jeopardizing your perfect math and writing scores. I definitely don’t have the knowledge to advise on this one. My only suggestion is to try the ACT, and then submit both the SAT and ACT.</p>
<p>Okay, good to know about NMF ScienceGirlMom. About the ACT, I took it and hated the science, it was my worst section. Since I would apply to the school of natural sciences, that probably wouldn’t be good. I’m sure I could get it up with prep, but I’m just not sure if its worth the effort. </p>
<p>when you say I would be jeopardizing my scores, you mean I would leave a bad impression at rice and other schools that require all scores because I didn’t make perfect scores again? I think I already made that mistake in December :(. Neither my writing nor math was perfect. I think I’m going to try the SAT one more time and then leave it be after that.</p>
<p>From OP:
when you say I would be jeopardizing my scores, you mean I would leave a bad impression at rice and other schools that require all scores because I didn’t make perfect scores again? </p>
<p>Sorry, I just meant that the odds of getting perfect scores again are difficult. So the question is, do you apply with 800/800/680, or do you give it another shot and possibly get your reading scores up? For example, maybe your scores would be less on math and reading, but better on writing. I don’t know what the best strategy is in this situation. Rice doesn’t super-score.</p>
<p>Maybe if you took the test again and got something like 780/780/720 it would be worth the trade-off.</p>
<p>Ahhh, I see what you mean now. One more time it is!</p>
<p>Hm. Firstly, definitely not overqualified. Which AP Tests have you taken, and what did you get on them? </p>
<p>IMO, you should definitely retake the SAT. Writing scores, while they do add onto your composite score, are definitely not considered in as high regard as math and reading scores. In fact, many universities disregard the writing score all together. You definitely want an above 700 CR score, even if it means dropping your writing scores. Rice requires all scores, so they will see that you have the capability to score perfect, so it should be fine. How many times have you taken the SAT previously?</p>
<p>Edit:
Also, you’re only just taking pre-cal? Maybe its just the math program at your school, but at my old school (which is not very good at all) high achieving kids usually finished calculus by the time they hit senior year. It shouldn’t be a problem if you’re not behind in the context of your own school program, however.</p>
<p>We can’t take APs until our junior year at my school :/, so no scores yet. And pre-calc is the most advanced math class for a junior at my school. The highest class offered is AP Calc AB, which students on the accelerated honors track can’t take until senior year. And I’ve taken the SAT 2 times. Many practice tests I’ve taken have had CR well over 700, so hopefully it’ll work out in March with more prep! Thanks everybody for your help!</p>
<p>No such thing as “over-qualified,” a school of such caliber wants the BEST.
But yeah, I think you have a good chance. Don’t make your essay bore them though. </p>
<p>@SCam1st
Thanks! Yea, I’m going to try to be myself and be creative at the same time. Hopefully it’ll pan out well :)</p>