Chance me at Rice!

Colleges and Universities A-Z Rice University
1

Hi, I know I posted a similar thread a year ago, but I ended up not applying to Rice ED (financial reasons), but it is still my top school! Here’s my information, since everything is submitted now and this based on my actual commonapp:

White, Female, Northeast (only one student from my school has ever applied to Rice)
Intended major: Astrophysics
Rank (still not finalized) - 2/323
UW GPA- 3.98, 4.289 W (not updated for senior year)
ACT: 32 Composite; 35 E, 34 M, 33 R, 33 S (reading was a separate date)
SAT II: Chem, 740

Interest in school, I have a lot:
-Email correspondence junior year
-Campus visit Junior year, also sat in a class (referenced in my supplementals)
-On Campus Interview in September of senior year
-Email correspondence recently
-Social media interaction
-Mailing list

AP Classes :
10- APUSH (4), AP Chem (5), AP Stats (5)
11- AP Physics 1 (4), Lang (4), Euro (5), US Gov (5), Calc BC* (4)
12- AP Physics C*, APES, Lit, Psych

*independent study

Dual Enrollment (all As):
9 - French I/II
11 - Arabic I/II
12 - DiffEq, Calc III

Additional notes: only student to take DE freshman year, take math past Calc II, and I maxed out French curriculum at my school by sophomore year. DE Classes are only available after school hours.
I also mentioned on the app how I have been taking Arabic since 7th grade but struggling to find affordable opportunities.

Extracurriculars:

  1. Varsity Cheerleading (June - March), Grades 9-11
    Competitions, football games, basketball games, pep rally. A BIG time committment, could not participate in much else. Awarded UCA All-American
  2. Volunteer Cheer Coach (August - November), senior year
    Originally a student demonstrator but took on the role of coach. Team of young girls-- helped to create competition cheer, choreograph, and helped lead team
  3. Cashier (October - Present), senior year
    Extended from seasonal. Cross-trained in technology and customer service. About 22 hour weeks.
  4. Tutor (both paid and unpaid)
    Math, science
  5. Debate Club (9-12)
    President 11/12. Informal group to discuss modern issues.
  6. National Honor Society
  7. Other Honor Societies
    French (president), English, Math, Science

Awards:
Bausch and Lomb Honorary Science
National AP Scholar
Top 2 past three years

Recs:
Guidance counselor
Physics Teacher
Freshman/Junior History Teacher
Head Coach of the Cheer team I coached with
I feel close to all of them, but I’m not sure what they wrote, since I didn’t read them! Hopefully should be good.

2

bump??

3

I would say you’re in the ballpark: you have a chance but it’ll be a reach as it is for everyone. The demonstrated interest is good, but your ACT is lower than the 25th percentile (33). I’m confused, though - how did you get a 32 composite if all of your subsections are higher than a 32? Rice doesn’t superscore.

4

@hurricane314 I know they don’t superscore, but they do say they consider the highest section scores and the Common App only asks for the highest per section.

5

You definitely have a chance. I wouldn’t put alot of weight in percentage estimations on this site. The Rice admission counselors are NOT sneaking on college confidential under fake IDs to give realistic percentage estimations. We live in Houston and my daughter was a HS senior last year. She refused to apply to Rice but 25-30 kids at her high school did. Not gonna lie, it was an admission blood bath. 2 kids got in ED. 2 more got in RD + a baseball player. Valedictorians left and right were getting turned down. 91.8% rejection rate is brutal when you put peoples faces and dreams to that percentage. Good luck to you. I hope you get in !!!

6

@HoustonKen Thank you for your reply! I knew Rice was very competitive, but never thought of it as an “admissions blood bath.” Though, no one from my school applies there so there’s no competition within my school

7

Everyone above basically already covered it; based on your stats, extracurriculars, and all else you have a decent chance of getting in. Based on what I have heard from people at RICE, your essays play a big role (and can thus possibly raise your chances)!
Anyways, best of luck and let us know how it goes :slight_smile:

8

I agree with the above posts. With schools like Rice it’s hard to chance because so many amazing students with great stats don’t get in. All anyone can say is you seem to be in the ballpark and the rest is up to you (and admissions). Hopefully your personality came through in your essays since I think that’s important there. And being from an area where they don’t get a ton of applicants might be a very slight advantage.

9

Thank you!! @PrdMomto1 @NuancedNimbus I really tried to convey how my interests fit in at Rice through the essays, though I’m not sure how good they are.I think they’re good but I’ve never read anybody else’s essays, so who knows? I really tried to showcase my personality in my interview as well, so fingers crossed!

10

As others have noted, your ACT score is a bit low for Rice, but you also have a number of impressive (Differential Equations) and intriguing (Arabic, coaching cheer) academic and extracurricular accomplishments.

I hope that these, along with your obvious enthusiasm for Rice, will work to secure your admission. Good luck!

11

Hi, I wanted to bump! I know a lot of y’all said my ACT score was on the lower side for Rice. I was selected as a finalist for the President’s Scholarship at SMU. I know they generally require super-high scores, so do you think this might mean Rice would look at my info similarly?

12

You haven’t got the scholarship, right? You are invited to interview for it?

13

Right @Sybylla about 60 students are finalists. I heard that the President’s generally requires high ACT scores, so I wasn’t sure if this shows that I have a good chance regardless

14

Average at Rice is high for SMU but it is certainly not a bad sign. Best wishes and good luck!

15

NM

16

Congratulations on being a finalist for the Presidential Scholarship at SMU. If you get it, it has some amazing benefits. Go to the SMU scholarship finalist visit with an open mind. SMU has some great academic programs and a gorgeous campus. Dallas is a great town, and there are lots of shops, restaurants, etc. very near the SMU campus. My daughter and her Rice freshman roommate were both finalists for the SMU Presidential back in 2017, and they both got in Rice. They didn’t know each other at the time. I hope that bodes well for you. Both of them chose Rice over SMU, but finances weren’t an issue for either of them. Rice was my daughter’s dream school too.

17

I’m definitely going with an open mind @Houston1021 !! I’m very excited!

18

If you get the SMU Presidential Scholarship, it might be your best bet financially. Also, you will have a terrific option in hand while you wait to find out about your other acceptances. There seems to be a lot of overlap between applicants to SMU and Rice. That is not surprising since they are some of the top private universities in Texas. SMU is trying to entice some high stats students like you to attend with lots of merit $.

19

I see from another thread that you got the SMU Presidential Scholarship. That is a great opportunity. Congratulations!

20

@Houston1021 thank you so much!! I’m very excited