Chance me, please (aka IS there any chance?)

Colleges and Universities A-Z Rice University
1

<p>I'm a junior in an average public high school. Rice is my favorite school, but I doubt I have much chance at being admitted. I'm decent, but not amazing. Please tell me what to improve on, and if there's anything I can do in my remaining time in high school to improve my chances.</p>

<p>Female
White
Arkansas
Intended major: Civil or Chemical Engineering</p>

<p>STATS:</p>

<p>4.0 GPA (Unweighted, maintained throughout high school)
Class rank - 1
ACT: 31 (Going to retake, I ran out of time on most and had to do guessing, didn't prepare very much as a sophomore. Science got me.)
English 32
Math 30
Reading 32
Science 29
SAT: Going to take in a few months.
SAT II: US history 780
PSAT: 212 (as a sophomore, we haven't gotten this year's results yet; I expect to do a lot better)</p>

<p>Classes taken:
AP US History - 5 on exam</p>

<p>Honors Algebra II
Honors Geometry
PreAp classes, assorted electives.</p>

<p>Taking:
AP Language and Comp
AP World History
AP Psychology
Honors Pre Calculus and Trig
Honors Spanish (IV)
Honors Chemistry</p>

<p>Will take (senior year):
AP Physics
AP Chem
AP Literature
AP Government
AP Calculus
AP Macroeconomics/ AP Microeconomics (combined class)</p>

<p>Extracurriculars:
- Newspaper staff (2 years) - All Arkansas award winning paper
- Mu Alpha Theta (3 years) - running for office for next year
- Key Club (1 year; Secretary) - one of founding executive members for our school's chapter
- Korean Culture Club (2 years) (I'm not Korean, fyi)
- Drama classes (2 years)
- Spanish National Honors Society (2 years)</p>

<p>Awards:
• 1st place high school science fair in chem.
• 1st place regional science fair in chem.
• 2nd place state science fair in chem. (got me $200, hehe)
• Honor roll 2009-2010, 2010-2011
Might be National merit semifinalist (it's very easy to get in it in Arkansas because PSAT scores are generally rather low here)</p>

<p>Assorted activities / volunteering:
• Deeply involved in church youth group
• University of Arkansas Engineering Summer Academy
• Violin (only been playing for about a year)
• Camp War Eagle (leadership focused summer camp; I have gone for 7 years every summer, and plan to work there once I am a senior)</p>

<p>Work at a local non-profit bicycle repair shop that recycles parts and repairs and builds bicycles for resale from donated bikes, helping create a bike friendly community and helping the environment. I have 200+ hours volunteering there and it is something I really am passionate about. I may be an intern next year, or placed on the board of directors as a student representative. </p>

<p>Also have other random volunteer stuff - library, church projects, mission trips.</p>

<p>Tell me what you think. I'm not an exceptional candidate, but I am passionate about the few things I am involved in.</p>

<p>I am an excellent essay writer.</p>

2

<p>I would say good chance, especially since you’re not from Texas.</p>

3

<p>How many in your class?</p>

4

<p>You have a fair shot. It’ll be up to the subjective aspects of your application and how the admissions committee views your app to determine whether or not you’ll get in.</p>

5

<p>Thank you.</p>

<p>Yeah, I forgot to say: my class is about 600, but my school has a weird way of calculating it, so there’s probably 15 students who have class rank of “1”, and perhaps 30 who are “2”.</p>

6

<p>That is odd. Regardless, being in the top 15 of 600 is excellent; this will reflect well on your application.</p>

<p>Your stats look good and put you in range to get in. Good Luck!</p>

7

<p>They probably rank by unweighted GPA. Thus, 15 students have never gotten a B, have a 4.0, and are listed as first in their class. I’ve heard of a few schools in my area that do this.</p>