<p>I am a white male attending a College Prep School outside of Chicago.
All Stats and ECs through my Junior year</p>
<p>SAT Dec 2009: M 710 CR 650 W 710
SAT Jan 2010: M 770 CR 750 W 640
SUPERSCORE 2230</p>
<p>Freshman Year 3.0
Sophomore 3.75UW 3.9 W
Junior 3.8 UW 4.23 W
Total 3.5 UW 3.7 W
Class Rank 38/115
My freshman grades really killed me. My class rank sucks because of those and because its a competitive private school with entrance exam.</p>
<p>NOT ELIGIBLE FOR FINANCIAL AID</p>
<p>Nation Merit Commended PSAT 209
1 year of latin club
2 years of latin team
Silver medal national latin exam
State Qualifier for Illinois Latin tournament
3 years math team- lots of awards
Latin Honor Society
Math tutoring
3 years of Lacrosse- Captain Junior Year
Influential in starting of Lacrosse Team
Decent amount of Community Service
2 years football, might play again senior year too
3 years rotc- held leadership position</p>
<p>well, i was deferred from ED with a 2020 SAT (M710 R700 W610) and had a 3.75U 4.075W with about 11APs. Had comparable ECs with you.</p>
<p>Maybe that will give you some results to compare to.</p>
<p>you definitely have a shot but that freshman year is killing you.</p>
<p>I can’t exactly say you are a shoe-in into Rice but I will say that you won’t immediately be discarded and rejected. Your SAT scores are on par with the rest of the applicants so that’s good. Your low GPA your freshman year won’t disqualify you from Rice because you improved later but if you really want to attend, you will have to improve your GPA as much as possible from now until you apply and wait for the decision. Despite what people say that GPA isn’t too important or that a low GPA is okay as long as you have other great credentials, that is not the case with top colleges. Grades come first NO MATTER WHAT. </p>
<p><strong><em>There are only very few exceptions and it usually includes athletes but can include others like musicians, painters, people who make some huge contribution to your school or community, etc. I don’t know why athletes are cut some slack while everybody else suffers. It’s like they discriminate athletes vs others not in athletics. Not everyone desires to be the super star in sports and consequently chooses other routes of self expression yet if they had similar academic stats as these people, they probably would be denied. Okay, sorry for my rant.</em></strong> </p>
<p>Then are your other credentials like EC activities, achievements and awards, and essays. Essays are actually super important and can be a defining piece in the application. Please don’t treat them as something light that holds little weight in the admission process. </p>
<p>Summary of this overly long response: </p>
<p>Raise you GPA as much as possible, write articulate, insightful, and well organized essays (major factor), and continue being involved in activities that you like. Remember that colleges prefer dedication and quality when it comes to EC activities VS quantity with little to no participation past initial membership.</p>
<p>thanks a lot livegreen</p>