Chances at Rice, Stanford, Northwestern, UChicago, Illinois?

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Objective:

ACT: 34 (35M, 34E, 33R, 32S)

SAT I: 2090 (710M, 700CR, 680W)

Note: I’m done with standardized tests. I won’t be taking anymore.

GPA: 5.7139/6 W

*Grades are listed first semester, second semester if there are two grades listed.

Freshman Year:
English 9 Honors: A,A
Geometry Honors: A,A
Biology Honors: A,A
French 1: A,A
Programming: A,A
Wellness: A,A

Sophomore Year:
Engish 10 Honors: A,B
Precalculus Honors: B,A
Chemistry Honors: A,A
French 2 Honors: A,A
AP US History: A,A
Driver’s Ed/Safety/Health: A,A

Junior Year:
AP English 11: A,A
AP Calculus AB: B,B
AP Physics 1: A,A
French 3 Honors: A,A
AP US Government: A
AP Microeconomics: A
Leadership: A,A

Senior Year (In Progress):
Rhetoric (Honors Credit)
AP Statistics
AP Chemistry
AP French 4
AP Psychology
Leadership

Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 26/547 (Top 5%)

AP (place score in parenthesis): AP U.S. History(3), AP Calculus AB(5), AP English 11(5), AP Microeconomics(5), AP US Government(5)

Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): AP Scholar with Distinction, Illinois State Scholar
Minor Awards: National Honor Society, French Honor Society

Subjective:

Extracurriculars:

Captain, Varsity Bowling (9,10,11,12)

  • Led team to first state final birth in 2015
  • Mentored young members of team
  • Member of various tournament winning teams

JV Volleyball (9,10)

  • Earned school's "Tiger" award given to the most valuable player on and off the court (9)
  • Member of multiple tournament placing teams

Co-Captain, Varsity Scholastic Bowl (9,10,11,12)

  • National NAQT Qualifying team in 2015
  • Competed in trivia-based events across the state of Illinois

Math Team (9,10,11,12)

  • Member of two state qualifying teams in 2012 and 2014.
  • 3-time reigning Southwest Prairie Conference champion team

French Club (9,10,11,12)

  • Organized multiple intra-school events and restaurant visits
  • Four Year Member -Monthly meetings

Philosophy Club (11,12)

-Discussed elevated topics involving art, humanity, and the challenges our society faces.
-Weekly meetings

Bowling League Member (7 years)

-2013-14 High Series
-2014-15 High Average
-3-time team champion

Job/Work Experience: None

Volunteer/Community service: Over 50 hours over my past 2 years - adequate at best.

Summer Activities: Nothing scholarly

Essays (rating 1-10, details):
Personal Statement - 8/10 Described my failure at a bowling tournament and how I grew to appreciate my teammates from the experience
Rice Supplemental - 7/10 Tough prompt in my situation. I have always excelled in writing, however. (Not to brag :P)
NU, UChicago, Stanford Supplemental - Will prob be around 8’s.

Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1: AP English 11 Teacher 7.5-8/10

Teacher Rec #2: AP Calc AB Teacher 7/10

Counselor Rec: 9/10

Additional Rec: Bowling Coach: 9/10

Interview: Not sure if I should schedule one for Rice. Feedback?

Other

Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes

Intended Major: Statistics, Engineering

Intended Minor(s): Statistics (If not my major)

State (if domestic applicant): Illinois

School Type: Public (class of 547) - Southwest suburbs of Chicago

Ethnicity: White

Gender: Male

Income Bracket: Upper Middle Class

Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Bowling, Trivia are the only unique things in my app.

Thanks for reading!

My Schools:
Rice University
Northwestern University
Stanford University
University of Chicago
University of Illinois
Loyola University Chicago
Louisiana State University(accepted)
Mississippi State University(accepted)
University of Alabama(accepted)

2

It never hurts to schedule an interview, so do so at Rice. You can ask them questions about the school and life there and get more of a feel for the Rice experience. Rice admissions are more data driven than holistic and you are in the lower middle range so I’d call it a low reach for you. NW and UChicago reach because they are so selective, and Stanford high reach (for everyone).

3

Don’t send Rice your SAT score, first off. If you’re absolutely in love with Rice, apply ED. And for a white guy, I’m not sure that your stats are so bad. It’s /very/ difficult to tease out what Rice’s standards are for different groups of people because they don’t have the standard mix of URM/Non-URM/ORM students; Rice enrolls a whole lot more Asian students than peer schools and as a result, Rice can claim way higher SAT ranges.

Now, the real question is this: is a 34 ACT competitive for a white male applicant to Rice? The answer to which is a resounding, maybe. I haven’t applied to Rice, but, I did get into a fly-in program they ran with stats similar to/marginally better than yours. (2280 SAT, 800 & 780 SAT II, 4.0) So, obviously, you’re in range. I think you’re probably an ‘on-the-bubble’ candidate that an ED bid could really help.

Chicago would be really dicey, same with Stanford. I could see NW happening for you but I’m not sure if that’s a likely thing to happen. Rice is probably your best bet, realistically. That being said, what do I know? Follow your dreams and don’t let Chances threads get you down.

4

@DressingIron Thanks so much for that response. I actually am applying ED, I just forgot to include that in my profile. I am glad you think that Rice is my best bet, because it is the school that I liked most out of all of the ones I visited/am applying to. Thanks again

5

@TooOld4School Thanks for the response. I will probably schedule an interview once my application is submitted.

6

@TooOld4School

I forgot to mention this in my above post but it’s something significant: Rice seems to prefer enrolling students from outside of Texas. At the moment Rice is about 50% Texan, and they’re looking to knock that number down some. I assume they’re trying to enroll more students from other states so they’re seen as less of a “regional” school.

7

When looking at the Naviance chart for Rice at my son’s school (35% admission rate to Rice) , the average GPA is 3.93/4 (UW) and lowest ACT admit is 34. Only one person was admitted with ACT less than 34, but that was probably because their SAT score was very high. Engineering/Science students tend to score higher, and we are talking about Rice choosing from the top 1% of candidates and there also seems to be a lot of self-selection going on. Best of luck to you!