Chances at Rice?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Rice University
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<p>So i'll simply do the usual I suspect....I'm a now a Senior at one of the most competitive high schools in the Bush state. I would like to major in either biomedical engineering or economics...or both if possible!!</p>

<p>So Here it goes:</p>

<h2>Basic "Number" Stats</h2>

<p>SATI-- 720 Math/660 Verbal.....i know....this kinda kills my chance(and a lot of other things), but I'm hoping my ACT score will make up for it
ACT -- june 21st scores come out....
SATII's-- Chem-- june 20th scores...but i think high 700's
Math IIC-- " "high 700's
Physics--" "high 700's
GPA-- not too sure maybe 3.7 or 3.8? don't know yet...but I got a 4.0 this semester...that <em>should</em> help
Class Rank: top 7 or 10%, 40 or 50 something... again, don't know yet
AP-- chem and csci still awaiting...
Courses: all AP's...all A's these past two semesters with 7 AP's</p>

<h2>EC's</h2>

<h2>School Related Stuff</h2>

<p>-President of Robotics -- 3 yrs.
-Co-President of JETS -- 3 yrs
-VP Chess Club -- 3 yrs.
-Mu Alpha Theta - 3yrs.
-Philosophy Club -- 2 yrs.
-President Science National Honor Society....one of the few honor societies that doen't require service hours...rather, volunteering for the sake of volunteering -- 1 yr...just started
(As you may note... I can't truly put four years given that I haven't really started senior year.)</p>

<h2>Non-School Stuff </h2>

<p>-Japanese Style Karate-- 11 yrs (started at the age of 5) third degree black belt
-Electric/Acoustic Guitar -- 5 yrs going on 6, lead guitarist in my band
-UIL Science Team...took first in state this year!!-- 3 yrs
-Orchestra -- 6th through 10th
- Science Olympiad Team Captain-1 yr
-USA Computational Olympiad- 2yrs
-Peer Tutor in Physics and Chemistry</p>

<h2>Awards and Honors</h2>

<p>-Siemens Westinghouse Semifinalist -- 10th
-Siemens Westinghouse Regional Finalist - 11th
-BEST Robotics Competition: Best Robot – 10th
-BEST Robotics Competition: Most Elegant Robot – 10th
-BEST Robotics Competition: Best Engineering Notebook – 10/11th
-State BEST Robotics Competition: Most Robust Robot – 10th
-Houston Science and Engineering Fair 2003: 3rd Place in Physics – 9th
-American Society for Quality Award – 9th
-American Physical Society 4th Place – 9th
-One of five students in region invited for a research internship with Nobel Laureate Dr. Robert Curl – 9th
-Invited by Rice University to complete research with the Condensed Matter Group – 10th
-American Physical Society 2nd Place – 10th
-Overall Best Physics Project in the Region – 10th
- Silver Team Invitation in USA Computation Olymiad
-Rice University Award for Creativity and Ingenuity in Scientific Research – 10th
-MIT Lemleson Group and The Partnership for America’s Future: I was one of six students across the nation chosen as a Student Board of Director – 11th
-Invited to attend the Quarknet Program – 11th
-Accepted to complete research at the Texas Center of Superconductivity on thin film coatings for protective coverings – 10th(summer)
-I have over 40 awards in UIL Math and Science competitions – 9/10/11th
-Texas ATM math competition: 6th place in Power Team Competition and 4th Overall- 11th
-I was personally invited by the head of Jet Propulsion Laboratories to present my research on tactile actuators in an International Smart Structures and Materials conference sponsored by SPIE – 11th
- I was recently accepted as an intern at IBM Labs in NY
- Junior Academy of Sciences Second Place Engineering
- Bunch of sci. olympiad awards in regional and state level...but not nationals </p>

<h2>Research Projects -- a.k.a , my life....hehe</h2>

<ul>
<li>A Self-Induced Generator based on Non-Radiant Mediums- 7th - 9th</li>
<li>A Comprehensive Study on Expedidtive Acoustic Cooling - 10th summer</li>
<li>A Novel Approach to Degradative Chemical Clean-Up using Acoustic Cavitation - 10th</li>
<li>Development of a Tactile Actuator using Dielectric Electroactive Polymers -11th summer</li>
<li>Image Definition and Enhancement through Machine Learning and Psychophysics -- 11th...this project attracted the attention and ultiimately a publication by Prof. Bill Freeman a computer vision researcher at MIT --11th</li>
<li>Definite Information Holding Risk Management: A Minimalistic Approach to Risk Aversion-- 10th-11th...this project was a simple theory i developed and tested in the field of game theory and ultimately economics
-I am about to start my research at IBM this summer and it should be something quite interesting!!</li>
</ul>

<p>I hope to do a lot more research in college .....!!!</p>

<p>I do believe that I will bring something interesting to Rice. My passions for learning may not be seen in my "scores", but I think my experience in research and my philosophic nature is my defining factor. Hopefully they'll see that too.</p>

<p>Thanks for reading this guys. I truly appreciate those of you who put time and effort in actually writing laudable responses!</p>

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<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=68860%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=68860&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Check out that thread... Scores aren't all they're cracked up to be, and I think for the most part, your scores are just fine. It'd be nice to boost that verbal score a bit to hit 700, but your math one's nothing to worry about. I think your research is pretty cool, and is definitely something unique. Be careful about coming across as too one-sided, though. I'd play up the martial arts and being lead guitar a bit more-- those are cool and interesting extracurriculars, too.</p>

<p>Best of luck!</p>

3

<p>hmm. Your number stats are actually a lot like mine. I also had a composite of 1380. Your class rank is also similar. So that's good news (especially if you can get a good ACT score). Extra curriculars look good. You have proven to be very competitive also. The in state applicant pool is very competitive though. But you definitely have a chance.</p>

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<p>where will you be attending misterme2009...Rice I presume, given that you are on this thread in the first place...lol</p>

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<p>yes I'm going to Rice. Good observation.</p>

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<p>extracurriculars won't make or break you, stats will</p>

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<p>On the contrary, when you're applying from in-state (where 50% of Rice's applications come from) where there will be a <em>LOT</em> of applicants with similar stats...</p>

<p>Extracurriculars WILL "make or break" you.</p>

<p>If all you do is study, or if you sign up for so many clubs that you couldn't have participated very much in an influential way, you'll have less of a shot than the person who stuck with band/choir all 4 years, or who organized a local chapter of Habitat for Humanity, or invented/marketed a particular product, etc.</p>

<p>Stats are only important because you need to be able to show that you have a chance of working at the Rice level; however, Rice wants interesting people, not bookworms.</p>

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<p>Why do you go to college? I'm going to get an education.</p>

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<p>I /went/ to college. I /got/ and education.</p>

<p>Why do you think "education" only equates to book-learning and numbers on some statistical report?</p>

10

<p>dahh...too much negativity....jk...
Ok, about the Rice dorms...how would you rate them. I understand that all the dorms are the same...but overall, how was your experience?</p>

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<p>I havent moved in yet but overall the dorms are very good. The housing system overall is very unique.</p>

12

<p>Your class rank and scores are decent (ie typical), but you should not worry about them. With your research involvement, I would put your chances at excellent. A friend of mine in my high school class with extreme research activities got into Caltech and MIT with a 3.7, 1360 SAT, low 700 SAT II's. Probably 20 people ended up applying to both of these from my school, and based on intellect he would probably be the least able (not an understatement). But research is THE extracurricular activity to have on your app. Research in my opinion is the best thing a high school student can do. Universities exist to 1) educate and 2) research. You can show you are a perfect person to educate by having awesome grades/scores or more importantly you can demonstrate that you can contribute to the university by individual research. I know some of you may think that having research is obvious, but look around on the chances posts and see how many have significant research, if any. Even a humanities applicant should have something to stand for (my case in particular). The point is your research will get you in and your numbers will be quickly overlooked.</p>