Chances for ED, will chance back? (Thanks in advance!)

Colleges and Universities A-Z Rice University
1

Hi, I’m a rising senior currently who really wants to go to Rice, and would really appreciate anyone offering their input/opinions. I would apply to the Brown School of Engineering for bioengineering. I’m more than a little nervous for college applications, I guess everyone is heh.

Asian Female in IL
GPA: 4.7 weighted, 3.9 unweighted
ACT: 34
SAT: 2210 (probably won’t submit)
SAT II: Math 2 - 800, World History - 750, Chem - 670, Lit - 630 (probably only sending math, maybe hist?)
School type: Large public
Class Rank: school doesn’t rank, but top 10%
APs: World History (4), US History (4), Spanish (4), Calc BC (4, AB superscore 5), Chemistry (3), Lang (5), Art History (4), Macroeconomics (4), Microeconomics (4)

Senior Year Courseload: AP Lit, Multivariable Calculus, AP Physics C, Honors Latin 4, Decades (weighted history class) / Anatomy, International Business, Business Law

ECs:
Junior Statesmen of America (since freshman year) - on regional Cabinet
Science Olympiad (since freshman year) - Varsity, State Medalist, Captain senior year
Certamen (Latin Quiz Bowl), (since sophomore year)
Latin Club (since freshman year) - Executive Board
Esperanto Club (since junior year) - Co-President, Co-Founder
Business Professionals of America (since sophomore year) - State winner
National Honor Society (since junior year) - Committee Head
Spanish Honor Society (since freshman year)
Latin Honor Society (since junior year)
Mu Alpha Theta (since junior year)
Volunteer at local hospital (~200 hours) (since freshman year)

Summer Research program this summer (might submit research abstract as supplement)

Awards:
National Latin Exam, Magna Cum Laude twice
National Merit Semifinalist (PSAT: 231)
Honor Roll
AP Scholar

Recs - AP Lang teacher, she really likes me and knows my personality
I’m not sure if I should have my calc bc teacher also send his rec because I’m applying engineering? His will probably be pretty generically positive.

I’ve already visited Rice and really want to go.

Any advice, comments, suggestions, etc. are appreciated! Thanks in advance for taking the time, and I’ll chance back if you chance me!

2

Yesss, Midwest represent!

Anyways, your stats look competitive but as you may know, it’s hard to gauge what admissions is really thinking of its applicants. However, one thing about Rice students is that they all have some sort of quirk in them. Nobody here is single dimensional, in the studies or in their hobbies. If you can convey that in your application, you may just strike what the admissions officers are looking for. I see you’re heavily invested in many language extracurriculars despite being interested in going into the engineering field. Perhaps highlight why this is important to you and what your future plans are in this area. This could set you apart from many of the other applicants.

Good luck!

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@ChiGuy123 Thanks so much!
I’m actually kind of caught between applying for engineering v. linguistics in the school of social studies. =/

4

@literatechild
Perfect! Since Rice (supposedly) doesn’t distinguish applicants based off major, it might be beneficial for you to explain what’s going on in your head right now. What makes you want to go into engineering vs. what makes you want to go into linguistics? And/or, if you’re thinking of doing both, which is quite possible, how does that personally apply to your future plans?

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@ChiGuy123 But Rice has you apply to one of their 6 schools, and the essay asks about your choice so I’m not sure I’d have the chance to write about both?

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I’d recommend that you select your top choice then, or at least the choice that you feel like you can write the most about. You may want to mention your other interest, especially since the essay brings up that your decision isn’t binding. I know the essay is brief, so you may only have a sentence or two to scrape over it.

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@ChiGuy123 Thanks again for your help! Just a question, I got a B in AP Chem this year, so do you think I would have a better chance applying to the School of Social Sciences because I’ve gotten all As there? I REALLY want to go to Rice… =/

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I wouldn’t worry too much about choosing a school/major, transferring at Rice is easy and common. But I would definitely recommend focusing on one major over seeming lukewarm about both. If you feel like you can connect them in a way that represents your passions well, go for it! (You can always keep it simple and talk about possibly double majoring if you go for the latter approach, even if you don’t actually plan on doing that.)

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@literatechild

Rice says they don’t favor one major over the other. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt, so it shouldn’t matter which major you select in terms of stats. However, it would really help you application wise if you choose the school/major you feel the most passionate on and can write about the most.

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You definitely have a decent shot at making it into Rice. Check this thread out if you already haven’t, it gave me some insight on what Rice was looking for: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/rice-university/1757210-why-was-i-rejected-from-rice-p1.html

Hopefully we’ll both be meeting each other at Rice in a year! Best of luck :slight_smile:

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@elee21 Thanks! I’m a little curious what exactly you got out of that thread-- a lot of the focus seemed to be on the geographic diversity issue?

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@literatechild did you look through the whole thing? some of them posted their credentials and whether or not they got into rice or not