<p>Hi guys!
Rice is my dream school and I plan on applying early decision in November of this year. Currently, I am a student at Stanford University Online High School, I take as many advanced courses as possible, my SAT score is a 2120, and I have a 3.8 GPA (on a 4.0 scale). I am also involved in lots of extracurriculars. I am the President of a community service league consisting of 100+ teens, the founder of the film club at my school, teach ESL to underprivileged kids, and work as a homework helper 4 days a week (2 hours each day). I love Rice because it has a great health science and nutrition major which is what I would like to go into as well as a fantastic Spanish program (I love Spanish so I'd like to double major if possible). Think I have a good chance/have any tips for me? Anything would be appreciated! :)</p>
<p>@ayebreezey You are within the accepted pool stat-wise, but so are a lot of the applicants. Think about what your most personally important activity is. It’s easier than people think to do a lot of stuff. It’s harder to explain the significance of those things in a way that is telling about you as a person. Check whatever Rice’s current stats are for test scores and make a decision of whether you are happy with yours or if you want to improve them.</p>
<p>Then put a lot of work into your essays. Like start now, and put an hour per week into them. That may mean spending a month deciding what you want to write about – don’t just come up with one idea and roll with it. It needs to be something where your personality and feelings flow out of it. Once you draft it, get as much advice as you can, and you may even want to rewrite it a couple of times from scratch to see where that leads. That is not what all the students will do, but good things come to those who work hard, and Rice has a small number of ways to sift through a large number of people who are largely similar stats-wise. </p>
<p>All of that sounded very dry and serious, but I want you to know that coming from a current student, you definitely have a chance! I just came out of a long internship-application process, and for some reason it took me until then to really learn how much hard work actually pays off. Everyone knows it and has heard it a million times, but some day (if you haven’t already) you will come to appreciate it in a very serious and deeply-rooted way. The earlier you learn it, the better the opportunities you will give yourself. So spend a lot of time and energy on your college applications, and feel free to ask me any specific questions about Rice and college admissions! Just tag me. </p>