Chances please?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Rice University
1

<p>I would be applying Regular Decision because money is a very important factor in my choosing.</p>

<p>I was also wondering if I had a shot at a merit scholarship.</p>

<p>Prospective Major: Chemical or Biomedical Engineering</p>

<p>And here are my stats:
(excuse my occasional lack of proper grammar, punctuation, etc.)</p>

<p>Florida Resident
White
Female
My school used to send a dozen or so to Ivies but in recent years its been cut to 5 or less (which is sad).</p>

<p>U.W. GPA: 4.0
W. GPA (on a 6pt scale: APs worth 6, Honors worth 5, Reg worth 4): 5.1429
Rank: 5/640
SAT I - CR 640 M 800 W 680
SAT II - Math II - 790 US - 650 (eek, <em>shrugs</em>)
PSAT - 210</p>

<p>Taking hardest classes available, with straight A's
APs:</p>

<p>10th grade
World History - 4</p>

<p>11th grade (with predicted grades)
Calc AB 4/5
Eng Lang 4/5
USH 4
Physics C - Mech 3/4
Physics C - EM. Hah.
Span Lang - 3</p>

<p>12th Grade APs will be:
Chem, Bio, Calc BC, Euro, Govt, Eng Lit</p>

<p>ECs</p>

<p>Mu Alpha Theta
member for four years, treasurer for 11th, president for 12th, won a few local, regional, and state awards for individual and team
Newspaper
11th grade writer, photographer, graphics, selling ads to finance paper, 12th entertainment editor
Lacrosse Club
10th-12th. Maybe co-captain in 12th.
Save Whats Left (environmental club)
11th and 12th, working with the club 4 days/week for an hour + occasional campus cleanups, beach cleanups, canal cleanups, and other environmental service projects.
Foreign Language Honor Society
member for four years, treasurer for 12th, earned 60 in club service hours for it over the years.
SMILE (club devoted to helping assisted living facilities and their members)
it was created in 11th (not by me), VP for 11th probably for 12th too. we held an item collection drive, sorted the items, and delivered them to ALF for the residents. We will continue to do more of the same next year.
I was also the Girls Basketball team manager for 9th and 10th where I earned almost 100 (non-inflated) service hours.</p>

<p>In total I have 189 service hours with another 100 or so next year.</p>

<p>My recs will be from my math teacher of 3 years and my physics teacher of 2. Both know me very well and should write excellent recs.</p>

<p>My essay should be decent, a lot of voice.</p>

<p>Please let me know how I am doing, what I can do to improve, and thanks in advance!</p>

2

<p>I think your grades are great, your test scores are strong, and your extra curriculars are varied to show your many areas of leadership and talent and yet focused enough to show where your interests lie. Show your personality through your application and I think you'll do well. I don't know anything about what kind of qualifications a Rice student must have to get a merit scholarship, so I can't really answer that. However, I applied ED in 2003 and got a significant amount of need-based aid from Rice. Be sure to turn in your FAFSA and Rice should help cover you, even if you don't get a merit scholarship. Remember, even though Rice tuition is climbing, it's still cheap for the education and experience you're getting! :)</p>

3

<p>Thank you for the insight. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't crazy for wanting to apply to Rice. </p>

<p>I hear they are fairly generous when it comes to financial aid -- need-based and merit-based alike. Do you know of any other schools like that?</p>

<p>Thanks again. :)</p>

4

<p>A lot of great universities say they will meet 100% of an applicant's financial need -- schools like Yale, Duke, Princeton, UVA, Rice, etc. However, the problem is that the schools are the ones that determine how much need an applicant has. You should definitely look at schools that say they will cover all of the need they determine you will have, but you should also look at schools that give the most need-based aid. The overlapping schools in those lists are worth checking out.</p>

<p>If your family knows an accountant, ask them for advice on how to fill out the FAFSA. I have heard there are ways of perfectly honestly moving money around that will make schools perceive your need as greater.</p>

<p>Here are some sources to get you started.</p>

<p>Check out <a href="http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/departments/college/Default.aspx?article=bestbang%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/departments/college/Default.aspx?article=bestbang&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>And here are some quotes from <a href="http://money.aol.com/usnews/general/canvas3/_a/uncovering-the-many-secrets-of-financial/20061005010409990001%5B/url%5D:"&gt;http://money.aol.com/usnews/general/canvas3/_a/uncovering-the-many-secrets-of-financial/20061005010409990001:&lt;/a>

[quote]
Many middle-income families are shocked to learn that the government expects a family of five with two students in college to spend anywhere from 22 to 47 cents (rising with income) of every after-tax earned dollar above about $27,000. On the other hand, the federal need formula, used by all but a few hundred private colleges, rewards those who save via real estate or other investments. Home equity is exempted from any contribution. And families with two parents in their early 50s are expected to spend no more than 5.6 percent annually of any nonretirement savings over about $50,000.

[/quote]

[quote]
No matter what the student's SAT score, those who applied to schools in which their scores put them in the top 25 percent of the school's student body tended to get more and bigger grants. On average, letters to students who were in the top 25 percent contained grants averaging $11,144, meeting 81 percent of the student's need. Award letters to students whose SAT scores were at least 200 points below the top 25 percent floor offered grants totaling only $7,800, meeting just 64 percent of need.

[/quote]

[quote]
Most schools admit a higher percentage of students who apply early. Only a handful of those schools, however, also give those early applicants better treatment in financial aid.

[/quote]
</p>

5

<p>Marie is spot on with everything she said. </p>

<p>Rice is a great place to apply if you need money: tuition is significantly lower than many other private universities and it's one of the few top schools that awards merit scholarships. If you can get into Rice (you can), you stand a chance at a merit scholarship (you do). </p>

<p>In addition to applying to schools that meet 100% of need, consider applying to some "lower tier" schools where you'll be eligible for merit scholarships.</p>

<p>As far as your chances, your stats look excellent, as do your ECs. And you're out-of-state, which is a real bonus. Make sure you put time into your application. And nail your essay (having an English teacher read it helps). Good luck.</p>