<p>I posted another thread somewhere else on the forum asking for suggestions for other schools to consider, but since Rice is my top choice, I figured I might as well ask for chances while I'm here. My dad keeps saying that he thinks I have a really good chance of getting in, but I think I might be a bit of a reach.</p>
<p>Anyway, I'm a white girl from out of state, I'm sort of a legacy student but not officially (my father went there for graduate school), and I'm applying early-decision. And now, I'll paste the info that I put in the other thread.</p>
<p>Background info, just to make my semi-bipolar stats make more sense to you guys:
I've been to three different high schools. I did ninth grade in Oklahoma and tenth grade in Ohio. I had always disliked school and had little to no motivation, and the school that I went to for tenth grade was bad enough that it drove me to more or less an emotional breakdown, so I switched to a third school for eleventh and twelfth grade, a homeschooling one (though I still get grades).</p>
<p>A few months into eleventh grade, I suddenly realized that I really did like learning and regained interest in math and science, which I had lost due to my hatred of school. Then a switch basically flipped in my head, from "I have no idea of what I want to do, I guess I'll just go to state college or something" to "I WANT TO GET ALL OF THE GOOD GRADES AND DO THIS SCHOOL THING SO HARD." Because of that, I don't know so much about the admissions process, since it seemed to me to have nothing to do with my life until late last year.</p>
<p>Stats:</p>
<p>School stuff:</p>
<p>GPA: 3.74 unweighted, 3.82 weighted
9th: 3.85
10th: 3.41 (this is what's pulling me down; 10th grade was just not a good time for me)
11th: 3.96</p>
<p>Rank: top 10%.</p>
<p>AP's:
None in ninth and tenth.
Only one (AP English Language) in eleventh because I wasn't expecting that homeschooling would be such a drastic change for me.
12th: AP Calculus BC, AP Statistics, AP Physics B (unfortunately, my school doesn't offer C), AP Economics, and AP English Literature</p>
<p>Languages: Three years of official German classes (I came in 6th on the statewide German exam in my second year of German, if that counts for anything), and self-teaching German IV this summer because my latest school only offers the first three levels of it.</p>
<p>Three years (counting senior year) of French classes.</p>
<p>I'm also teaching myself Russian I this summer.</p>
<p>Test Scores:</p>
<p>ACT: 34</p>
<p>SAT: 2310</p>
<p>SAT Subject Tests:
Physics: 720 (hopefully the fact that I didn't take AP Physics before this will make it more impressive)</p>
<p>I'm taking Math II and German with Listening in November because I haven't taken Pre-Calc or Trig yet and am teaching myself them over the summer, and I'm also teaching myself fourth level German because my latest school only offers the first three levels. I'm expecting to do very well on them, though.</p>
<p>Extra Curriculars: This here is the main issue. :( I don't really do these. I really want to get into Rice, but I don't want it enough to force myself to join sports or clubs, because, while I'm outgoing, I really hate organized social interaction.</p>
<p>I did more or less nothing for these in ninth and tenth grade (I mean, I was really into writing then so I wrote a novel and revised it, which might be helpful, but I didn't publish it, and it wasn't very good at all so there's no way I'm going to let anyone read it, so that's not very "tangible" or whatever you guys call it).</p>
<p>I didn't do much in eleventh grade either, though this summer I'm teaching myself Pre-Calculus and trigonometry (so I can go straight into AP Calculus BC without having taken preparation classes), as well as German IV and Russian I. I'm talking to people at OSU about the possibility of me working as a sort of intern and helping out some astrophysics graduate students over the summer, but there's about a 50% chance that'll happen right now. I should find out for sure soon.</p>
<p>Plans: I'm planning to major in Physics, and to continue studying German, French, and Russian in college as well.</p>
<p>So, do I have a shot?</p>
So your test scores are ridiculously good, grades are fine. Because of your lapse in 10th grade being “irregular,” you may want to explain that to admissions (reasons why it happened… etc). The fact your dad went there for grad school is a HUGE advantage. But you do lack in sports, employment and extracurriculars, obviously, so you may increase your chances by applying early decision.</p>