Chancing for UT/Rice please!!

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

My top choice is Georgetown or Columbia, but with my rank and GPA, I’m almost certain that I won’t get in. Since I am in-state for TX I do like Baylor Uni and their honors program. But UT Austin is also great, albeit with a much larger pool of pre-meds, and my older brothers both went there. Do you think I could make the College of Natural Sciences or Plan 2 honors. I really want to major in English and my brother was a Plan 2 grad. I’m not scared of getting into Baylor, but since I am not auto-admit to UT, I’m terrified of getting rejected.

What are my chances at UT’s College of Nat Sciences and also Plan II, then Rice University?

-SAT Score: 2130 (690 read, 730 math, 710 writing)
–planning to retake the new SAT
-GPA 3.4/4*; this is not very good, but I messed up in my math class freshman year, my rank was 127, and then I nearly halved that my junior year, where I stand at about rank 60 (top 10% of my class)
-planning on taking ACT and SAT subject tests in math 2 and chemistry
-Officer of NEHS
-Officer of Red Cross
-playing in orchestra for 8 years, made all area-region this year
-participant of science fair for 13 years, got my twelve year award this year
-went to city science fair 3 times
-received a special award from Houston Academy of Medicine for my sci project
-2nd place in science fair in medical category
-DECA state finalist
-volunteered 100+ hours at Texas Children’s Hospital/Baylor College of Medicine
-attendee of Youth Medical Summit in Rice University (hosted by Houston Health museum)
-Attendee/helped organize the MECP2 Bi-Annual Conference hosted by the Baylor College of Medicine
-tutored children for 2 years
-took 6 AP classes so far, got a 4/5 on all, going to take 4 more this coming year
-I am probably going to be National Merit commended, not sure about being a finalist (the cutoffs are not available yet but I am in the 99th percentile)
-worked for 2 years with a doctor/nurse at BCM and Texas Children’s, expecting good rec letter

*my GPA is not hot at all, but I stand at top 10.2% in one of the 10 best school in Texas and there’s a drastic improvement from where I was freshman-junior year. I hope colleges look at improvements…I went from mostly A’s and a few B’s to all A’s. I am a good speaker and a good writer.

2

Hey! I’m currently a student at Rice University. I took orchestra all 4 years of high school, so because of that, my rank also took a beating. At the time of application I was in the top 7% of my class at a large public school in Austin, Texas. I also had a B freshman year.

If you retake and improve your SAT score, I would say that your chances of getting accepted into Rice University are looking very good. I would also say to take the SAT subject tests seriously, because if you plan on sending in your SAT score they’ll usually also need two SAT subject scores. It looks like you’re aiming for a science path, so I would try to get an 800 on Math II and at least a 780 on chemistry.

Your extracurriculars are very impressive. You 100+ hours volunteering in a hospital really show that you have passion for the medical field. You also have many leadership positions.

I really hope this helped, and good luck in all your applications! :slight_smile:

3

I’d say you’re likely to get into UT, but Rice is a reach for you. You’re probably average for Rice in terms of EC’s, but your SAT & GPA are on the low side (especially your GPA). Unfortunately, elite colleges expect a high GPA from a public high school, regardless of your school’s difficulty. But they’ll consider your improvement.

4

Your rank will move you to holistic review at UT. I think your GPA and SAT will make a Rice acceptance very difficult.

5

I agree with @ScienceGirlMom. If you really want a chance at Rice, cram for those SATs.

6

@ScienceGirlMom @coterie do you think when UT reviews me holistically I would be able to get in?

7

@iceskater19
From what I understand about the school and your stats, UT is a match.