<p>haha chill out people
first of all none of us know exactly because we are not in the minds of the Baylor admissions people
second
I think we can all agree on a general consensus.</p>
<p>Without strong test scores and GPA, you can’t really get consideration for Rice-Baylor. This is because the Baylor people are taking a gamble that you’ll be academically successful at Rice and later on at Baylor. ECs are just what distinguishes peoples’ character and gives Baylor a hint at what kind of med student/doctor you’re going to be.</p>
<p>so.
you can maybe possibly not likely get in with amazing test scores and mediocre ECs.
you cannot get in with amazing ECs and low test scores.</p>
<p>basically just do your best with the standardized testing, but don’t sacrifice your soul in the process. haha.</p>
<p>of note, at the R-B interview, I don’t think either of the two interviewers asked a single question about academic achievement. Everything about academics was just about what kind of student you are (what’s your favorite subject? If you could study anything more in-depth what would it be? What is it about your favorite teacher that makes that person your favorite?) And no one was sitting around talking about their academic honors.</p>
<p>I found they were MUCH more focused on intrapersonal relationships, how you give back to your community through your ECs, etc. The assumption was basically that ok, you all have strong test scores, now prove to us that there’s a person behind the scores.</p>
<p>I just want to add one thing, we are talking about a program in which 50% of the students probably have similar test scores. So how do we distinguish between those students? ECs
I mean yes having bad GPA and test score isn’t going to help but the majority of students applying to Rice/Baylor have good test scores and GPA so EC to them I would think is more important.</p>
<p>EC’s arent MORE important… they are what help distinguish people</p>
<p>the number one thing is still academics. Thats what makes you in contention. Then once everyone who has good academics is selected they get the more diverse, less boring and more involved people</p>
<p>Its like applying to be a General Manager to a company. 100 people apply. out of that 15 have the qualifications. The remaining 85 are knocked out staright away. Now, what finds the company the right person is using secondary stats like EC’s and recos etc.</p>
<p>but you gotta be good to even be evaluated properly</p>
<p>@cdz: With things other than SAT scores like GPA, class rank, schedule rigor and AP performance… don’t make the mistake of reducing academic performance to SATs alone. @Ant: Finally someone gets it.</p>
<p>Whether you apply ED or RD, your chances for merit aid will be better at Rice than at HYMPS, since none of those offer merit aid. Moreover, because the sticker price is about 10k lower at Rice, HYMPS would have to offer 10k per year in need based aid just to have the same starting point.</p>
<p>exactly.
It’s not really a mystery whether you’ll get need-based aid at HYPS…they have financial aid calculators you can do online to see if you have a chance. Harvard’s situation is unique though, and I would suggest doing more research because they have a better need-based aid situation than the other Ivies (higher endowment per student).</p>
<p>If you know you’ll receive need-based aid at HYPS, maybe you shouldn’t be so quick to discount them.
Then again, Rice might give you the same need-based PLUS merit-based aid.</p>
<p>If you know you won’t get need based-aid anywhere, then Rice is the way to go for merit-based aid. I heard somewhere that something like 30% of students get some merit offer.</p>
<p>And if you don’t need money period, then you’re lucky and have a lot of options =]</p>
<p>Ya…while I want to apply ED to Rice, I probably wont because of the fact that I do not want to end up gettin financially screwed by Rice (though that probably wouldn’t happen). So, I might just apply SCEA to either Stanford or Yale and then just hope for the best when RD applications are sent out. </p>
<p>Thanks so much for all the advice guys,
Robbie</p>
<p>like said before, if you cannot pay for rice, you can withdraw from the ED contract. you can break the conract only in the case of financial issues</p>
<p>Ya, I understand that. However, if I did apply ED to Rice, then I might receive just enough aid so that I could afford Rice. However, this would not be “financially comfortable” for my family. So, like many people on this forum have said, it might be in my best interest to apply RD…to attempt to receive the best offer from Rice that I could get.</p>