<p>For awhile, I was very interested in Rice. I loved the intimate feel of the campus, the academics, and over all I was very impressed. It was a strong contender not just for me, but for several other classmates of mine. That I know of, ten of us applied, including 7 of the top 10 ranked students (out of a class of 500). All of us had very impressive resumes, but we had heard rumors that there was basically a "quota" when it came to geographical diversity, that Rice would only accept a few students from each school even if several more were qualified. This was a concern for us because we wanted to be judged on merit from the general pool of applicants, not against each other.</p>
<p>When the results came back, four were accepted, including myself, and the other six were wait listed. All of us are truly equally qualified, so we were surprised at this result. We realized that us four who were accepted were the top ranked of those who applied. It very much appears that the rumors of the geographical quotas were true, and that I and the other three were accepted based solely on class rank as compared to the others in our school. </p>
<p>I had pretty much already made a decision on another school, but this completely turned me off to Rice. The others who were accepted came to the same conclusion. The six that were wait listed are disgusted enough by all their apparent "quotas" that they aren't going to accept their positions on the wait list. </p>
<p>I guess my question is: are we assuming too much? Or does Rice really overemphasize diversity to the point that they will pass over qualified applicants because there were others from the same school that they accepted?</p>
<p>I wouldn’t make a conclusion based on an anecdote. You can probably find high schools similar to your in multiple states that have similar admission trends for Rice.</p>
<p>They can only accept so many students and many are turned down with outstanding scores (every year we see posters baffled when they are rejected with perfect or near perfect SATS/ACTs). Class rank is heavily considered by Rice in making its admission decisions. Consider the 2004 admissions statistics [url=<a href=“http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~instresr/ricestatistics/Pages/select04.html#Freshmen]Rice”>http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~instresr/ricestatistics/Pages/select04.html#Freshmen]Rice</a> University Statistics - Selectivity<a href=“it%20has%20more%20detail%20than%20last-year’s%20data”>/url</a>. Rice only accepted 45% of those ranked #1 in their class, 36% of those in the top 5% (and only 14% of those ranked 6 - 10%). Things have gotten more competitive since 2004. You and 7 of your friends were in the top 2% of your class, but recent admission rates are <36% with that ranking. The 4 admitted is actually very good and must reflect a strong high school; its certainly not surprising.</p>
<p>I wish Rice could admit more students, but they only matriculate ~900 a year, and there are an awful lot of high schools in the US (and a not insignificant fraction of those 900 are international students).</p>
<p>Almost every school does this. The top-tier schools rarely take more than a handful from any one high school, so these things happen.</p>
<p>Public universities are much more likely to take many students from the same high school, especially when it’s an in-state school. (For example, over 90% of my high school’s students are accepted at MSU, and pretty much everyone applies.)</p>
<p>My Houston private school had around 15 kids that I know of apply and 8 got in plus two wait lists (myself and a friend). Of course, we are the most competitive class in our high school’s history. I expect that most of the kids who got in won’t be attending Rice because they’ve also gotten into schools like Yale, Chicago, Northwestern, MIT, Caltech, etc. </p>
<p>So by all means go somewhere else and let the kids at your school who got waitlisted not accept that offer. More space for me!</p>
<p>This is definitely true, AND to a greater extent than last year (in my case at least). Last year our entire top 15 got into Rice, but this year only ranks #1-5 got in and everyone else was waitlisted or rejected. Our class this year is more competitive than last year, so…maybe they’re making an effort to diversify? Or maybe it’s just a coincidence?</p>
<p>So I am assuming from the wording of your question that you attend a HS inside Texas, since you mention geographical diversity as a factor negatively affecting decisions at your school. I would like to add that I go to a HS in CA (so geographical diversity probably would help us), around a dozen people applied from my school with varying levels of “qualification” (I absolutely hate that word in terms of admissions). Out of these dozen people I was the only one to get in, and I am ABSOLUTELY sure that at least 4 of the other applicants were much higher ranked than I am (I am a little outside top 5% at a fairly large school, whereas some of the other applicants were in the top 10). I do not think that when a large number of students from one school apply that Rice only admits from that group of people by seeing who was ranked highest. Rice’s app is very comprehensive including multiple essays, and I really do think they take a well-rounded approach to admissions. It is unreasonable to assume that everyone who applied from your school is exactly equally talented or wrote equal essays or had the same interview or had the same teacher recs. </p>
<p>Sorry for the lengthy reply but I just don’t think your concerns are warranted.</p>
<p>I’m ranked just at about 9-10% in my HS and I got in. I guess I must’ve been really lucky, although it is a UW rank. My W rank would be in the top 5 if my school did that…but no…</p>
<p>I’m guessing the OP was referring to the process being more selective for students from Texas specifically, since some very qualified students are being rejected/waitlisted, possibly in favor of students from more geographically diverse regions.</p>
<p>It does seem like admissions this year for Texas students was a lot stricter and <em>perhaps</em> closely tied to rank. Although, as petaandpita pointed out, I obviously don’t know everything about the essays/teacher recs/interviews of the people at my school, I am capable of judging how well “qualified” my close friends are, just because I know them really well. The thing that made me upset enough to write this that Rice waitlisted a guy (ranked around #18 because of credit transfer issues) with multiple leadership positions, ~98 unweighted GPA out of 100 (4.0 unweighted GPA out of 4), who has won almost every award at our school, VS admitting a girl with NO leadership positions, only TWO extracurricular clubs, and who’s held onto a top 10 spot with flat 90’s and 91’s in most of her classes.</p>
<p>Don’t get me wrong though, I LOVE Rice and am definitely attending next year, but there were multiple decisions like these at my school that totally shocked me; in the end, the admissions process appeared very rank-based. But I’m hoping this was just a coincidence at my school…</p>
<p>I guess I can see where this happens at other universities, it’s just that I haven’t seen it. Since I live in Texas, I guess I hear of it happening at Rice more. For instance, I know two people who were accepted to MIT and Cornell respectively, but they weren’t accepted to Rice because they don’t like to admit more than a couple or so from the same high school.</p>
<p>I guess my biggest problem is that it seems like they didn’t even use holistic review. It seems pretty blatant they just chose based on one single number, one that IMO says a whole lot less about your abilities than even the SAT or ACT. I keep on telling those that were wait listed to accept their positions since Rice needs some token West Texans, and they have four positions open. </p>
<p>It just seems to me that it’s a very forced and inorganic diversity that this kind of selection is creating, but I guess that’s not my problem.</p>
<p>Every single one of the top private universities will limit themselves to a few people from each school. However, this is completely done for a good cause. Living with people from other places, with a diversity of experiences is a big part of college. In order to get a mix of many areas, the admissions committee tries to not overload the class with people from one area. It sounds unjust that qualified people may not get in because there are too many applicants from their school, but it is done so that other parts of the country can be represented in the class. </p>
<p>Also, in Texas alone there are something like 2000 high schools. It’s not logical to say that Rice has written somewhere in Lovett hall that the 4 highest ranked students from a specific school in West Texas must be admitted to make a quota. I would chalk your schools acceptance pattern partly to chance, but would still keep in mind that class rank is one of the factors in admission decisions because it shows an ability to be competitive in school, not just on the SAT. </p>
<p>Finally, MIT and Cornell look for different things than Rice does. In competitive college admissions, getting into one school is no guarantee at all of getting into another. Rice is really into class building, and look for people they think are right. This is especially done through the essay section. Other universities are building their own classes and looking for other things. </p>
<p>Overall, Rice looks for people, not numbers. Otherwise it would be a very different, definitely worse, place.</p>
<p>Well, you can see evidence these school-limits and quotas on Naviance.
Take a look at Fiske first and note the median scores for those accepted at a top college.
Then check your school’s Naviance for the same college.
At schools with many high achieving students, not all the qualified or all the best students are ever admitted, based on these national scores.
And the average scores of those accepted from that school are likely higher than the national average.
So, in a way, those students are being held to a higher standard because they are competing with each other and there is a limit on how many from one school can attend. </p>
<p>To answer those who want to point out that scores and grades are not everything, I do not think you want to imply that all the students who are not accepted at these schools have significantly worse other criteria than all the acceptees at other schools?
And, this trend will usually show up for many years and at virtually all of the high achievement high schools. If you remove the URM’s and legacies, their bar is even higher!
In some ways, your worst competition is your own classmate…
Going to a high-achievement school can provide an excellent experience and excellent preparation for college, but it may not help you get into as good a college as you might from another type of pool.</p>