Help me get into Rice (Junior needing guidance)

Colleges and Universities A-Z Rice University
1

Rice is my dream school. Any help or tips would be greatly appreciated on what the school is looking for and what I need to work on! I am a high school junior as of right now and my stats are:

W GPA: 104.229/100 (School does not have a 4.0 scale, nor do I know my unweighted GPA)
Rank: 1/466
High School Info: Not very competitive, young (6 yrs old), best school a student from here has gone to is probably UT Austin

Race: Asian
Gender: Female
Income: around 40k-50k
State: North Texas
Intended Major: Biology/Pre-med

34 ACT Composite (33e/35r/34m/33s)
12 on essay (12/12/12/12)
(First try; Oct 2017)

1470 SAT (750 reading/english and 720 math)
7/6/8 Essay
(First Try; Nov 2017)
Not submitting this probably. I didn’t do so well.

AP Courses:
9th: AP Human Geo (5)
10th: AP World History (5), AP Biology (5)
11th: AP Language and Composition, APUSH, AP European History, AP Statistics, AP Capstone Seminar
12th plan: AP Calculus BC, AP Physics 1, AP Chemistry, AP US Govt, AP Macroeconomics, AP Lit, maybe AP Capstone Research
Tons of Pre-AP courses

ECs:
-HOSA vice president (11th) Hoping for president as a senior.
-NHS (11-12)
-Gold Standard (a pre-NHS type club that my school district has) (10th)
-UIL Science (11-12)
-Around 100 volunteer hours due to various clubs like NHS/HOSA/Gold Standard
I need A LOT of help on ecs. I have no idea what I need to do. My teachers are telling me to join a sport or something, but I really do not have the ability for that.

Summer Activities:
-hobbies: art
-Thinking of volunteering at a hospital this summer if I can grab a position.

Awards:
-HOSA 3rd place at regionals for Extemporaneous Health Poster/ 1st place state for same event/ went to international conference but did not win anything (10th)
-VASE art competition: 4/4 on two pieces in 10th grade at regional competition. Entering this year as well and probably going to get another 4/4 at regionals.
-Various School Awards: AP Human Geo 6-weeks award, AP Human Geo end-of-year award, Pre-AP Biology end-of-year award, AP World History 6-weeks award, Pre-AP Precalculus 6-weeks awards

I’m planning on ED applying to Rice, but I heard conflicting ideas on whether or not this would be to my advantage or not. Any advice or information would be VERY helpful! I know Rice is a reach school for me, but I really want to try.

2

@freshcabbages Don’t prejudge your chances based on only stat numbers. There’re other valuble traits you could appeal to the admission officers such as your personal essays and Rice supplements. Besides, you just turn in you ACT scores rather than SAT’s since you look like you aced it earning 34 which is pretty decent even within general Rice applicants pool. Also I’d say applying for ED will raise your chances even if it means you are competing with high qualifiers since it’s definitely showing your level of interest which nowadays many colleges value highly of. Anyways, good luck!

3

@freshcabbages I am a firm believer in finding out where you belong at the college. This will help you decide if Rice is the right place for you. There are many activities you may want to be apart of at Rice see which ones you would like and tailer them to show the admissions people how you see yourself there. There is a Rice group me where you could join. You can find it out on the Rice facebook group which you can also join. It is just another to get to know the students and see if it is the place for you. This could help you learn about the different clubs and what they are like from the people that are in them currently. This is where your essays come in talk about what you would like to do when you are there. Also if you are currently participating in activities similar to what is there that is good talk about your passions. I would not send you sat’s since they are not as high as ACT’s also keep in mind lots of great applicants come from Texas so if you don’t get in it is because there are lots of students with scores and gpa’s just like you. Definately visit the school and interview if you haven’t yet. My son did ED and he was glad he did. If you do the net price calculator it was pretty close to the amount he was asked to pay. So I would check it out. Make sure it is a number your parents can afford. He was happy he did early decision because by Dec 16th he knew where he was going and no longer had to fill out applications and was very relieved. My son was from Maine and not many people apply so I feel like it helped. Though if he was not qualified I also feel like he would not have gotten in. Good luck and keep up the good grades. Also work hard I notice you are taking a lot of AP’s those grades are also important. The tests you take in the end. It shows you can do a hard program.