hi i'm new! chances?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Rice University
1

<p>Hello, my chances? just for fun...see if you guys are right on feb 10th, keke.</p>

<p>Chinese Female from Hong Kong, US Citizen, applying Rice ID engineering</p>

<p>GPA: 3.9 unweighted (school doesn’t calculate a gpa, these are my 9th-11th grades calculated out of 4 from an IB 7-point scale)
Rank: top 10% (my own estimate – school doesn’t rank)
SAT: 1600
SAT II: Writing 800 Chem 800 Math 2c 800 Math 2c 770 (prev take)</p>

<p>Recs assumed to be good (haven’t seen them).</p>

<p>Main ECs/awards:</p>

<p>• Academic
o Drama (9th) and English Literature (9th) school awards
o School Maths Olympiad team (9th, 10th)
o College Biology courses (Summers before 11th and 12th) – earned A+ (11th), an A (12th)</p>

<p>• Debating
o HK-wide debating competition: Best Debater Award (11th)
o Debate Team: Debater: (9th, 11th, 12th)
o Debate Club: Member (10th), Instructor/Head (11th, 12th)
o Joint Schools Debating Society Board Member(11th)</p>

<p>• Music (Violin: 13 years)
o School Orchestra Award (12th)
o Hong Kong Schools Secondary Music Festival: awarded ‘Honors’ in Grade 8 Solo Violin Competition
o ABRSM Grade 8 (of 8) Violin (10th) : Pass with Distinction
o ABRSM Grade 5 (of 8) Theory (10th) : Pass with Distinction
o School Orchestra, String Ensemble: Leader/Concertmaster 4 years
o Hong Kong International Youth Orchestra – Violin, 2nd desk (9th)</p>

<p>• Journalism
o School Newspaper: Journalist (9th, 10th, 11th), Editor-in-Chief (12th)
o School Magazine: Editor (11th)</p>

<p>• Service
o UC Irvine Medical Center: Junior Volunteer (Summers before 11th and 12th) about 120 hrs over the two summers
o Working with mentally disabled children, spastics patients
Volunteer ( 9th,11th, 12th)</p>

<p>• Athletics
o Varsity Athletics Team (9th, 11th ) : have represented in High Jump, 400m, 800m, 400 x 4 relay team
o Varsity Cross-Country Team (10th, 11th, 12th)</p>

<p>• Leadership positions
o House Captain (11th)
o Head Girl (12th)
o Co-chair of Senior Student Committee (12th)</p>

2

<p>Looks good to me!</p>

3

<p>woot = ] !</p>

4

<p>You are a goddess.</p>

5

<p>people like you with perfect stats that feel the need to make others feel inferior and boost your own ego sicken me.</p>

6

<p>yea i agree.. its rice, not harvard</p>

7

<p>It's not my numerical stats i'm worried about -- I thought my ECs might be too all-over-the-place, and being Chinese didn't confer much advantage either. I didn't mean to offend - sorry. bsbllall, I'd rather go to Rice than Harvard...</p>

<p>thanks, you four = ]</p>

8

<p>so would I, but that doesnt make rice harder to get into... the admission difficulty of harvard is what i was comparing rice's too.</p>

9

<p>I wouldn't worry about your EC's, at all. They're actually extremely good, a great strength in an already outstanding application. I'm particularly impressed with how you've done so many EC's so well. I'm familiar with the ABRSM system, and passing Grade 8 Practical and Grade 5 Theory with distinction is very impressive, as well as recieving a major national violin award. Getting another national award for being one of the best debaters in Hong Kong is tremendously impressive, too. And you seem to be extremely strong in a wide variety of athletic events. </p>

<p>Your journalism, leadership and service are also good, although I have to say that they're more icing on the cake, especially in the light of your major national achievement. You are a "clear admit", so to speak. I would expect you to recieve major merit money at Rice. You could be a potential candidate for many of their scholarships, although I think you would most likely recieve their engineering scholarship. Because Rice would likely be giving you merit aid, I'm sure, your financial need (if you have any) would never be an issue, even though you are an international applicant.</p>

<p>I hope I was able to give you some information on just what I found impressive about your EC's, rather than just telling you that you were a shoo-in, at least in my view.</p>

<p>Joey</p>

10

<p>I agree that you shouldn't worry too much about your ECs or anything.. but jprencipe, I don't think you, or anyone, can tell somebody that they're a shoo-in. Very competitive schools like Rice look beyond just scores and ECs, there's still the essay and everything else that makes up her application. I agree that she has a good chance like many other people, but I wouldn't give anybody false hope saying they're a shoo-in, if I were you.</p>

11

<p>I agree with icymoon: NO one could be sure they would get into Rice, there are so many factors going into the admissions decision that someone could be very strong in some aspects, but one aspect could totally turn the admissions people off to you... you never know with Rice.</p>

12

<p>Nice Job, mea!! Don't listen to any of these envious people (you know who you are) trying to put you down.</p>

13

<p>
[QUOTE]
I agree with icymoon: NO one could be sure they would get into Rice, there are so many factors going into the admissions decision that someone could be very strong in some aspects, but one aspect could totally turn the admissions people off to you... you never know with Rice.

[/QUOTE]
</p>

<p>Seconded...</p>

14

<p>Last year a student at our school got into Yale but rejected from Rice. <em>cue Twilight Zone music</em> I swear, the college admissions process was invented by someone in a parallel universe.</p>

15

<p>aww, thank you guys. It's nice to hear these things : ) : )</p>

<p>I agree with llamapyjamas - a girl I knew was rejected from all schools on her list, including her safeties, except for one super-safety and....Harvard. Hm!</p>

16

<p>I feel that she falls into the realm of "clear admit". The reason why I said she was a shoo-in, at least in my view, is because I want to make a distinction between the very good and the truly great. The "average admit" at many Ivy League and Ivy level colleges (and I would put Rice in this group), will have very strong testing, a very good school record, nice recommendations, state level accomplishments in some field, and generally strong extracurriculars. The "clear admit" will have the same testing and school record, extraordinary school support, and clear national achievement in at least one area. mea actually has clear national acheivement in many areas.</p>

<p>I'll take the "shoo-in" comment back, and say I'd just be extremely surprised if she wasn't admitted. But barring an unreadable essay, negative recommendations, disciplinary problems, or academic integrity breaches (all of which I'm sure the original poster doesn't have working against her), she should be offered admission. Also, if she didn't show any interest in the school at all on her application, she might not be offered admission, because she appears so strong that she could definitely get into Harvard. But Rice generally doesn't suffer from "Tufts Syndrome." They admit candidates that are qualified, and they don't have the world's highest yield because of that. They would fill half their class by ED if they cared that much about their yield.</p>

<p>So let me rephrase my opinion to, "I, personally, will be extremely surprised if mea is not admitted to Rice." But anything can happen in the world of college admissions. I'm not suggesting a guarantee, because there are none, but you should proceed with confidence.</p>

<p>Joey</p>

17

<p>In your opinion, she may be a shoo-in, but I don't think anybody should tell an applicant that they are definitely going to be admitted because none of us can know for sure when it comes to highly selective universities like Rice.</p>

<p>I agree that usually Ivy League students are strong in grades, sometimes testing, and their extracurriculars, but I don't believe it's a good idea to solely use those factors when determining if someone is a "clear admit" or not. Numbers aren't everything, because selective colleges realize that their applicants are people, not a bunch of scores. Besides, just about all applicants to these great universities are motivated and wonderful students, so they're looking for something BEYOND basic academic achievement (which now becomes "expected" since it is the norm), such as something that makes you different from everybody else and allows you to stand out.</p>

<p>I'm glad to know you rephrased your opinion and that you think mea should proceed with confidence, but I don't know if I agree with your statement "she appears so strong that she could definitely get into Harvard." Plenty of people with 4.0/1600/800/800/800 get rejected from that school, and it takes a lot of other things to get in.</p>

18

<p>joey: your vote of confidence makes my day. thank you again : ).</p>

<p>icymoon: you mean well with your restraint - but be assured I'm taking these kind words sensibly. I always knew Rice was selective, and I know an application reproduced as a 'what are my chances' post highlights and hides things differently from the application in the hands in of the admissions officers. But hey, in any case, this post was "just for fun...see if you guys are right on feb 10th", so differing opinions were expected. Your care is well appreciated : ) - thanks to you too.</p>

19

<p>
[quote]
agree that usually Ivy League students are strong in grades, sometimes testing, and their extracurriculars, but I don't believe it's a good idea to solely use those factors when determining if someone is a "clear admit" or not. Numbers aren't everything, because selective colleges realize that their applicants are people, not a bunch of scores. Besides, just about all applicants to these great universities are motivated and wonderful students, so they're looking for something BEYOND basic academic achievement (which now becomes "expected" since it is the norm), such as something that makes you different from everybody else and allows you to stand out.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Allow me to clarify that I did NOT base my review of her solely on academics. Once I noted that she had the grades and the scores to be competitive, I considered them as much less of a factor than her EC's. Beyond the level required to be competitive, superior grades and scores will help, but only to a certain degree.</p>

<p>Let me just say this once and for all - if mea didn't have what appears to be clear national achievement in a variety of extracurricular fields, I would just have said "strong chances, see how you do," rather than saying that I thought she fell into the realm of clear admit. And when I said she could definitely get into Harvard, I meant that her chances of getting into Harvard (if she chose to apply) would be extremely strong, at least in my opinion.</p>

<p>mea, you are absolutely right about how the application is a unique entity which cannot be captured in a "what are my chances?" type post. However, I feel when national level acheivement is demonstrated, the rest of the application tends to be much less of a tip factor than the national award in itself, and Chuck Hugh's book, What it Really Takes to Get into the Ivy League (Harvard specificially) corroborates this to a high degree.</p>

<p>Joey</p>

20

<p>You're welcome, mea. My main point in my posts was to state that nobody should tell anyone that they are a "shoo-in" because disappointment, especially that of colleges, can be extremely harsh to many applicants. I don't believe that anyone should have to deal with false hope.</p>

<p>Joey, definitely getting in somewhere and having strong chances of getting in somewhere are entirely two different things. A guarantee is not the same as a strong maybe, correct? So if you meant that her chances of getting into Harvard are strong, then you maybe you should say that, instead of saying that she would definitely get into the school.</p>