How are my prospects for Rice?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Rice University
1

<p>Hi everyone, please check out my stats and please post what you think about my prospects for Rice.</p>

<p>-currently an Asian junior at a top private high school in Texas which sends about 10 students more or less to Rice every year</p>

<p>STANDARDIZED TESTING
SAT: M700, V710 (Oct 2004); M740, V750 (Jan 2005); ? (New SAT, March 2005)
PSAT (just for reference): CR73, M68, W78 (Oct 2004)
SAT Subject Tests: Bio (Mol) – 700; Chem – 650; Chinese (Listening) – 720; Writing – 790
AP exams to be taken this May: English (Lang), US History, Music Theory, French (Lang), French (Lit)</p>

<p>ACADEMIC RECORD
9th grade (89.20):
English I
Algebra II Honors
Social Sciences – World (part i)
French II
Biology I</p>

<p>10th grade (88.20):
English II
Geometry Honors
Social Sciences – World (part ii)
French IV Lit AP (part i)
Chemistry Honors</p>

<p>11th grade FIRST SEMESTER (92.47):
English Language AP
Pre-AP Calculus
American History AP
French V Lit AP (part ii)
Physics I
Music Theory AP</p>

<p>12th grade Course Selection:
English Literature AP (only taking the actual exam if college offers credit/placement)
Calculus AB
US Government AP (1 semester); Comp Government AP (1 semester)
Economics (1 semester)
French Honors Seminar</p>

<p>CUMULATIVE AVERAGE (as of March 2005): 90.51
RANK/STANDING: top 40%ish of a class of less than 140 people</p>

<p>EXTRACURRICULARS
3 varsity letters in the same sport
a yearbook editor – i’ll be one of the major ones senior year
junior class student government representative; i’m running for next year too but no guarantees
class president at my chinese school
several awards for local piano competitions; (private lessons since i was 5)
summers: study-abroad/academic programs in England, France, China
some community service (less than 100 hrs, not really application-worthy)</p>

<p>I’m probably going to apply ED to Rice this fall. Also, I’m considering applying to either the School of Humanities or the School of Social Sciences.
Finally, if anyone has any advice about the application/admissions process for Rice, please share your wisdom with me.
Thank you!!</p>

2

<p>I think you have a pretty good chance.
Wow, there is lots of grade inflation at your school if 40% have A averages.</p>

3

<p>yeah, these are weighted averages, but i think my school is very competitive and people tend to be under pressure, stressed, motivated, etc.
thanks for the reply though, jenskate1!</p>

4

<p>Can u rate my chances?</p>

<p>Very diverse; lived overseas for 15 years
currently in Fairfax, VA (Fairfax county one of the top academic counties in US)
SAT: 1280
GPA: 3.6 (But I moved from a foriegn country last year; lowering my GPA)
Lots of ECs with lots of leadership positions
Student Gov
MUN
NHS; NJHS; etc.
Skipping 11th grade!
Current Schedule:
AP English Lang/Comp
AP US
English 12
AP Chemistry
AP Calc AB
AP Statistics</p>

5

<p>hi, impressive stats! did you take any SATIIs?</p>

6

<p>mgpak, you might want to raise your SAT score and also take SAT IIs. Your score is below Rice's range, although not neccessarily a bad thing since you have a nice hook of living overseas for so long. You probably want to raise your gpa a little bit too. Your other stats look good though. </p>

<p>Futur06- you look good to go. I want to add one thing though. your 720 in Chinese may not be very impressive if you are Chinese. Personally as a Chinese who don't know how to write Chinese, I think that score is amazing. But for many admission officers, taking your own language's test and scoring taht low on it is a turn-off. It's like a Mexican applicant making a 700 on the Spanish test. Not impressive. At least that's what some admission officers told me. But again, you are GOOD to go.</p>

7

<p>oh reread my post and I think I could have been a little offensive. I dont mean just because you're latin American you can write and speak Spanish well...just making sure I cover my ass lol. and btw also not saying a 720 on a SAT II test is a low score. Just in language it is only if that language is your native language...from an admissoin officer's point of view. Ok...Phew</p>

8

<p>how would admissions officers actually know if a language is your native language? for example, like you said, you could indicate that you are chinese but clearly, chinese might not be your native language.</p>

9

<p>I think they ask what languages you speak at home/natively in the application itself.</p>

10

<p>they can also tell from the transcript. if you took chinese I in 10th grade, but are chinese...it's pretty easy to tell you're not a native speaker. on the other hand, if you took chinese for natives...:)</p>

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<p>first off, thanks everyone for replying!</p>

<p>second, chinese is kind of different in some respect since while the written word is basically the same across the board, there are many different dialects of the spoken word (& not just like the difference between english spoken by a brit & english spoken by an american); words really can have completely different pronunciations - oh & add on top of that a completely different accent the accent would be like the way brits & americans pronounce things differently)</p>

<p>for the listening section of the chinese sat subject test, the dialect is mandarin</p>

<p>in fact, the listening section is why my score is not so high - i didnt do so great on that part :/</p>

<p>hopefully admissions officers will take such situations into consideration...
i guess maybe i will have to make the dialect situation clear should they take the "native" stuff into account</p>

<p>so mgpak, are you a sophomore now & a senior next year?</p>

12

<p>Hey...
Futur06-your stats look great. Your scores/gpa are fine and you have a good number of ECs. As with all highly selective institutions, however, you can never tell... so you're best bet is to apply early and see what happens!</p>

13

<p>I am really sorry to say this, but if you are Asian from Texas and your SAT is not above 1500, your chances of getting in is slim to none. I go to Rice, and every Asian student I know who currently goes to or graduated from Rice has above a 1500 SAT I score. There are a few exceptions, which are the extremely wealthy Asian families that are well known in Houston. Don't feel down about it though. I had friends who were Asian with 1400 range SAT scores who got rejected flat out from Rice, but got accepted at Upenn and Emory.</p>