I'm applying Early Decision. Big mistake?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Rice University
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<p>I'm applying to Rice early decision. Seeing as it's binding, I won't even get to know whether I got into the other schools to which I'm applying... in fact, since I find out Rice's decision in December 15, I will still have 2 weeks to submit my completed apps to most colleges that have January 1st deadlines.</p>

<p>As the Nov. 1st deadline approaches, however, I'm starting to get this feeling that I could be making a big mistake. I mean, if I get into Rice, that's pretty much going to define the next 4 years of my life (and beyond).</p>

<p>I went to a 2-week-long summer program at Rice for 2 weeks, and I fell in love with the school. It has awesome academics, the campus is beautiful, Houston is a nice city with favorable weather, and Rice is a small school. It seems to have pretty much everything I want from a college. </p>

<p>The problem is, what if I <em>think</em> I love Rice, but I end up not loving it so much when I actually go there? (if I do get in) Part of the reason I'm doing Early Decision is because the admission rates are higher for Early Applicants. Also, if I get accepted it will remove a lot of the "will I get in" stress that plagues seniors until April. </p>

<p>I know no one can tell me if Rice is a good match for me but myself, so my question is: How happy are you at Rice? Is it what you expected? Better/Worse? Please give me some reassurance that I'm not committing a grave mistake...</p>

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<p>pedrossi
I am not there but the advice is the same. Make sure $$ is not a factor since you will not be able to compare offers before accepting theirs on ED. If money is not an issue and when you stepped on campus you said "yes" I can see myself here, don't worry. That feeling won't change. In the end it is that feeling that tells you if this is the right fit for you. If you have a lot of doubts and that feeling wasn't there, don't. A lot changes in your senior year and what you thought in the fall may not be what you think in the spring. If that feeling is not there, wait until you find that place where it is. </p>

<p>BTW - DD is there and she made her decision when she stayed there overnight and stood on campus and had that feeling. She is extremely happy and the fit was great. She was not ED though. Sorry I can't tell you if it was more than what she expected.</p>

3

<p>Thanks for the reply Singersmom. Money is indeed a problem... my family moved here from Brazil 5 years ago and we've just settled/bought a house/car and etc. My parents are middle income, but with 3 kids and a mortgage, Rice would be tough to afford without financial aid.</p>

<p>On the other hand, I've heard from everyone (counselors, Laura Villafranca (Rice Admissions Counselor), friends, teachers) that Rice is generous in financial aid. I am also applying to a lot of scholarships; I have a lot of community/volunteer hours and I've taken a lot of initiative in that area, which I'm hoping will help me (hopefully I'll get some generous scholarships). </p>

<p>Mrs. Villafranca said in a recent presentation that if you apply Early Decision to Rice and really can't afford it, you CAN withdraw your application. Does that change things any?</p>

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<p>ED is a tough decision -- at any school. Many seniors change what their focus and desires are over the course of the school year. If you're not really sure, then you shouldn't apply ED.</p>

<p>To answer the other part of your post, my son is very happy as a freshman at Rice. O-Week was incredible, and the residential college set-up made him feel part of the community immediately. He knows so many students now, and is having a great social life in addition to a great academic environment.</p>

<p>It's really up to you. If the reason you're applying ED is merely for a little admissions boost, you might want to apply RD and make your decision about where to attend in the spring based on where you get accepted. Can you visit in October and do an overnight to help you decide?</p>

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<p>I don't know about an overnight, but I am definitely visiting. I am going there to spend all of Sunday on the 7th of Oct. as part of their open campus day... I will also get to talk to students. Hopefully that will give me some more insight? I've spent about 2 weeks at Rice already, but have never actually slept at a dorm. With the hectic senior year schedule and all, it's unlikely I will be able to. I'm glad to hear your son is happy at Rice though. Unlike MIT and Caltech, I've never heard of someone who is UNHAPPY at Rice. All the students and alumni I've spoken to loved it, so that is part of the reason I am applying ED. Rice is still my first choice, and I love it, I just don't want to regret a decision later on...</p>

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<p>The conventional wisdom is that you shouldn't apply ED if you are unsure about finances. Rice is generous with need based finacial aid. Rice has a family income threshold where they say you will not have to take out loans, but you have to expect that you might have to take out some loans (you said your family was middle class). I also think that they have caps on loans based on family income. Also your tuition is the same every year. You and your family won't have to face the sticker shock of seeing tuition rise faster than the rate of inflation.</p>

<p>My son just graduated from Rice and you can include him in your list of people who loved Rice. </p>

<p>Some random thoughts:</p>

<p>You don't say what other schools you have visited -- what do you love or not love about them? What are you comparing Rice to?</p>

<p>There are Estimated Family Contribution calculators available on line. That way you and your family will have an idea of where you stand with financial need at ANY school that might accept you but not give you merit money.</p>

<p>If you do apply to Rice ED, apply RD to other schools now and do not wait until until the announcement comes out. Guidance Counselors and teachers get swamped with recommedation requests as the RD deadline approaches. You don't want to risk an incomplete application because you got caught in the last minute rush.</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

<p>BTW, I think a Rice education is one of the best investments around. My son's first year package from his employer (salary + benefits + signing bonus + relocation expenses) > the four year's tuition I paid.</p>

7

<p>LWMD
One small correction. Tuition does go up now, just not as fast. The historical rates are on the web site.
This year:
Matriculants Start 2007 $28,400.00</p>

<p>Matriculants Start 2006 $27,930.00</p>

<p>Matriculants Start 2005 $25,930.00</p>

<p>Last year:</p>

<p>Matriculants Start 2006 $26,500.00</p>

<p>Matriculants Start 2005 $24,600.00</p>

<pre><code>You see it went up, just not as much as new students. You still have to plan for some inflation.
</code></pre>

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<p>Thanks for the posts, guys.

[quote]
You don't say what other schools you have visited -- what do you love or not love about them? What are you comparing Rice to?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>So far, the only other schools I have been able to visit were UT Pan American, Texas A&M College Station, and U of Houston. I hate Pan American as it has terrible academics, and around here it's common knowledge that getting a degree from PanAm is so easy a caveman could do it.
U of Houston isn't as strong in academics as I'd like it to be, either.
As far as A&M, I found the school to be too big. They do have a strong engineering department, though, which is good. I didn't really like College Station, though. And A&M isn't known for an intellectual environment (77% admission rate doesn't really allow for that).</p>

<p>Rice, on the other hand, seems to be everything I (think) I want:
Small school = available professors + Sense of community
Small campus = easy to get around
Big city = plenty to do (plus I loved Houston the few times I've visited, the weather is nice, and I don't mind the rain)
Rice has a lot of student benefits and services
Rice has a gorgeous campus. More trees than students...
Rice is very strong in academics
Rice is also close (6 hours) from where I currently live. This means I'd be able to come home for Christmas plus a few other times in the year without having to shell out $600 for a plane ticket.</p>

<p>Now, there are other similar schools, with even stronger academics. But I figure that once you get to the high level of Rice academics, it's more what you make of it than what the school has to offer.
I've considered MIT and Columbia for their strong academics as well.
From what I've heard by talking to students who have gone there from my home school, MIT is a pretty miserable place, though. And it's cold. Terribly cold. And I moved to Texas 5 years go, so I've acclimated to the hot weather here.
Columbia has the same problem, plus it's in the most expensive city in the U.S. I do have a family member in NYC, but I've only seen her twice in my life (mom's cousin) and she has a 2 bedroom apartment in Manhattan with 2 kids to raise.</p>

<p>Based on all this, Rice is my first choice, by FAR.
All the other schools I want to attend would be even more expensive (out of State and all, plus higher tuition even if I was instate) except for A&M, but A&M is a last-resort safety.</p>

<p>
[quote]
My son's first year package from his employer (salary + benefits + signing bonus + relocation expenses) > the four year's tuition I paid.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>LWMD, what did your son major in? Is that a typical statistic for Rice students? It's not hard to believe, seeing as it is a great school and has a Ivy reputation in the South, but I'm just curious.</p>

<p>Thanks again.</p>

9

<p>Ooops, I stand corrected about the tuition. So my son's tuition went up less in four years than my daughter's did in one year at her school. It went up so little that it didn't seem like it went up at all.</p>

<p>My son started planning on majoring in computer science. Toward the end of his first year, her transferred to the School of Engineering and got a BSEE. It's hard to say if that's typical of all Rice grads -- he and his friends talked about their job offers a litle bit, started feeling uncomfortable about talking about salaries, then stopped talking about their offers. All of his engineering friends seemed to do well. More than half of his friends went on to grad school or med school.</p>

<p>I will say that I am no expert in financial aid because my children do not qualify for need based aid. But isn't your EFC about the same no matter where you go? Maybe slight diffferences based on the calculator used? So I say look for the school that best fits your needs no matter what state you are in. Don't schools consider reasonable travel expenses in their calculations? If that is the case, I think you could do better with your choice of schools. Look at size, location, majors, strengths, meeting need based aid, giving merit aid, etc.</p>

<p>I may be biased, but I don't think you can go wrong applying ED. Rice caps loans based on family income, so loans will be low. Also several other posters have said that students applying from within Texas seemed to be at a disadvantage compared to OOS applicants. Another good reason to apply ED.</p>

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<p>Starting salaries for graduating students vary considerably - especially for those (like my DD), who are still deciding whether they want to travel, teach, attend grad school, attend law school, teach overseas, apply for a fellowship, work for a non-profit.... you get the idea. ;)</p>

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<p>The major drawback in applying early is that you are far less likely to be awarded a scholarship. Despite what some admissions officers will tell you, I know from personal experience with students with almost identical qualifications from the same school - the one who applied early was accepted but received no scholarship offer, the ones who applied regular decision received generous scholarship offers. These students had almost exactly the same scores, grades and class rank (all 3 were in the top 10 at their high school) with slightly varying extracurriculars (but all good). So, financial aid will not be affected by which decision plan you choose, but scholarships will be less available to the early decision candidate. I've only ever seen one poster in the Rice forums who received scholarship offers early decision.</p>

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<p>
[quote]
The major drawback in applying early is that you are far less likely to be awarded a scholarship.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Why is that? Is it because Rice wants to pull in the regular applicants by giving them tempting offers, while they know that the ED applicants aren't going anywhere anyway? If so, that sort of doesn't make sense, because the one way you can get out of ED once accepted is if the financial package isn't enough for you/your family to afford it (from what I understand). Is this typical for Rice and other schools?</p>

13

<p>Your financial aid package will not be influenced by your decision plan. However, you are correct in understanding that scholarships ARE used to lure students who might not choose to attend Rice. Early decision applicants are obligated to attend unless the financial aid offer makes it impossible to accept. At the time a student is accepted early to Rice, he/she is also given a fairly accurate estimate of the financial aid package that he will receive. So, the student will have to accept/reject the offer of admission before Jan. 1st. You will not be able to compare the offer with offers from other universities.</p>

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<p>The way I look at it is:
The schools I'm hoping to get admitted to (aside from my safeties) are all expensive. Rice is the least expensive, and is also the only in-state school I'm hoping for, which makes it more affordable. I have also heard that Rice is very generous with financial aid (from alumni, current students, teachers, counselors...). By that logic, I know that financially I will be pretty screwed (pardon the French) anywhere I go unless I go to my safety (Texas A&M - I could probably get 75% or more of expenses covered there, but I don't want to go there unless I absolutely have to). </p>

<p>So, my logic is to apply ED to Rice, assuming that my financial packages won't be any better at any other schools I apply to. That way, I save myself the constant "what if", knowing that Rice would have offered me the most moolah anyway. Am I right?</p>

<p>These are the schools I'm applying to:</p>

<p>Safeties:
Texas A&M College Station (decent engineering)
Southern Methodist University (ew, but their engineering program is decent)</p>

<p>Slight Reaches/maybe a few reaches:
Stanford
UPenn
Harvard
Duke
Rice (ED)
MIT
USC
Columbia</p>

15

<p>I have read that Stanford also has a generous financial aid package. You're right that applying early will relieve you of stress for the remainder of the school year (if you get accepted). There is a lot to be said for peace of mind.<br>
No one can predict whether you will feel the same way about a school once you are actually attending. But you'd take that chance with any school.
Despite everything I've said cautioning you about applying early, my opinion is that Rice is one of the finest schools in the nation.</p>

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<p>I've decided that I will apply Early Decision, do my best on my other applications, and the rest is up to God. </p>

<p>Thank you for all your advice.</p>

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<p>Pedrossi - In spite of the fact that BOTH my kids attend Rice, and are very happy there, I think it is NOT a good idea for you to apply ED. You are still dreaming of other schools, you need good financial aid, (you might luck out with some good merit aid at other schools like SMU), and your heart is not set on Rice. I think it is a mistake to reduce your options at this point. JMHO!</p>

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<p>Anxiousmom:
You are right about the financial aid; I do need it. My heart IS set on Rice, though. It has been for a while (my friends say I have "Rice Vision"). The reason I started this thread is because even though my heart was set on Rice, maybe it wasn't the logical decision. When I look at all aspects, Rice seems to be the perfect school, but I wanted you guys' opinion on the matter. And I really don't plan on going to SMU - I'm just applying there in case things go terribly wrong and I don't get into any of my top schools. And the extra money I pay for a Rice education will (I hope, at least) pay off in the end. Thanks for your opinion, though, and if you have any additional input I'd appreciate it.</p>

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<p>pedrossi - Good luck!</p>

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<p>I'm sort of in the same situation. I love Rice and I know I want to go there. I'm seriously considering ED, but money is a huge concern. My family has an income where we won't get much F.A., but our debt and cost of living makes it impossible to pay for college. </p>

<p>Should I give up on ED and just go in Regular? Or will the fact that Rice is my number 1 show through and they will be stingy on scholarships in the first place?</p>