<p>Does Rice track interest? If so, can I display interest without visiting? It is a long way from home and I am not looking at any other schools in the area. If I were to be accepted, I would definitely look at it before deciding though.</p>
<p>From what I understand it has some impact, but not a huge one. If you have great stats but show no interest you can still be accepted. If you have average stats for Rice, then I think it becomes a bit more of an issue.</p>
<p>I don’t know how much they do to track interest, you could try emailing them to find out.</p>
<p>To demonstrate interest you could see when they’ll be in your area or do an interview with an alumni in your area.</p>
<p>There are other ways than visiting to show interest. </p>
<p>Contact them and ask questions about the program of your choice. Attend any closeby presentations (Rice comes in as part of 4-5 school group in the next month or two normally). Ask about doing an alum or remote interview.</p>
<p>Rice definitely tracks interest. Interest has the possibility to make a bigger impact at Rice compared with peer institutions, so it wouldn’t hurt to show interest in as many ways as you can. The recommendations above are good; I would also recommend emailing the admissions office for a student contact with similar interests as you.</p>
<p>While I don’t think making a campus visit is any better than showing interest in other ways, it can really help you get a better idea of why Rice will be a good fit for you. If you really want to come here, the information gleaned from a campus visit could be very helpful for you.</p>
<p>Adding on to this question, what is the best way to email them/contact them to show interest, and when is it at a point where it’s annoying?</p>
<p>Brief anecdote, skip if you don’t have tons of time 
I’m extremely paranoid about annoying them. We had a college fair near my school, and our college counsellors were telling us that after we go talk to them a lot of representative would right notes on our cards that we give them. ex. bad hand shake, eye contact, asked good questions. So, Rice being my first choice I made sure to talk to the woman from Rice. Honestly, she seemed quiet, not the worst, but not easy to talk to. Due to this we had a short discussion where I asked her questions about things like Explore Rice, which was already pretty obsessive by itself since almost no one even knew about Rice since I’m in New England. Then, I had extra time at the end so I went back to talk to her. I asked a brief question, but after I left I turned around and saw her looking through the cards we had turned in, taking one out, and writing something on it. I was so worried because I wasn’t sure if she was going to say “overbearing” or “interested”, but either way it scared me. I’m really hoping I didn’t do anything wrong.</p>
<p>So anyways, when are you crossing a line by showing interest?</p>
<p>Really, as long as you’re not e-mailing them every single day, or contriving questions to ask them just for the sake of doing so, I wouldn’t worry about your contact being annoying. Ask them questions about the process as you have them, but in the end, the frequency of contact between you and the admissions office isn’t going to be a huge factor in the decision, I would think. (On that note, when you do contact them, I’d recommend that the questions you ask are those for which answers can’t be found on their website or something.) </p>
<p>I know it’s difficult not to be paranoid during the admissions cycle (I sure was, hahaha), but I wouldn’t fret too much over minutiae like this. I doubt she was writing anything negative about you, and even so, it wouldn’t have all that much of an impact. I’ve even heard official interviewers say that the amount of sway they have in the final decision is far less than some people would imagine. :)</p>
<p>^best questions to ask are those not answered anywhere else. However, don’t make them contrived, argumentative, lazy in nature (if you can google and an answer pops up, that makes you lazy).</p>
<p>OTOH - asking for contacts - is there someone in so and so dept who would answer some questions, is there someone from new england who can be contacted to ask about how to make it in Houston, research opportunities or types of research available to undergrads in a specific dept etc are questions you wont find answers to.</p>
<p>would it be worth it to send in my ap scores now to Rice to show my interest? or does it not really matter?</p>
<p>From what I understand AP scores are something that you don’t send to colleges, I’ve always been confused on how that works though. I guess they don’t learn your scores until after you get in.
Either way, I don’t think you should send them just yet, as they probably haven’t started making files with all their applicants, and they’re not really in that process at the moment. Maybe wait until you send your common app or supplement in just so that they have something.</p>
<p>^ I had that same question in the fall. I e-mailed one of the admissions officers, and he told me that you self-report them, but you don’t actually need to send them in officially from CollegeBoard when you’re applying.</p>
<p>Don’t waste money sending AP scores to any school except the one you end up enrolling at. They’re not a major factor in admissions decisions at most schools (if any), so self-reporting is all you need to do. And that’s optional. Just self-report any scores that you want to report (i.e., don’t report any bad ones).</p>
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<p>You don’t need to submit your Common App or supplement before sending scores of any type. If they don’t already have a file for you, admissions offices will either put it in a general file for everyone who hasn’t yet submitted an application or start a file for you.</p>
<p>Remember, most people take the ACT and SAT in their junior year, well before they actually submit their applications. Plenty of those people send their scores at the time they take the test or at the time they receive the scores, so admissions offices are already expecting to receive scores and other such materials for prospective students who haven’t yet submitted their applications. They know how to handle this from a filing perspective.</p>
<p>On that note, if at any point your scores end up being misplaced after you’ve paid for them to be sent, don’t pay for them to be sent again. Instead, contact the admissions office for whatever school is affected (after waiting whatever period is specified between sending the materials and the application status being updated online–usually a few weeks). They’ll typically be able to obtain them at no cost to you from the College Board or the ACT.</p>