Hi! So I’m a HS senior. I came to the United States in the middle of my sophomore year and I was wondering if there’s any chance I can get into Rice?
All of my freshman classes (11 classes) were counted as regular classes, so my GPA went down so much. I have 3.85 and 4.2 (this is for after 1st semester; they still didnt figure out the whole year’s) and i’m in top ten.
My junior year I took APchemistry APcalculus, APEnglish language, APUsHistOry and honors anatomy and business. Next year I’ll take APbiology, APEnvironmental science, AP calculus bc, AP english literature, and choir. This summer I’m taking government and economics at the local community college.
My SAT: Math 710. 730
CR: 500. 450
Writing. 630. 670
I’ve been on the swimming team of my high school my sophomore, junior and will be in my senior year. I’m in NHS and I started a music club in our school and I volunteered in a library my freshman year, in kindergarten my sophomore year and in hospital my junior year.
As of accomplishments, I was in top 10 in some piano competition, I got into a “talent” high school my freshman year( only about 1000 students would get in the whole country) back in my hometown, I got a bunch of medals for high grades and top in apchemistry class and for science fair, I won the Kharazmi math competition in my freshman year (that wasn’t a big deal) and some other chemistry competition which was in preparation of Olympiad and we were in groups ( not a big deal again)
I hope admission people take into consideration that English was not my first language and I had difficulties get used to it.
Sooooo, what do you guys think??!
Waiiiit I forgot to say I’m student body Secretary also!
Your SAT CR and writing scores need to be a lot higher. Don’t forget that Rice requires the SAT plus two subject tests, or the ACT.
https://futureowls.rice.edu/futureowls/Freshman_Profile.asp
@ScienceGirlMom I can improve my writing to 700s but my reading doesn’t change no matter what I do and how much I practice, I think it’s because I only learned English 1.5 years ago. And I’ll take subject tests this November and I’m confident about those. Do you think they understand that there is no way to improve my reading more or do they not care where I came from and that English is not my 1st language? ?
I think you can tell them that and they’ll be understanding. 1.5 years is not a long time to learn a language. But the fact of the matter is the more you practice, the more you’ll learn. So keep it up and make sure they know you are still working on it! Don’t get complacent with your reading score.
If you do want to emphasize that English is not your first language and/or you’re from out of the country (this is IF you want to talk about it), I believe that maybe it can be a good essay topic if you write about overcoming language barriers. Will definitely give your application some uniqueness, unless if you have something else more unique to talk about.
I agree that you should try to get a higher score on your SAT, but if you mention that English is not your first language, the admissions people might be forgiving on the Critical Reading and Writing sections. But I wouldn’t suggest taking your SAT more than 2-3 times. And don’t forget 2 SAT subject tests. There is also the ACT if you want to consider taking it as well. 
In the extra info section of the application, make sure that you mention that you only recently moved to the US. Your chances are very good; a lot of it will come down to the quality of your essays and letters of recommendation. The fact that you immigrated only 1.5 years ago and are already doing so well academically is impressive–the admissions officers will definitely be impressed. Good luck!