***OFFICIAL RICE CLASS OF 2021 Regular Decision Results ONLY***

Colleges and Universities A-Z Rice University
1

Let’s post our decisions here :slight_smile:

[ size=4][ color=green][ b]Decision: Accepted **[/color][/size]
[ size=4][ color=orange][ b]Decision: Deferred **[/color][/size]
[ size=4][ color=red][ b]Decision: Rejected **[/color][/size]

[ b]Objective:[/b
]
SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay):
SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay):
ACT (breakdown):
ACT superscore (breakdown):
SAT II (subject, score):
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0):
Weighted GPA:
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable):
AP (place score in parentheses):
IB (place score in parentheses):
Senior Year Course Load:
Number of other EA applicants in your school:
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.):
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.):

[ b]Subjective:**

Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description):
Job/Work Experience:
Volunteer/Community Service:
Summer Experience:

[ b]Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):**

Essays:

Teacher Recommendation #1:
Teacher Recommendation #2:
Counselor Rec:
Additional Info/Rec:
Interview:
Art Supplement:

[ b]Other**

Date Submitted App:
U.S. State/Territory or Country:
School Type:
Ethnicity:
Gender:
Income Bracket Range:
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athelete, development):

[ b]Reflection**

Strengths:
Weaknesses:
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected:
What would you have done differently?:
Where else did you apply?

[ b]Other Factors: **

[ b]General Comments & Advice:**

2

**Decision: Accepted **

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): 740 / 740 / 700 / 11
SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): Didn’t submit
ACT (breakdown):
ACT superscore (breakdown):
SAT II (subject, score): Math Level 2 740 / Korean with Listening 700
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): About 3.9x
Weighted GPA: Steady rise from 4.0 in Sophomore Year to 4.6 in Senior Year
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Graduated 1st Place in High School
AP (place score in parentheses): Lang 4 / Micro 4 / Macro 5 / Psycho 5 / UGNP 3
IB (place score in parentheses):
Senior Year Course Load: The hardest course I could get (2 APs, 1 Honors)
Number of other EA applicants in your school:
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): I did have several international level awards but not something gigantic like Intel
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): AP Scholar with Distinction, Valedictorian…etc.

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description):

Objectively speaking, I don’t think I would have been accepted with my test scores since I’m an Asia (Korean) male. I think my ECs pushed me over the acceptances file. I was really involved in Model UN during high school years and got into National MUN Team. And as a member, I received an award at an international conference held in New York. As a student officer, I chaired 2015 Harvard World MUN. As a secretariat, I co-found a Model UN company and hosted several conferences. But I didn’t stop here and published a book about my Model UN experiences and even published a research paper on Model UN at a international level conference. The research paper on that international conference was later selected to be published in an international journal. Outside of Model UN, I practiced Taekwondo (Korea’s Martial Art) and won awards in amateur national/international competitions while making TKD performances during volunteer works overseas. In school, I worked as the editor in chief of the our school newspaper and as a judge of the student court.

Job/Work Experience: Interned at some think tank for a year.
Volunteer/Community Service:
Summer Experience:

During one summer break, I broke my ACL while practicing TKD. And so… I had to take a gap-year (complicated) for a re-hab. During that year, I audited college courses through Coursera / Edx / a college near my house. I think my gap year experience during my high school year also added some positive(?) light to my application; I was able to show how I’m passionate about learning by attending different forums and taking college courses.

Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):

Essays: Wrote about the journey to publishing the book on Model UN (Took me 5 months to finished it. Was VERY satisfied with the result) 9/10

Teacher Recommendation #1: AP Lang teacher. Guess it was good?
Teacher Recommendation #2: AP USH teacher. He knew me for like 4 years. Guess it was good?
Counselor Rec: He mentioned that there is an option to mark a student on counselor rec as “one of the few students I’ve seen in my career”… so I guess it was good?
Additional Info/Rec: Got one from my TKD master and one from a professor who read my book.
Interview: Didn’t do it. I never knew I would be going to Rice.
Art Supplement:

Other

Date Submitted App: Late December
U.S. State/Territory or Country:
School Type: Private boarding school with an SAT average of 1850
Ethnicity: Korean / dual citizenship (with US)
Gender: Male
Income Bracket Range: 10k +
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athelete, development): nope. Anti-hook for being an asian male lol.

Reflection

Strengths: EC. GPA. Unique experience during high school (Gap year).
Weaknesses: Definitely my test scores. As an Asian, I should have at least had 2250 in SAT and have taken 3 SAT2s. Also my school isn’t well known. The valedictorians usually got accepted to UCB.
Why you think you were accepted: Look at my strengths.
What would you have done differently?: Hhm… I don’t think I could have done things differently. I spent over 1500 hours studying for that SAT but couldn’t get my scores up. Though I had 2300+ during mock tests, it never went over 2200 during actual exams.
Where else did you apply? A LOT of colleges. Really thankful to be admitted to Rice.

Other Factors: God’s Help. Definitely.

General Comments & Advice: Do what you are passionate about; you would be able to make an EC of your own.

P.S I’m seeing several typos here and there…but its still legible and I’m kinda lazy to fix them… message me if you have any questions.

3

Decision: Waitlisted

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown):
ACT (breakdown): 35C - 35E, 33R, 35M, 36S
SAT II: Math II - 800, Physics - 740, Spanish - 750
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.9
Weighted GPA: 4.35
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): top 10%
AP (place score in parenthesis):
IB (place score in parenthesis): Math SL (7), Anthro SL (6)
Senior Year Course Load: 7 IB classes
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):

Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):

  • varsity athlete (3 years) - 20hrs/wk 44wks/yr
  • engineering internship at local university - published report for department (40 hrs/wk for 8 weeks)
    Job/Work Experience:
    Volunteer/Community service:
  • spanish immersion tutoring
    Summer Activities:
  • morning rowing + internship
    Essays (rating 1-10, details):
    Recommendations (rating 1-10, details):

Teacher Rec #1 (rating 1-10, details):
Teacher Rec #2 (rating 1-10, details):
Counselor Rec (rating 1-10, details):
Additional Rec (if any) (rating 1-10, details):
Interview (if any) (rating 1-10, details):

Other:
Applied for Financial Aid?: no
Intended Major: Engineering
State (if domestic applicant): OR
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: Male
Income Bracket:
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): hahahaha

Reflections:
Strengths: my stats
Weaknesses: lack of service/leadership? being an Asian male
Why you think you were waitlisted: I’m an Asian male
Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected:

rejected - 6 ivies, Northwestern, Cal, UCLA, Stanford
waitlisted - UChicago, UMich
accepted - Northeastern, UCSD, Wesleyan

General Comments (if any):
took this L

4

Accepted

ACT (breakdown): E:35 R:36 S:33 M:32 Writing:23 Composite:34
ACT superscore (breakdown): 35 (Although Rice says they don’t superscore but you have to send in all tests)
SAT II (subject, score): Didn’t take
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4
Weighted GPA: 4.41
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 4/400
AP (place score in parentheses): Environmental Science (5), Human Geo (5), Bio (4), Psychology(5), European History(5), US History (4), Lang (4), Physics 1 (3), Chemistry (4)
IB (place score in parentheses): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP Physics 2, AP Lit, AP Calc AB, AP US Gov, AP Micro Econ, honor band, Spanish IV self study, teacher aid

Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): All State in Speech and Debate?
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): National AP scholar, various local debate awards, marching band did well at state, student of the month kind of things

Subjective
Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description): Marching band (4 years, section leader), Debate (4 years, captain), Interact (3 years, secretary), Earth Club (3 years, secretary), Model UN (3 years, founder), on the board of directors of three nonprofits.
Job/Work Experience: Nope
Volunteer/Community Service: Volunteering at a math and science center, community outreach through nonprofit work/clubs
Summer Experience: band camp, debate camp (one year at George Mason and one year at Berkeley), math and science center, did a Computer Science MOOC with Stanford

Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):
Essays: 9. Wrote about living in a small area forcing me to be more confident in my sexuality

Teacher Recommendation #1: 9. Great teacher who I’ve had for two years
Teacher Recommendation #2: 8.
Counselor Rec: 10. Really, really nice letter
Additional Info/Rec: 8. Person I was on a board with
Interview: 8. It was with a nice guy who was interviewing someone for the first time ever
Art Supplement: hahahaha no. My box was a picture of a solar lamp though. It has to do with a nonprofit I talked about in my essays.

Other

Date Submitted App: Early December
U.S. State/Territory or Country: Colorado
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
Income Bracket Range: <150k
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athelete, development): queer stuff I talked about in common app essay?

Reflection
Strengths: strong course work and diverse extracurriculars with lots of involvement
Weaknesses: My ACT writing score is shockingly low and my AP scores could have been better.
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: I think I will fit in well with the Rice community
What would you have done differently?: Nothing
Where else did you apply? Accepted: CU Boulder, University of Denver, UCLA, Berkeley Waitlisted: UChicago, Northwestern

5

Decision: Accepted

Objective:
SAT I (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): 1450 (18 essay)
SAT I superscore (breakdown M/CR/W/Essay): N/A
ACT (breakdown): 33 composite: (E: 35, M: 33 , R: 31, S, 33) + 10 essay
ACT superscore (breakdown): Same as above
SAT II (subject, score): 730 world history, 720 U.S history, 750 Math 2
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.92
Weighted GPA: School does not weight
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 11/400 (unweighted)
AP (place score in parentheses): all 4’s and 5’s (many tests)
IB (place score in parentheses): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: AP Gov, AP Lit, AP lang, AP Chem, AP Spanish 5, AP Calc (ab). (plus some other required courses)
Number of other RD applicants in your school: 0
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel, etc.): None
Common Awards (AP Scholar, honor roll, NM things, etc.): AP Scholar with distinction, Academic letter, Academic all-state, Academic all-conference, American Legion boys state ect.

Subjective:

Extracurriculars (name, grade levels, leadership, description): Cross Country: 5 years (Captain + MVP + State) Nordic ski: 5 years (Captain + MVP + State) Track: 5 years (Captain) NHS: 3 years (president) Freshman Mentors (1 year: group leader) … & a few other small things
Job/Work Experience: Walgreens (15 hours/week in school year)
Volunteer/Community Service: 40 hours per year or so?
Summer Experience: Training for sports, leading captains practices, working, boys state (government).

Writing (Subject, 1-10 rating, details):

Essays:
Common app: 9/10 (very unique topic)
Rice essays: 4/10 TYPO, they might have missed it? idk

Teacher Recommendation #1: 6/10 … she used an activity sheet even though we know each other well… generic probably.
Teacher Recommendation #2: 9/10 … known for a very long time + coach for a sport
Counselor Rec: 2/10 … told me that “it’s not the best I’ve written”
Additional Info/Rec: N/A
Interview: Pretty good interview, a little short (30-40 mins), but good quality.
Art Supplement: N/A

Other

Date Submitted App: 12/10/2016 (before interview deadline)
U.S. State/Territory or Country: MN
School Type: large public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
Income Bracket Range: 100k
Hooks (URM, first generation, recruited athelete, development): No.

Reflection

Strengths: Essay topics were very compelling. Pretty well rounded.
Weaknesses: There was a typo in my essay! Bad counselor rec, mediocre ACT and GPA.
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: God is good.
What would you have done differently?: I would have finished my applications in the summer
Where else did you apply?
Rejected: Yale (EA), Harvard, Brown, Northwestern, Columbia, Washu, Princeton, Stanford, USC
Waitlisted: Georgetown
Accepted: Rice & University of Minnesota

Other Factors:

General Comments & Advice:
Be sure to apply to a decent amount of matches, not all reaches. Put more time into quality essays instead of getting a better ACT score.

ALSO, send all of your ACT/SAT scores to the schools your applying to, I fared better at the schools that saw all of my scores. I think they like to see improvement (29 then 31 then 29 then 33).