<p>Some of you are wondering why you did not qualify for financial aid even though your EFC is below Rice’s cost of attendance. The reason is that your EFC is NOT necessarily what has to be below Rice’s COA. If your parents income is under 80k, then something must be wrong. if its between 80 and 100k, you should still have qualified for some aid, but if your parent’s income is above that, there is no guarantee that Rice is supposed to give you any institutional grants. They may very well expect you to take out some loans, not to mention its possible that in the mail you may get a merit scholarship.</p>
<p>Untrue ansrox. They fronted almost my entire tuition.</p>
<p>Yea, I’m gonna agree with sleep. My tuition is pretty much taken care with the award I got from Rice ansrox.</p>
<p>And ansrox, your SATs are pretty low.</p>
<p>@soadquake981: I wasn’t expecting any financial aid, no. My EFC is above the COA at Rice so it was a long shot for need-based aid. I am hoping notification of a merit scholarship comes in the mail though because I think I should be fairly competitive for at least a small merit scholarship, especially considering Rice is known for being pretty generous with merit money.</p>
<p>@dsjarrel: How did you find out about Vandy already? I haven’t gotten any notification of an admissions decision yet.</p>
<p>Decision: Accepted</p>
<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 2310 in one sitting; 740 Reading, 800 Writing, 770 Math
SAT II: Math II 800, Bio 760
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 10%
AP (place score in parenthesis): Spanish Lang, Bio: 5; USH: 4
Senior Year Course Load: 5 APs (Physics C, BC Calc, Spanish Lit, Eng Lit, Econ), 7 classes
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): AMC 12</p>
<p>Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): School Magazine (Managing Editor), Community Service Councilmember, Yearbook (writing editor)
Job/Work Experience: internship for a professor, tutoring people
Volunteer/Community service: helping mentally disabled, anything available
Summer Activities: take classes at CC, music camps, leadership conferences, traveling
Essays: pretty original according to the people I’ve shown haha
Teacher Recommendation: hopefully good?
Counselor Rec: hopefully good?
Additional Rec: none
Interview: Very well. We just had a nice, easy conversation and I got to explain my extracurricular things more and we talked about their (the interviewers’) experiences at Rice. </p>
<p>Other
State (if domestic applicant): not Texas
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: public of about 2000
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: F
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): none
Reflection
Strengths: Grades, extracurrics, interview
Weaknesses: I feel like my essays could have been more engaging and exciting.
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I’m just happy I got in!!</p>
<p>And to those of you wondering where to find your finaid things, it’s also on Esther, under “financial awards” or something.</p>
<p>Congrats to those admitted! (:</p>
<p>Decision: Accepted</p>
<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 680CR/800M/710W (super scored, 2 sittings)
ACT: Didn’t take
SAT II: 780 Math 2, 770 Chemistry, 760 Physics
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): Not sure about unweighted but weighted I think I have around a 4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): School doesn’t rank
AP (place score in parenthesis): Physics B (5), Chemistry (5), Comp Sci AB (5), AP Eng Lit (4)
IB (place score in parenthesis): Didn’t take
Senior Year Course Load: Advanced Topics in CS, AP BC Calc, AP Physics C, AP Econ, Creative Writing, Science Research Class, Free 
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit commendation letter, other than that, nothing</p>
<p>Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): 4 Years JV/V soccer, 3 years club soccer (Div 3) School Civil Liberties Club (Co-president, but we only have 3 members), Quiz club (2 years), Recreational DJ, Ice hockey participant
Job/Work Experience: I sold people’s stuff on e-bay when I was turned down for work at 7 different places.
Volunteer/Community service: 3 years of red cross stuff (2-3 hours/wk)
Summer Activities: Ice hockey during summer, failing to get a job haha
Essays: Very good, I spent a really long time working on them and went through lots of drafts
Teacher Recommendation: I had two, they were probably very good, one from a math teacher I had in 3 different classes, and one from a very nice english teacher.
Counselor Rec: Amazing— He teaches one of my classes and loves me.
Additional Rec: None
Interview: Went well, she wasn’t the most interesting, but she liked me.</p>
<p>Other
State (if domestic applicant): California
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Private, ritzy, highly competitive
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: 100k
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None, really.</p>
<p>Reflection
Strengths: Essays, Recs, GPA, Kind of SATs
Weaknesses: ECs, Awards, I donno.
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected:
So happy to be accepted, somewhat unexpected. I am in to 3 of my top 4 schools, waiting to hear from the last one.</p>
<p>Congrats to admits, and non-admits, it’s totally okay to be sad, but just know that if you are on this site, you are likely going to a fabulous college/university, even if it isn’t rice.</p>
<p>Decision: Rejected</p>
<p>SAT I (breakdown): 710R/690M/730W
ACT: N/A
SAT II: Bio 700; Lit 730
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.78
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): N/A
AP (place score in parenthesis): Bio (5); US History (4); Eur History (5); Physics B (5)
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load: US Gov; Comp Gov; Calc BC; Physics C; Spanish; English
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): N/A
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Three varsity sports (2 as captain); Class officer
Job/Work Experience: N/A
Volunteer/Community service: min. required for school
Summer Activities: Sports
Essays:
Teacher Recommendation: Strong
Counselor Rec: Who Knows?
Additional Rec:
Interview: N/A
State (if domestic applicant): Kentucky
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Private
Ethnicity: White
Gender: F
Income Bracket: 100,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):
Strengths:
Weaknesses:
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Probably did not show enough interest</p>
<p>Decision: Waitlisted</p>
<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 740/790/740
ACT:
SAT II: 710Lit, 800Math2
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.9
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 1/215
AP (place score in parenthesis): N/A
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load: Hardest
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): nope
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): ART, assorted clubs
Job/Work Experience:
Volunteer/Community service: nursing home
Summer Activities: Art pre-college
Essays: Eh, good but probably showed I wasn’t a good fit
Teacher Recommendation: Good
Counselor Rec: Good
Additional Rec:
Interview:
Other
State (if domestic applicant): PA
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: M
Income Bracket: >150
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): Art
Reflection
Strengths: Art, scores, rank, recs
Weaknesses: Fit
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Well, I think they may have realized what I have just started to, that it’s completely the wrong school for me</p>
<p>Decision:Accepted</p>
<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 640CR/580M/640WR Total: 1860 <-----embarrassing
ACT: 28
SAT II: didn’t take
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.9
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 3/374
AP (place score in parenthesis): school doesn’t offer many. taking ap classes this year
IB (place score in parenthesis): n/a
Senior Year Course Load: journalism, AP language, AP Gov, Japanese III, AP Calc AB, Physics, gym…
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): some, but nothing major</p>
<p>Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): HOSA (state officer), soccer, yearbook staff, newspaper staff (copy editor), NHS, peer tutor, mentor, i think that’s all i listed
Job/Work Experience: n/a
Volunteer/Community service: some, including volunteering at a children’s hospital
Summer Activities: exchange trip to Japan
Essays: QuestBridge applicant. I had a pretty good bio essay describing how my parents background (mexican immigrants, only made it to middle school since they had to work) affected me.in my second essay i wrote about cultural diversity and this one incident that occurred one Halloween night. and my final essay was about my trip to Japan.
Teacher Recommendation: i think a couple were pretty good, my counselor rec was generic
Counselor Rec: generic
Additional Rec:
Interview: n/a
Other
State (if domestic applicant): Indiana
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public. rarely sends students to top schools.
Ethnicity: Hispanic
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: 60k
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): first generation, QuestBridge</p>
<p>Reflection
Strengths: ECs (?), essays
Weaknesses: DEF SAT/ACT scores
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I am seriously in shock. I never imagined that they would actually accept me. I guess they liked something about me. 
Rice is at the top of my list right now.</p>
<p>Congratulations to all. And to those who were rejected/waitlisted, I’m sure you will end up somewhere amazing regardless. :)</p>
<p>Any idea how much longer til we hear about merit money?</p>
<p>Decision: Accepted</p>
<p>Objective: Biomed
SAT I (breakdown): 800CR 750M 800W (1550/2350 one sitting)
ACT:
SAT II: 3 760’s (US History, Biology, Math)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.81/4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Top 10% Noncompetitive Public
AP (place score in parenthesis): National AP Scholar (Six 5’s, Three 4’s)
IB (place score in parenthesis):n/a
Senior Year Course Load: Compchem Research, Calc AB, Physics B, Euro, College Chem, College Philosophy, College English
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.):Nothing really besides the National AP…
Subjective: Being myself.
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): 2 Years Varsity Lacrosse, Academic Team (Captain), Mock Trial Team (Captain), NHS,SNHS,MuAlphaTheta, etc etc
Job/Work Experience: 40hrs week Lifeguarding (summer)
Volunteer/Community service: ~400 Hours with Church
Summer Activities: Being the man.
Essays: Heartfelt, but not the best. I wrote my supplement in 1 sitting…but I liked it.
Teacher Recommendation: Form letter’ish
Counselor Rec: Not very good, basically restating resume (300 kids/counselor)
Additional Rec: Goodish.
Interview: Pretty good! The guy was really cool and we connected I thought.
Other: Page for the Maryland General Assembly (thought that might have helped?)
State (if domestic applicant): MD
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Noncompetitive Public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: <75k
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None whatsoever.
Reflection: WOOOOT
Strengths: Standardized Test Scores, Awesomeness.
Weaknesses: Extra Curriculars, Unweighted GPA, Essays/Recs
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: My “box” was a picture of Chuck Norris. Win? I think so.</p>
<p>Decision: Accepted</p>
<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 750 M / 660 CR / 710 W
ACT: 35 Composite
SAT II: 760 Chem / 730 Lit / 730 Math I
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 3/247
AP (place score in parenthesis): Chem(5); English Language (4); US History (3)
Senior Year Course Load: As hard as possible at my school… but not very hard. Not a lot of class choices.
Major Awards: National Merit Commended</p>
<p>Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Handbell Choir (Section Leader); Swim Team (Assistant Coach); School Swim Team (Captain); UIL Academic Math & Science Teams; Church Choir; School Varsity Choir; NHS
Job/Work Experience: Lifeguarding (2 summers); Childcare at two churches (3 years)
Volunteer/Community service: Not much
Summer Activities: Summer Swim Team, Lifeguarding, Vacation Bible School. Also, last summer I got to spend a week at NASA after completing a class online.
Essays: Totally played up my interest in science and space, which I think fits with Rice so… They were definitely geared toward Rice, you know?
Teacher Recommendation: Great.
Counselor Rec: Decent.
Additional Rec: I got one of my pastors who is a Rice alum to write me a letter… he let me read it and it was amazing. I think that’s one of the major reasons I got in, actually.
Interview: Fantastic! Interviewer and I clicked, I suppose. </p>
<p>Other
State (if domestic applicant): Texas
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: 80,000-100,000</p>
<p>Reflection
Strengths: ACT, Interview, Essays, Recommendation Letter.
Weaknesses: AP scores, weak high school, few leadership positions. Living in Texas, only two hours away…
Why you think you were accepted: Level of interest, I hope. I tried to make that very clear.</p>
<p>Uhhhh…
“Please refrain from >>whining<</discussing/complaining in this thread. We need to keep it clean for easy access!”</p>
<p>Anyone else find it curious that “Happyformykid” came here to post for the first time to bash Rice despite being accepted with “lots of money?” My guess is that he/she is the new alias of interestingguy, dimsum or meangirl.</p>
<p> Decision: Rejected </p>
<p>Objective: Bio
SAT I (breakdown): 600/710/650 = 1960
ACT:
SAT II: 650 MAII/700 Che/680 Bio
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.25
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 20%
AP (place score in parenthesis): doesn’t apply
IB (place score in parenthesis): doesn’t apply</p>
<p>Subjective:</p>
<p>Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): pretty decent for an international
Job/Work Experience: some
Volunteer/Community service: some
Essays: I thought they were Great. I really tried to show my interest towards Rice.
Teacher Recommendation: Great, I practically wrote them myself
Counselor Rec: I wrote these too
Interview: none</p>
<p>Other</p>
<p>State (if domestic applicant):
Country (if international applicant): Ethiopia
School Type: Private
Ethnicity: Black, African
Gender: Male
Income Bracket: lets put it this way, my EFC is 10,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): </p>
<p>Reflection</p>
<p>Strengths: Essays and Recommendations were good
Weaknesses: Rank, SATs, although my GPA may seem a bit low to you guys, its actually very high in the standards of my school. Really. I guess Rice did not know that.
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Well, I never really had a chance to begin with but looking back now, I don’t think there was an aspect of my application I could have changed that would have gotten me an acceptance from rice. I’m still kinda bummed out about the decision but I guess everything passes in time. Plus I’m sure this is for the best.</p>
<p>Congrats to all of you who got in. I hope you have an amazing four years at Rice. For those of you who got rejected/waitlisted, hang in there. You’ll find happiness at some point. Best Wishes and Good Luck!</p>
<p>Decision: Accepted</p>
<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 780 CR / 700 M / 790 W / Total: 2270
ACT:
SAT II: 740 Bio / 750 Chem / 770 Phys
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.65 (after junior year, probably higher now)
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Not official, but probably top 20%
AP (place score in parenthesis): Spanish Language (5), Biology (5), Physics B (5)
IB (place score in parenthesis):
Senior Year Course Load: AP Economics, AP Calc. AB, English, Acting, AP Physics C
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Bausch & Lomb Honorary Science Award
Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Cross-Country (Co-Captain), Fencing (Captain), School tour-guide, Piano (12 yrs.), Trombone (9 yrs.)
Job/Work Experience: 6-week internship in a research clinic at Mass. General Hospital, and another 2 weeks at a lab at Columbia University Medical Center
Volunteer/Community service: 2 hrs. every weekend at a local nursing home serving coffee, tea, and, cookies and playing piano
Summer Activities: Sleepaway camp through summer after sophomore year, then summer internships
Essays: Good…don’t know too much about the school (never visited, but researched online)
Teacher Recommendation: Never saw
Counselor Rec: Never saw
Additional Rec: Very Good (from doctor for whom I worked last summer)
Interview: Didn’t have a chance (added Rice to my list last minute)
Other
State (if domestic applicant): NY
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Ultra-competitive independent
Ethnicity: White
Gender: Male
Income Bracket:
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.):
Reflection
Strengths: Really strong desire to pursue science research in college (submitted research abstract as my additional info. section)
Weaknesses: No interview, never visited
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: I think I was accepted because of my demonstrated strong passion for science research. I had a really great rec. from the doctor I worked for. I also do believe my geographical location played a nice role. My counselor told me Rice likes New Yorkers. Also, having pretty strong boards with a respectable GPA from a very competitive school probably helped.</p>
<p>Congrats to all others admitted! And to those who weren’t, I’m sure you will find another perfect fit.</p>
<p>@ FAFSA Parent: have your son check his email again, they should definitely be out. If not, call the Rice admissions office.</p>
<p>How did you find out about scholarships? Rice said they were mailed out yesterday.</p>
<p>Decision: Accepted</p>
<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): 680 CR / 650 M / 690 W / Total: 2020
ACT: N/A
SAT II: 600 U.S. History / 660 Lit
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.75/4.0
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 25/130
AP (place score in parenthesis): U.S. History (3)
IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
Senior Year Course Load: Pretty rigorous, it’s about half APs and then half not even honors, with the exception of one honors class.
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Achievement Scholarship: Outstanding Participant</p>
<p>Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Newspaper (editor-in-chief); tech crew (head of props); mock trial (vice-president); youth group (peer minister); ITS (“motivator/mascot” - it’s pretty much a BS position honestly); National Honor Society
Job/Work Experience: Worked as a cashier at a flower shop, babysitter
Volunteer/Community service: Every Sunday I waitress at a local nursing home during their lunch period, and during the summer I participate in the food drives of a local church.
Summer Activities: Host family for a foreign exchange girl from France, NSLC, Summer at Columbia, and uh…I went to Ocean City a lot. Nothing too impressive honestly.
Essays: I didn’t really feel confident about them to be honest, but hey.
Teacher Recommendation: Didn’t read any recommendations, but one of the them I know had to be good, she loves me. The other one I’m not too sure about, but I’m sure it was good too.
Counselor Rec: Very good, again, he loves me.
Additional Rec: N/A
Interview: Went very well, she was so sweet and we clicked.</p>
<p>Other
State (if domestic applicant): MD
Country (if international applicant): N/A
School Type: Parochial
Ethnicity: Black (technically half-white/half-black, but I just put down African American)
Gender: Female
Income Bracket: Eh, not too high, not too low.
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): URM</p>
<p>Reflection
Strengths: Leadership and volunteer stuff? URM? Maybe even essays/recs?!? I really couldn’t tell you…maybe they just liked me, plain and simple.
Weaknesses: Scores, GPA, rank, and in OWN my opinion, essays.
Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: God is good!</p>