Overnight Visits and Interviews for High School Seniors

Rice has calendar spots open for overnight visits and on campus interviews for high school seniors. Currently there are spots open in September-November for overnights and September-early December for interviews. Sign up soon as the spots fill quickly. https://riceadmission.rice.edu/portal/visit-overnight https://riceadmission.rice.edu/portal/interview-oncampus

@Houston1021 - a question about the visits and demonstrated interest. We are in NorthEast and visiting is not easy (time and cost etc) - we did attend a local admission event of Rice (AO’s were here presenting standard admission presentation material). Is attending a local event can show enough demonstrated interest or a physical visit off the campus is still advised? any thoughts/anecdotes ?
TIA

Rice is looking for students who are genuinely interested in enrolling. If there is a Rice event in your area, or if a Rice representative comes to your school, definitely attend. The on campus interviews and overnights for seniors are a viable option for some people. Local or nearby applicants probably face stricter scrutiny if they don’t take advantage of these things. However if you are a long distance away, I doubt Rice will hold it against you if you don’t personally visit the campus. Once the applications are in, Rice will set up interviews with local alumni in your area. Be sure to request an interview timely as those spots also fill up.

While I wouldn’t recommend it, my daughter is a current incoming freshman and showed little interest prior to actually applying. The decision to apply was a somewhat last minute one. We had not visited and Rice does not visit where we live. She did request an interview when she applied (but did not get one). I have heard that schools will sometimes track if the kids open emails that are sent and see if they click links, etc, maybe she did that and it helped? My suggestion though would be if you can’t visit, attend any events Rice holds near your home, request an interview when you apply and be sure your child opens and reads emails sent from Rice. Good luck!

The entire point of gauging demonstrated interest is to discover whether students are willing to come when it is not easy to do so. That way Rice can get a handle on whether they are actually your first choice, which for a variety of reasons makes it somewhat more attractive from Rice’s point of view to offer admission. It makes no difference whatsoever whether you take 10 seconds to open emails or click links, but it matters a little bit if you devote several hours to an information session and matters somewhat more if you devote a couple of days to an in-person visit.

However please understand that demonstrated interest is only one of numerous factors that go into the admissions process and is much less important than people sometimes make it sound. Plenty of current students were accepted without doing a thing to “demonstrate interest.”

The overnight and interview spots for September are almost all filled. There are still some overnight spots for October and November and on campus interview spots for October-December. If you are thinking about signing up for these opportunities, act quickly to have the most choices before the spots fill up…

@Houston1021 I have a question about the interviews, do you have to submit your application in order to be able to schedule an interview

@aliceyg017 For on-campus interviews, no.

My daughter interviewed on campus before she submitted her application. The on campus interview slots for this fall appear to be filled already. Rice will try to set up an interview with an alumni in your area. You will receive priority for an interview if you complete your application and request an interview by Nov. 3 if applying early decision and by December 17 if applying regular decision. Interview slots may fill up, so it is best to get your application in and request an interview as soon as possible. For alumni interviews you have to complete your application and receive an online applicant portal from Rice before you can access the portal to request the alumni interview.
.https://admission.rice.edu/apply/freshman/interviews

Keep checking back for on campus interview openings in case Rice has some cancellations. Today for example there are openings on October 3 and 17 that weren’t there earlier this weekend. The openings will likely fill up fast. https://riceadmission.rice.edu/portal/interview-oncampus

@Houston1021 This might be a dumb question, but should I request an off-campus interview if I have already done an on-campus one?

That is a good question. If you have already done an on campus interview, you are fine. The alumni interviews are for folks that haven’t already interviewed on campus.

As the ED application deadline nears, be aware that in order to get the best consideration for scheduling of an alumni interview, you should complete your application and request an interview by Nov. 3 if applying early decision and by December 17 if applying regular decision. On campus interview slots are filled. Alumni interview slots may also fill up, so it is best to get your application in and request an interview as soon as possible.

For alumni interviews you have to complete your application and receive an online applicant portal from Rice before you can access the portal to request the alumni interview.
.https://admission.rice.edu/apply/freshman/interviews

@Houston1021 - this is our first time applying for a top reach school. S is applying RD, taking the math 2 SAT subject test in Dec. The interview part is all new too; can you explain a bit on how that works? kid is 1000 miles from rice . . . (Our GC is super sweet, but hasn’t helped with guidance for this school at all.)

Are you talking about the alum interviews? My daughter didn’t have one with Rice (applied too late) but did have several with other schools. How it typically works is if an alum in your area is available your child will be contacted by them to set up a time and place to meet. I think my daughter had 3 and they all took place in coffee shops near us. They were all a little different but in general they usually had a few questions for her and it was a great opportunity for her to ask questions to them about the school and their experience there. She briefly saw the form the interviewer was filling out from one school and the focus seemed to be whether or my daughter seemed truly interested in the school.

I have heard different things about these interviews but it’s my impression that in most cases they don’t matter that much in the admission process. I think if a kid was rude and disinterested it might make a difference but beyond that I don’t know how much weight they hold in the process. I think it’s basically a chance for the kids to show interest and get their questions answered AND for the schools to keep their alumni engaged.

My daughter usually brought along a “resume” to the interview because the interviewers don’t really know much about the kids. I don’t remember if she offered it to them all the time or had it handy to offer them if they seemed to want it and to give them something to talk about if needed. She came prepared with a list of questions she had for them. And she always sent them an email thanking them after the interview. I don’t think all kids do all these things but she did have one interviewer tell her she was much more prepared than most. For my quiet daughter being prepared helped her feel more in control and less nervous going in.

Oh, and if your son doesn’t get an interview, don’t read anything into it. It really is just a matter of alumni availability. There seemed to be no relation to whether my daughter got an interview and whether she was accepted. And this held true for her friends too.

Good luck!

Thanks @PrdMomto1. That is very helpful information. Perhaps some Rice alumni that have done interviews such as @Faulkner1897 can chime in. From what I understand, if the student requests an interview and there are Rice alumni in the area, the school will attempt to arrange an interview. It is pretty much first come first served. Therefore, requesting an interview as early as possible is a plus for the applicant. I have heard Rice may set up Skype interviews for those in remote areas and/or areas without many alumni.

I haven’t interviewed for Rice in a few years, but the process works just as @PrdMomto1 describes. Her tips are spot on as well! My daughter always brought a resume to her interviews, and sometimes the interviewer used it as a launching point for conversation.

I am not sure how much Rice interviews count in the process, but they definitely show demonstrated interest, which is important to Rice. If possible, I would suggest for students to get their applications in by the date recommended (from the Rice website: students who complete their application by Dec. 15 and request an off-campus interview by Dec. 17 will receive priority consideration for interview matching).

Interviewers are looking for tangible evidence that students are better candidates than the materials received by the admissions office would suggest. If you are able to demonstrate that during the interview, then the interviewer’s impressions become part of the student’s file and could potentially slightly improve admissions prospects. It can also work the other way if the interviewer concludes you exaggerated your positives or underplayed some negatives. In that case the interviewer’s impressions also become part of the student’s file but in a way that is not as helpful.

Bottom line, interviews have their place (especially in situations like @PrdMomto1 where the student would benefit from hearing the perspective of a former student) but it isn’t generally a good idea to schedule one just because you hope “checking the interview box” will give you “extra credit” in the admissions process.

I brought a resume, and my interviewer didn’t look at it for very long but she did use the back to take notes.