<p>Does applying RD really make it harder to get in than ID? They SAY there's no difference, but I find that kind of hard to believe, esp. because of the HUGE difference between the people they accept ED and the rest of the pool.<br>
I know my friend got in to Rice with a 1290 SAT and only 1 AP test (which he got a 3 on, and his school offered a lot of APs), and wasn't an athlete either. Another friend is like...55 in a class of 600 with mediocre (1300-1400 ish) SATs and no leadership, but got in ED. </p>
<p>UGH. Makes me really mad.</p>
<p>If you look at the statistics up on Rice's website there is a lower percentage of people accepted from the RD pool.</p>
<p>Interim Decision is like Early Action at many schools. And generally, the Early Action pools are far more competitive than the Early Decision pools. Believe me, Rice has no need to take weak kids from the ID pool, because there are plenty of very strong kids that they can take from that particular pool.Rice will have no shortage of 1500+/4.0 kids to accept in their ID pool.</p>
<p>On the other hand, weaker kids know that they have to commit themselves to a school ED if they want to get into a statistical reach. This is particularly true with schools like WUSTL, who aggressively use ED to boost their yield. I'm going to say that Rice is no exception. Duke has openly admitted that students who commit will have an advantage. The RD pools for all of these schools, however, are full of 1500+/4.0 kids, all vying for a spot because they may not have gotten in EA.</p>
<p>1500+/4.0 students typically will not make an ED committment to a school below the top 10 in terms of prestige. This is purely by my observation, but I tend to think it's true. These students are not hard-pressed to bind themselves to a school for fear that no other school will want to take a risk on them, because chances are that they will have a nice number of RD acceptances to choose from. These are the students that typically choose Harvard, Yale and Stanford EASC plans. HYS will end up choosing who they feel are the most interesting, most motivated, most passionate and most accomplished kids from this pool. However, many kids that get deferred EASC from HYS would have been easily taken ED to some of the Ivies, Rice or Duke.</p>
<p>Just my take on it.</p>
<p>Joey</p>
<p>This is disheartening. I wish all the HYS applicants looking to Rice for a nice match would all just go away! I hate to think of an abundance of 1500+ AND 4.0 applicants in the Rice RD pool, but I guess that's how it goes. It's all downhill from here.</p>
<p>i feel the same way boethian!! some ppl just apply to rice just to get the acceptance letter for their ego...so sad...some ppl that applied and got accepted dont even want to go to rice...but hey...if i get accepted then i got accepted..</p>
<p>Yeah, I don't really like the idea of people doing that either. Especially people who got accepted to their EA school, and KNOW FOR SURE they want to go there, and then decide they won't withdraw their app because they just want to see if they can get another acceptance letter to boost their ego.</p>
<p>I would rather someone who really wanted to go and was passionate about the school to get accepted than someone who wanted a self-esteem boost.</p>
<p>The size of the class Rice is going to take isn't going to change. If enough people get in and choos not to go, then Rice will draw from the waitlist to cover the difference. Those kids aren't decreasing your chances of ultimately getting accepted.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Yeah, I don't really like the idea of people doing that either. Especially people who got accepted to their EA school, and KNOW FOR SURE they want to go there, and then decide they won't withdraw their app because they just want to see if they can get another acceptance letter to boost their ego.</p>
<p>I would rather someone who really wanted to go and was passionate about the school to get accepted than someone who wanted a self-esteem boost.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Completely agreed.</p>
<p>If someone gets into an Early Action school, I believe that that person should withdraw any applications to schools that they are not seriously considering. In other words, if you've been admitted to Harvard Early Action, if Yale and Princeton are the only other schools you're seriously considering, please, only keep those applications in. I believe that this is the gracious thing to do.</p>
<p>I know that all sorts of comments can be made to the effect that Early Action does not obligate a student to do anything, and that colleges have a yield. However, it CAN significantly hurt other students at your school. A college can only take a limited number of students from a school, especially a public school ... there are no strict quotas, but tacit limits do exist. Therefore, a HYSM EA admit may be taking up a space from his classmates at his high school by applying to colleges that he would have been considering were they not admitted to their EA choice, but that now have fallen off his radar screen. From a public school, Duke (just as an example) usually cannot take the legacy, the athlete, the 3 HYPS EA admits, and the 3 other students that are admit-caliber, but simply do not fit in considering the tacit limit for the high school. Someone loses, and it usually is the highly qualified but not quite HYPS student that is stinted.</p>
<p>Joey</p>
<p>
[quote]
This is disheartening. I wish all the HYS applicants looking to Rice for a nice match would all just go away! I hate to think of an abundance of 1500+ AND 4.0 applicants in the Rice RD pool, but I guess that's how it goes. It's all downhill from here.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>If it's bad for the RD pool, I bet it's even worse for the ID pool. Consider this: candidates for the Rice/Baylor Medical Scholars program are required to apply ED or ID. Usually, someone of the caliber admitted to the Med Scholars program will want to keep his options open, and does not feel the need to bind himself to an ED program. He knows he will be competitive even in the ID pool. This student will also want to hear early, which gives ID an added plus.</p>
<p>Notice how when Yale switched from ED to EA(SC), its number of early applications shot up 40%. It also reported a record quality in EA admits. It's exactly the same thing - while the most clearly qualified students did not feel a need to bind themselves to Yale ED, when they were able to apply EA(SC), they did so in droves.</p>
<p>Joey</p>
<p>Ack, then I guess I'm being compared with a lot of very competitive people that don't want to bind themselves to any school. Anyway, I can see their logic in doing so because that's kind of why I didn't apply ED to Rice.</p>
<p>in regards to withdrawing applications based on getting into your first choice EA school, i disagree. I do not believe in leaving yourself only one option down the line because you might miss out of scholarship opportunities, or just flat out change your mind. I am sure that there are some ego cases where the HYSM EA admit will absolutely never consider another school. Then they should withdrawl. But I for one did not want to bind myself to a school (wouldnt have applied MIT ED if they had that option) and if i withdraw my Rice app then i would be, in effect, binding myself. People change their minds, we do not always know exactly what we want. If you are actually considering a school, even slightly, then there is no reason to withdrawl. who knows, maybe when i visit Rice it will completely win me over and i will choose it. if i had withdrawn though, i wouldnt have even visited it and end up at the wrong place. </p>
<p>boethian, it is unfair to tell people to just go away because they got into HYPM EA. if you dont get in, it is not because of ego seeking people, it is because someone else deserved it more in the application readers' minds. Even if the stupid ego seeking applicants get in, they wont go, and the spots will be filled by the next best person who actually wants to attend until the class is full. So if you end up not getting in, someone who wants to go and is a little more qualified or who fits better will be the one attending. The HYSM EA egoists wont be in your spot, so what is the problem? yes it is annoying, but their applications arent the ones denying you a spot in the end.</p>
<p>oh gosh...i dont know how to feel anymore...<em>cries</em>..oh gosh!</p>
<p>
[quote]
in regards to withdrawing applications based on getting into your first choice EA school, i disagree. I do not believe in leaving yourself only one option down the line because you might miss out of scholarship opportunities, or just flat out change your mind. I am sure that there are some ego cases where the HYSM EA admit will absolutely never consider another school. Then they should withdrawl. But I for one did not want to bind myself to a school (wouldnt have applied MIT ED if they had that option) and if i withdraw my Rice app then i would be, in effect, binding myself. People change their minds, we do not always know exactly what we want. If you are actually considering a school, even slightly, then there is no reason to withdrawl. who knows, maybe when i visit Rice it will completely win me over and i will choose it. if i had withdrawn though, i wouldnt have even visited it and end up at the wrong place.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Hey, if you applied EA, and you're seriously considering Rice, no reason not to leave the application in. That's the idea of EA. But the idea of EA is NOT to get a whole stack of acceptances for prestigious schools that you're not considering.</p>
<p>My issue is with those who got in HYPS EA, and JUST DON'T CARE about other schools. Not considering them for any reason whatsoever. Just leaving their applications in out of pure arrogance. I'm sure you're not one of those people ... but they do exist.</p>
<p>Joey</p>
<p>gospurs, the mood of the thread I think carried my statement a little too far. I don't have a "problem" with HYS EA admits, in fact I was really referring to highly qualified HYS caliber students that end up in the RD pool. I don't think this is a bad thing and I don't blame anyone for not withdrawing in any case. However it seems unlikely that there would be very many purely arrogant applicants. Usually they border on "just because" applicants and even curious ones that don't feel they need to make the effort to withdraw. But if they are out there, I welcome the challenge. </p>
<p>Umm.. yeah I am totally bluffing.</p>
<p>As someone that was accepted to their "top" EA school, and is now applying to others (including rice), this thread hits a nerve with me. </p>
<p>All these debates you're going through are the same things I've gone through. How can I apply to school X, when I'm pretty sure I want to go to MIT? If accepted wouldn't I be stopping other people's chances? Why am I still applying?</p>
<p>First off, I'd like to state that the "well I already paid the application fee" or "I already did the app" argument is a worthless. Although thats true with me, thats not why I still applied. I believe that if you have no intention of going to school, it is your obligation to never give them the idea that you would consider it.</p>
<p>I can't speak for others, but every school I'm applying too has some unique aspect of it that I really admire, I almost wish I could go to all of them. I honestly believe there is a chance that if accepted I might go to Rice. If I had to put down a bet on what school I would go to, would it be Rice? Probably not. </p>
<p>Do I no longer have the right to apply to Rice because of my uncertain state? Does the fact that I'm unlikely to go to Rice revoke my right to apply there? I don't think so. Could I possibly be taking away a slot from others that REALLY want to go to Rice? Maybe, I hope not, and thats what EA/ID is for after all. Is it a possibility? Sadly, yes.</p>
<p>So maybe some people hate me for applying to a school I dont have a strong drive to attend, but I believe I still have the right to do so. I might visit, fall in love with Rice, and utterly detest MIT. It could happen. This has been a great dilemma for me, and Im not sure if Ive made the right decision; I challenge anyone to convince me otherwise.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I can't speak for others, but every school I'm applying too has some unique aspect of it that I really admire, I almost wish I could go to all of them. I honestly believe there is a chance that if accepted I might go to Rice. If I had to put down a bet on what school I would go to, would it be Rice? Probably not.</p>
<p>Do I no longer have the right to apply to Rice because of my uncertain state? Does the fact that I'm unlikely to go to Rice revoke my right to apply there? I don't think so. Could I possibly be taking away a slot from others that REALLY want to go to Rice? Maybe, I hope not, and thats what EA/ID is for after all. Is it a possibility? Sadly, yes.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I believe jprencipe and some other(s) stated quite clearly that it's the people who got into their EA school, know definitely and very positively that THEY ARE PLANNING ON GOING THERE, then they should withdraw their other applications. Then there are people like you and gospurs that are seriously considering other schools. Of course, by all means, keep your application in since you still might go to that college. If there's any chance you might change your mind, then it's only reasonable to keep your applications in. So I guess it was some other post that "hit a nerve" with you.</p>
<p>I think you miss understood my use of "hit a nerve".. I just meant to say it seems relevant to me, not that I found it offensive... Don't interpet it as such.</p>
<p>back on topic guys...per rice's website, the ID acceptance rate is around 28% and the RD rate is around 17%. Both have yields of around 33%. I think that this is due to a more competitive and informed applicant pool ID (kids who know enough about the process to get their apps in early), and due to that applying ID shows a certain degree of interest in the school, in my opinion. A lot of the shot-in-the-dark kids who have almost no chance at all (AI<4) probably apply RD anyways, not knowing the difference. If you're a competitive applicant, I'm sure it helps to apply early, but it doesn't quite get out of hand RD.</p>
<p>oh my gosh! i applied rd..i was supposed to apply ed but i was too sick [strep throat and fever from strep throat] to take my required test...i wanted to apply id but my counselor was being a punk [long story]...you cant trust anyone.
anywho, i dont have a chance!! oh my gosh! rice is so my top college..oh gosh! i hope they know that becasue i wrote two addtional essays and submited one of my journal entires..three to be exact..but short..oh gosh!!</p>
<p>Don't look back, wannabeariceowlgirl. I'm sure Rice will recognize your extremely strong interest, even if you didn't apply ED. After all, applying early is not the only measure of your interest in a school.</p>
<p>Joey</p>