<p>@blankk: No, you’ll be okay as long as you’re D-free. This is information from a Rice admissions counselor specifically.</p>
<p>@chess2520: There’s a thread about this, but I used a picture from a Japanese math textbook. Guess they didn’t get it. Actually, now that I think about it, neither do I.</p>
<p>@ emberjed
Fewer than 1/16? Huh? That’s really what they said?</p>
<p>@emberjed - your reasoning might be true. Rice is often unheard of in other countries, and it’s probably trying to draw in more attention. But I stand by the fact that it wants to maintain a small class size (see my prev post) to create that close-knit community it’s well-known for. </p>
<p>And don’t worry, I think your attitude is normal. When MIT releases decisions, many question why Amos Bhave (dont know if I got his name right) got in and many of the well-qualified medalists didn’t - but it turned out that his interesting contributions to MIT’s edX course really impressed the adcoms. Who knows, maybe his essays also offer a lot of things that outshine other applicants. In the end, it’s really much about the abstract chemistry between the institution and the applicant.</p>
<p>But I’m glad you’re being human, lol.</p>
<p>Decision: Rejected </p>
<p>Objective:• SAT I (breakdown): 2300; Math (760), CR (750), Writing (790)
• ACT (breakdown):
• ACT superscore (breakdown):
• SAT II: Math 2 (740), Physics (710), History (780)
• Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.58
• Weighted GPA:
• Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): n/a
• AP (place score in parentheses): Calc BC (5), APUSH (5), Eng Lang & Comp (5)
• IB (place score in parentheses):
• Senior Year Course Load: Vector Calculus, Physics E&M, French Lit, Economics, Advanced level English and History classes (took hardest classes my school offered)
• Number of other applicants in your school: I don’t know
• Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): </p>
<p>Subjective:• Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses):
• Job/Work Experience: Summer science internship, Summer engineering program
• Volunteer/Community service: Volunteer teacher for summer
• Athletics: On several sports teams all four years
• Clubs: Newspaper, started another club</p>
<p>Writing (Write a brief description and Rate Quality on 1-10 Scale; 10 as Best):• Essays (Include Subjects):
• Common App Main: 9/10 - A warm and interesting piece
• Rice Supplement: 8/10 - Thought it was pretty good - maybe a little rambling
• Teacher Recommendation #1: Didn’t read it - am assuming it was great
• Teacher Recommendation #2: Didn’t read it - am assuming it was good
• Counselor Rec: Didn’t read it - am assuming it was great
• Additional Rec:
• Art Supplement:
• Research Supplement: </p>
<p>Other• Date Submitted App: mid-December
• State (if domestic applicant): MA
• Country (if international applicant):
• School Type: Private
• Ethnicity: Caucasian
• Gender: F
• Income Bracket: High
• Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None</p>
<p>Reflection• Strengths:
• Weaknesses: GPA low but school has grade compression
• Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: Didn’t visit so that may have been a factor. Who knows!
• Where else have you been accepted/deferred/rejected: Accepted at CMU, others still coming in
• What would you have done differently?:[/list]Other Factors: Visting may have helped, but it’s hard to justify flying to Houston when you’re not sure the school is really interested in you.<br>
General Comments/Congratulations/Venting/Commiserations, etc: Surprised I got an outright rejection. I’m from the Northeast so I thought that would help. Not too disappointed as I have other great options already!</p>
<p>Decision: Waitlisted</p>
<p>Objective: SAT I (breakdown): 2360; Math (790) CR (770) Writing (800)
ACT (breakdown): 36; English (36) Math (36) Reading (36) Science (36)
ACT superscore (breakdown):
SAT II: Math 2 (800), World History (800) US History (800) Language Arts (800) Biology (790) Chemistry (780)
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.96
Weighted GPA: 4.79
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 2/676
AP (place score in parentheses): Calc BC (5), APUSH (5), World History (5) Chemistry (3)
IB (place score in parentheses): IB Spanish (6) IB Art (5)
Senior Year Course Load: IB Theory of Knowledge (1st semester only), IB History of the Americas, IB Language Arts, Physics Honors, AP Government and Economics, IB Math, AP Biology
Number of other applicants in your school: Only one -> most people didn’t even know what Rice was because they only applied to local schools and Ivy Leagues
Major Awards: Golden State Distinction, National Merit, MVP Inland Soccer</p>
<p>Subjective: Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses):
Job/Work Experience: Part-Time at Toys R Us
Volunteer/Community: Assistant Coach for youth, Corona Regional Medical Hospital, Lifeguard
Athletics: Varsity Soccer for 4 years and Club soccer for 13 years.
Clubs: Make A Wish Club president, FBLA VP - Also made state all 4 years, Mock Trial Captain, Environmental Club, Red Cross, UNICEF</p>
<p>Writing (Write a brief description and Rate Quality on 1-10 Scale; 10 as Best): Essays (Include Subjects):
Common App Main: 10/10 - I though it was good -> wrote about my culture and how it looks down at women and how that motivated me
Rice Supplement: 9/10 - Thought it was pretty good
Teacher Recommendation #1: Didn’t read it - am assuming it was good
Teacher Recommendation #2: Didn’t read it - am assuming it was good
Counselor Rec: Read it, seemed great to me
Additional Rec:
Art Supplement:
Research Supplement: </p>
<p>Other Date Submitted App: end December
State (if domestic applicant): CA
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Gender: F
Income Bracket: High
Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None</p>
<p>Reflection Strengths: GPA, Test Scores, Essays
Weaknesses: probably my EC
Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: Didn’t visit so that may have been a factor. Who knows!
Where else have you been accepted/deferred/rejected: Accepted at UCR, UCI, UCSD, UCLA, CMU, Brandeis, Bryn Mawr, Northeastern, Northwestern, Wellesley, RPI; Waitlisted at Villanova; Rejected from American, George Mason, and George Washington -> I think DC hates me
What would you have done differently?:
[/list]Other Factors: Visting may have helped, but it’s hard to justify flying to Houston when you’re not sure the school is really interested in you.
General Comments/Congratulations/Venting/Commiserations, etc: Surprised I got a waitlist, but it’s Rice. Could have been worse. I still have Northwestern and waiting on alot more.</p>
<p>I’ve already said my decision, but I can elaborate more on my credentials.</p>
<p>Decision: Rejected </p>
<p>Objective:
• SAT I (breakdown): 2230; Math (710), CR (740), Writing (780)
• ACT (breakdown): 34; English (35), Math (34), Reading (32), Science (35)
• ACT superscore (breakdown): 35; English (35), Math (36), Reading (32), Science (35)
• SAT II: Math 1 (730), Lit (730), Math 2 (780), Japanese (620 - ouch)
• Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.73 when I applied; 3.70 after first semester
• Weighted GPA: 4.41 when I applied; 4.48 after first semester
• Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): Around 100 out of 850 or so, but I go to a competitive school
• AP (place score in parentheses): Psych (5), Lang (4)
• IB (place score in parentheses): None
• Senior Year Course Load: AP Eng Lit, AP Comp Sci, AP Gov, AP Calc BC, AP Physics C (Mech and E&M), Japanese 4 Honors, Acting (was going to be a student teacher for a class related to my major, but it shrunk to one period so I had to switch into the only class available or take a study hall - I explained this to Rice)
• Number of other applicants in your school: Only one that I know of
• Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): National Merit Semi/Finalist, a couple of standardized test-related state awards, a Japanese-related local award</p>
<p>Subjective:
• Extracurriculars (place leadership in parentheses):
• Job/Work Experience: Paperboy, taught at computer/architecture summer camp, tutored in Japanese and math for a while, created and published my own video games
• Volunteer/Community service: None
• Athletics: Cross-Country for two years (not varsity)
• Clubs: Video Game Development Club (President), Physics Club (Co-President), a few other clubs</p>
<p>Writing (Write a brief description and Rate Quality on 1-10 Scale; 10 as Best):
• Essays (Include Subjects):
• Common App Main: 8/10 - Well-written but perhaps questionably relevant
• Rice Supplement: 8/10 - To-the-point and clear but, now that I think about it, not all that interesting, at least in style
• Teacher Recommendation #1: Saw an early version of it and it was wonderful
• Teacher Recommendation #2: Saw an early version of it and it was good
• Counselor Rec: Never read it, but I submitted extensive materials for her to use when writing it, and she updated me periodically on how it was going
• Additional Rec: None
• Art Supplement: None
• Research Supplement: None</p>
<p>Other
• Date Submitted App: January 2? (whatever the deadline was)
• State (if domestic applicant): IL
• Country (if international applicant): None
• School Type: Public
• Ethnicity: Not specified
• Gender: M
• Income Bracket: Upper-middle class
• Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None</p>
<p>Reflection
• Strengths: Types of extracurriculars, standardized tests, recommendations, essays
• Weaknesses: Class rank, GPA, depth of extracurriculars, number of AP tests already taken (my school’s curriculum makes it difficult to take AP classes early on, though many are offered, giving the impression that none of us are being rigorous)
• Why you think you were accepted/deferred/rejected: I was competing for a spot in a small top engineering program (I applied as a CS major) and just wasn’t engineering-y enough of an applicant.
• Where else have you been accepted/deferred/rejected: Accepted at UIUC, Miami OH, and Kentucky; deferred at Michigan
• What would you have done differently?: Done some kind of research (I actually had the opportunity a while ago but just not the time) and pushed to get better grades in a couple of my classes this year.
• General Comments/Congratulations/Venting/Commiserations, etc: Honestly, I’m starting to think it was inevitable that I’d be rejected. But damn, I’d hoped for at least a waitlisting.</p>
<p>@LakeClouds
Dang, I’m surprised you got rejected. I’d think northeast usually does help (did with me) but MA is just such a good state educationally.</p>
<p>@centennial13
Your waitlist and rejections surprise me so much… Glad you got into northwestern though. I know weak candidates who got into American and GW and much stronger ones who didn’t. Yield protection(?). Either way unfortunate. This whole process is really dumb</p>
<p>anyone want to post the RD decisions thread?
i remember finding a template that didn’t have any of the tedious spaces. anyone have a pastebin link to it or something?</p>
<p>Decision: Accepted</p>
<p>Objective:[ul]
[<em>] SAT I (breakdown): 2210 (660 M, 800 CR, 750 W)
[</em>] ACT: 34 (33 E, 31 S, 34 M, 36 R, 12 essay)
[<em>] SAT II: 790 Lit, 740 Spanish w/Reading, 620 Math II (did not send)
[</em>] Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.97
[<em>] Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): School does not rank; top quartile
[</em>] AP (place score in parenthesis): Euro (5), Lang (5), Enviro (5), Spanish (5), Gov (5), Music Theory (4, did not send)
[<em>] IB (place score in parenthesis): N/A
[</em>] Senior Year Course Load: AP Lit, AP Micro, AP US, Calc AB, Advanced/Honors Physics, Forensics, Newspaper
[<em>] Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): NMF, AP Scholar with Honor, Top 8 nationally in my speech event
[/ul]Subjective:[ul]
[</em>] Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Speech and debate (team captain of an event/debate, 10th at CFL nationals, one of 8 students invited to a tournament in my events, 2x state qualifier, 2x NFL nationals qualifier, NFL All American, Degree of Premier Distinction, lots of local awards - attached a sheet with extra info), Journalism (school newspaper Web EIC, EIC of teen page of local paper, member of panel of local student journalists), Mock Trial (A-team), NHS, Link Crew (did not note on application)
[<em>] Job/Work Experience: private tutor
[</em>] Volunteer/Community service: NHS, Link Crew
[<em>] Summer Activities: Internship with high-profile Senate campaign, state summer honors academy, NCFL nationals, private tutoring
[</em>] Essays: Everyone who read them liked them and I was very happy with how they turned out. Spent a ton of time on them.
[<em>] Teacher Recommendation: Should’ve been above average, but nothing incredibly special.
[</em>] Counselor Rec: He knows me pretty well, so fairly good, I assume.
[<em>] Additional Rec: N/A
[</em>] Interview: N/A
[/ul]Other[ul]
[<em>] State (if domestic applicant): Midwest
[</em>] Country (if international applicant): USA
[<em>] School Type: Competitive public
[</em>] Ethnicity: White
[<em>] Gender: Female
[</em>]Income Bracket: 250K+
[<em>] Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): None
[/ul]Reflection[ul]
[</em>] Strengths: I think speech and debate was the strongest part of my app, along with my essays.
[<em>] Weaknesses: No really huge national awards.
[</em>] Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: Mostly my academic record, combined with extracurricular involved.
[li] Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: attending USC (full tuition + yearly 5K stipend), Duke (likely letter), Emory (13K), Oxford College at Emory (half tuition), waiting on Princeton and Vandy[/li][/ul]General Comments: Happy to get in even though I won’t be going. Waiting to see merit aid, out of curiosity. Congrats to everyone else who got in!</p>
<p>Posting for my son</p>
<p>Decision: Rejected</p>
<p>Objective:
•SAT I: did not submit
•ACT: 30
•SAT II: did not submit
•Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.83
•Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): top 10%
•AP (place score in parenthesis): did not submit (he is in the full IB diploma program)
•IB (place score in parenthesis): will take exams in May- estimated score around 40
•Senior Year Course Load: IB Math SL, IB Bio HL, IB Psych HL, IB English SL, IB Music HL, TOK
•Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): State recognition in Latin Forum</p>
<p>Subjective:
•Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis): Biggest EC is his position as Young Adult Representative of Patient Advocacy Committe of the North American Thrombosis Forum (NATF), a national nonprofit organization; Latin Club (VP Academics), Central Florida Deep Venous Thrombosis/Pulmonary Embolism Support Group (Founder and President)
•Job/Work Experience: Summer internship with NATF in Boston
•Volunteer/Community service: over 500 hours
•Summer Activities: Summer internship in Boston
•Essays: Made some of his teachers cry- described how, despite his own medical problems, he has helped his autistic brother with his therapies and what impact autism has had
•Teacher Recommendation: Excellent; his math teacher showed us the letter (although my son had waived his rights to see them) and wrote that he had never met any student with such passion in 25 years of teaching
•Counselor Rec: Excellent (likely)- she has known my son for 10 years
•Additional Rec: Letter of rec from a world-renowned Cardiologist at Harvard Medical School
•Interview: Had a great interview with Alum
•State (if domestic applicant): FL
•Country (if international applicant):
•School Type: Private, IB Program (son is doing full IB diploma)
•Ethnicity: Asian, Indian
•Gender: Male
•Income Bracket: $500000
•Hooks (URM, first generation college, etc.): my son is only one of 4 seniors in the country with a rare medical condition (about 100 in the world). He has been so involved with patient care advocacy and is working with two hospital to educate physicians about the dangers of blood clots.
Reflection
•Strengths: His “story”; IB diploma
•Weaknesses: ACT score
•Why you think you were accepted/waitlisted/rejected: His ACT score was his weakest part; I realize that I am biased, but my son impresses nearly everyone with his poise and composure despite his health issues, which nearly killed him twice. He is able to portray how he has overcome adversity and how he will continue patient care advocacy in the future. I really believe that this was the distinguishing factor. His ACT score certainly did not separate him from the crowd. He really thought that the ADCOM would look at his overall candidacy, but he is not bitter.
•Where else were you accepted/waitlisted/rejected: accepted to University of Michigan, Boston College, UNC Chapel Hill, University of Florida, WUSTL, Emory. Wait listed at UVA. Rejected at Duke and Northwestern. Awaiting decisions from Vanderbilt, Johns Hopkins, Brown, Penn, Yale, and Harvard
General Comments: A bit surprised he didn’t get in. He was able to portray how his unique qualities would add to the school. Oh well, as many of know, it’s a random process. Good luck to all of you. My son is OK and knows that Rice’s loss will be some other school’s big gain.</p>
<p>I think 1/16 could make sense if by that they meant they have a spot in their class for 1 out of every 16 people that applied. I think I heard that their yield is around 40% which would put their acceptance rate around 15.6 if this is true. Then again, I’m only going off of assumptions.</p>
<br>
<br>
<p>WAT</p>
<p>nvm 10char</p>
<p>Who else here is going/considering Owl Days?</p>
<p>I’m going to owl days.</p>
<p>I’m going to Owl Days</p>
<p>From Rice admissions:
</p>
<p>Accepted!</p>
<p>Major: Not sure… Chem/Biochem?</p>
<p>Objective:
SAT I (breakdown): CR - 760, M - 750, W - 680
SAT II: Math Level I - 740, Math Level II - 780, Chemistry - 800, US History - 770
ACT: 34 (Math 35, Science 35, English 33, Reading 34
Unweighted GPA: 97.04
Weighted: 99.87
Rank (percentile if rank is unavailable): 3rd out of 280
ELC? (For UCs):
AP (place score in parenthesis): AP Chem (5), AP US History (5), AP European History (5)
Senior Year Course Load: AP English Literature, AP Physics B, AP Spanish Language, AP Calculus BC, AP Government/AP Macroeconomics
Major Awards (USAMO, Intel etc.): Intel Semifinalist, Siemens Semifinalist, AP Scholar with distinction, National Merit Commendation. </p>
<p>Subjective:
Extracurriculars (place leadership in parenthesis):
Music and Tri-M Music Honor Society - (Vice President) I played in all of the orchestras in my school, the school orchestra, chamber, string ensemble, pit, and played in a couple regional ones like All County or LISFA (Long Island). For Tri-M, we held community recitals to raise money for members of our community like those affected by Sandy.
National Honor Society - (President) We held peer tutoring sessions on a weekly basis, raised money for Sandy victims, and helped with some parenting seminar by looking after 100+ kids while parents attended the lecture.
Key Club - (Treasurer) Blood Drives, raised money for Sandy victims (this is a reoccurring theme this year lol), Relay for Life, etc.
Yearbook - Pretty obvious lol
A couple others but my involvement was pretty meh.
Job/Work Experience: None
Volunteer/Community service: Minimal
Personal Statement: This is the one on the common app right? I wrote about growing up in a conservative Asian household with parents on the verge of divorce while struggling with my own insecurities being homosexual, and then finding companionship, trust, and eventually acceptance in my friends, my brother, and my research mentor. It was written well, but the idea has been rehashed 10231201 times so… idk. I was just… honest. Worked out I guess.
Essays: I wrote about my daily commute to a university during the summer to do research and my experiences during this four hour commute. I was actually pretty satisfied with this one, even though I did it in like 20 minutes.</p>
<p>Other
Applied for Financial Aid?: Yes.
State (if domestic applicant): Long Island, New York
Country (if international applicant):
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Asian
Gender: M
Income Bracket: > $100,000
Hooks (URM, first generation college, research, etc.): Published two papers, presented research at a couple professional research societies, got a patent and applying for a second one. </p>
<p>Reflection -
Strengths: Research… everything else is pretty meh
Weaknesses: SATs/ACTs. I should have studied instead of winging it.
General Comments: I’m pretty satisfied. Waitlists are annoying, but whatever. I realized I had an overinflated view of myself once I looked at some other people’s stats. I definitely could have done better for my GPA and testing wise, but I’m kind of lazy lol.</p>
<p>Accepted ED (a little late on the uptake, but no biggie)</p>
<p>Major: Chemical/Mechanical Engineering</p>
<p>Objective:
SAT I: CR - 760, M - 780, W - 800
SAT II: Math Level II - 770, Physics - 760
ACT: did not submit
Weighted: 4.28
Rank: School does not publish rankings
AP: AP US History (5), AP European History (5)
Senior Year Course Load: Drawing, Faith and Fulfillment, Creative Writing, AP Calculus BC, AP Econ Micro/Macro, AP Physics C, Latin IV
Major Awards: National Latin Exam Summa/Maxima Cum Laude, National Merit Finalist </p>
<p>Subjective:
Extracurriculars: Hockey Team JV Frosh-Soph (Assistant Captain Soph), V Junior-Senior
Disc Golf Club Co-founder and president Junior-Senior
Latin Club PR Officer 11-12; Consul (co-president) 11-12; Praetor (charitable works head) 12-13
Certamen (Latin Oral Competition) lower division 10-11, upper division 11-12
Band - Concert band '09-'10, Symphonic band '10-'11, marching and pep band throughout
Job/Work Experience: grade-school janitor/maintenance staff 10; country club halfway house staff 11; YMCA summer camp counselor 12; switchboard operator 11-13
Volunteer/Community service: altar server, thurifer, and prefect at nearby abbey 10-13; various work through high schools Outreach program (Feed My Starving Children, local nursing home, etc.)</p>
<p>Common App:
Short Answer: I wrote about the peace and calm of a disc golf course and how that tranquility affects my outlook on life.
Personal: I covered my experience as a janitor the summer after freshman year and how I came to appreciate the hard work and determination of those who work as janitors or other similarly dirty work. I in turn showed how I myself applied this determination to my own studies and goals.</p>
<p>Rice Supplemental:</p>
<h1>1 As a hopeful engineering major, I described how I dream of revolutionizing the world of nuclear power and perhaps even putting the world grid on sources of nuclear generation.</h1>
<h1>2 Just the usual shtick that I presume all people had: campus is beautiful, the facilities are great, etc. The one thing I do feel was different was that I noted that Rice offers plenty of opportunities for education outside ones major, and I noted that I could easily pursue my interests in Russian language and creative writing at Rice.</h1>
<h1>3 This one was a doozie, and I was very worried that it would hurt my chances of acceptance. To summarize, I wrote this one on how, with the help of my freshman biology teacher and good friend (a Benedictine monk), I was able to reconcile my strong sense of faith (I follow Roman Catholicism) and the world of science. I turned this around to my hopes that I can help create more tolerance for religion in the scientific world and ease the mental stress of people also struggling with faith and science, especially considering that Rice students are very open-minded and like to think in new ways.</h1>
<p>Other
Applied for Financial Aid? : No
State: IL
School Type: Private (religiously affiliated)
Ethnicity: European
Gender: M
Income Bracket: > $100,000</p>
<p>Strengths: Test scores in combination with lots of interests outside of the typical academic stuff (well-rounded and all that jazz).
Weaknesses: Probably my SAT IIs. According the accounts of graduated seniors, it seems like an 800 in Math II is expected, and for a potential engineer, a 760 in Physics is not the most shining achievement. A little short in the awards department, but Im not one to actively seek competition for fear of falling flat.</p>
<p>@achen022 Will you be accepting the offer?</p>