Hello guys! Since I didn’t see a thread for this year’s applicants, here is one. There is one week left for the Nov. 1 deadline and less than two months for results to come out! Where are you all applying from?
My son submitted his ED application last week. It’s pretty nerve-wracking when I see all the amazingly high achievements listed on previous year’s official threads!
His ACT score is high (35), he has straight As, and his teacher recommendations are excellent. His essays/responses were spirited and funny (they went a bit viral around his school because they’re pretty unconventional).
His resume is not “well-rounded”; other than being a Student Council officer for four years, he has focused nearly 100% of his remaining time and energy on theater/drama (But, he does have a very full resume in that one focused area).
His big downfall will be his lack of AP classes. He is the sort of student who stubbornly refuses to take AP classes just to impress colleges and only took a few that truly interested him.
He’s from Houston and has low income (fee waiver). I’m not sure if that hurts or helps anything.
I’m very curious to see if a local kid with good ACT and highly-focused EC’s will end up getting accepted despite the lack of AP’s. I guess we’ll know mid-December!
@slhogan
How many APs did he take, and how many were offered? I don’t think he would be disadvantaged if there weren’t many offered.
Well-roundedness and AP classes will not matter to the committee as much as his ability to clearly and convincingly annunciate why Rice is his first choice. Those high test scores don’t hurt either!
The school offers 7 of the most popular AP classes, and he chose to enroll in 3-- Physics last year and English and Calculus this year. He didn’t want to take too many because he doesn’t have much time after school-- he has to work 20 hours/week at the local grocery store to help with family finances.
He’s also highly involved with community theater and has to barter a lot of time there to get free acting and singing lessons. Plus, he’s a student council officer and has a serious girlfriend and basically he’s a stubborn kid who refused to give up any of those things to spend time doing AP homework. I couldn’t even get him to study out of an ACT test prep book, so it’s fortunate that he did well anyway. (He’s generally a pretty smart kid, a Davidson Young Scholar).
He has his heart set on Rice because it’s our local university that he’s always admired plus he loves the Residential College system. We figure he has a shot with his high ACT score, but without all the AP’s, SAT 2’s, and super-impressive EC’s I see with other Rice applicants, I’m not sure he’ll get in. We’ll see!
In case he doesn’t get in, he’s also submitted applications to UTexas, Trinity, Southwest, and SMU (he wants to stay local).
Bro that’s utter bs were applying early decision after all
Hi. My son has also applied ED. He did an on campus interview which he felt went really well. I’m not sure what his chances are, but we are excited to try.
He took AP Calc AB/BC and he is doing AP stats and chem. He also has 6 years of French including two that are for college credit and some PLTW courses which he also earned college credit.
ACT 34
Hi. My daughter submitted her application and got a confirmation email from the Common App, but not from Rice, and she still needs to upload the “box” question. This must be done from an email link from Rice, which she has not yet received after submitting at 11 AM. What should we do? Thank you very much.
@Burke1 I submitted my application yesterday and it took one complete day for me to receive the Rice link to access the portal. If you submitted your application today, you should receive the link tomorrow. However, I would call Rice because tomorrow is Nov 2nd, and I’m not sure if they will allow you to submit “The Box” after the deadline.
A parent curious about what the chances are for my son.
ED 2022.
ACT 35
GPA: 3.85 (UW), 4.27 (W), top 10% of a large public high school in CA.
8 AP courses. AP Capstone with Seminar and Research.
Major applying: Biology, premed focus
National merit scholar semi-finalist
ECs: School bands for 6+ years, county honor bands, music clubs playing at senior centers, volunteering abroad 2 summers, other volunteer hours: 100+.
State: CA
Ethnicity: Indian American
Gender: Male
I appreciate your input.
I’d say his chances are excellent. He would be a great addition to the MOB (Marching Owl Band) at Rice.
Hi everyone!
I’m from Houston
My SAT score is 1180.
Top 25% in my class.
Major: Political Science
Well rounded resume with 5 internships relating to my future career- Lawyer
A lot of leaderships roles.
Created my own fundraiser to assist Syrian Refugees.
Lead a humanitarian aid to Istanbul, Turkey
I haven’t submitted my application yet, but do you guys think I have a chance of being admitted?
Thank you @Houston1021! That’s reassuring. He fell in love with Rice when we visited it - hope he gets through. Wish they tell him now so he can stop spending time on college apps! 
@jayparent Your son’s grades and scores are excellent… A 35 is at the upper end of the range of last year’s admits. https://futureowls.rice.edu/futureowls/Freshman_Profile.asp It may help a bit to be from a state other than Texas. Good Luck to your son. One of my daughter’s high school classmates was admitted ED and plays percussion in the MOB. My daughter procrastinated on filling out most of her applications last year until after SCEA/ED decisions were out. She applied to Rice RD and was admitted…
Did anyone get a request to submit 1st quarter grades? My high school is on a semester system so we don’t have “quarter grades.” Will the admission committee call my counselor to check grades?
@student12322 Your scores are low for Rice, but it is worth the shot.
Can’t wait till mid Dec for the ED results to be out. My daughter’s int’l student who applied to Rice ED this year and she’s dying to know what her chance is. Can anyone give a clue? Thanks.
And good luck to all those who are applying to Rice this year!
Her stats are;
GPA 3.8/4.0(uw) 4.8/5.0(w)
New SAT 1550
SATII : MATH 800, CHEM 750
5s in AP econ, bio / 4s in AP cal, chem, Japanese
Class rank not listed. Top ranked private school and it doesn’t list class ranks.
2 university lab research internships and 1 corporate research lab internship
Won a local award for research proposal
Attended 2016 IGEM
Main solo vocal in school’s a cappella team, won numerous local competitions and one int’l prize
Produced and sold her solo vocal album for a fundraiser for Harvey Relief Fund
Took numerous AP classes and honour classes
Overseas volunteer work
200+ community service
No major int’l competition awards
Got her N3 level (N1 is top level, close to native speaker) certificate on official Japanese proficiency test
Biology major
Not applying for FA
Asian female
@Allinjesus She seems to have everything going for her, but never know until the results are out. What state is she from? Texas seems to be the most competitive for Rice.
Thanks for the reassurance. She’s not from any of the states but from outside the US.
Did you guys turn in first marking period grades in yet? I haven’t received a request to turn those in yet and am kind of worried 