Rice Junior Taking Questions

Colleges and Universities A-Z Rice University
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<p>Hey everyone,</p>

<p>It's late and I can't go to bed, so I decided to come on over to this site and take any questions you guys might have about Rice. I found this website to be very useful when I was applying a couple years back. I'll do my best to give you my 2 cents on stuff.</p>

<p>A little bit about me: I'm about to be a junior, though I plan on graduating this year. Majoring in chemistry and I'm looking to go to med school in 08 (will probably take a year off to pursue an MPH). I'm from Ohio, so I can give you an out-of-stater's perspective. </p>

<p>Regarding the all vital stats, Rice was my first choice, I applied ED-defiantely was not expecting to get in but what do you know, guess they liked my box or something, lol. So yea anyway: 1400 SAT (710 M, 690 V) SAT IIS: 750 Chem, 720 Math IIC, 740 Writing, 790 Physics. 5s on 5 AP tests, cum laude. National level orator/captain of forensics. 2 sport athlete and avid procrastinator. Some other activities here or there, but I don't remember-long time ago. </p>

<p>Got into University of Chicago EA, and was planning on going there, but I am so happy Rice took me. My experience here has been great and I think overall, Rice is highly underrated. From a pre-med perspective-there is no better place. Regarding Rice-Baylor-if you don't have sky high SAT scores in each subsection, a great gpa and wonderful medical involvement (i.e. research, tons of volunteering, compelling life stories yadda yadda) dont' hold your breath, but definately just try to chill. Med school is a far ways off and Rice will prepare you to take you to where you want to go. (My non rice baylor friends are getting sky high mcats and going to sweet places like harvard, duke, stanford etc.) In the meanwhile enjoy life guys, time flys.</p>

<p>Well, shoot away.</p>

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<p>Do you have any friends majoring in engineering? If so, how do they like it?</p>

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<p>How does the maintenance staff deal with bugs?</p>

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<p>Hey, nice to see some questions. Ok here goes:</p>

<p>Engineering: I have tons of friends majoring in engineering, in fact Rice is probably known mostly for its engineering (even though most of our departments are top notch). Engineering is a hard road wherever you go and its no different here. Problem sets are usually due weekly and its a bunch of hard work. All my friends who are engineers seem to get by pretty well and they enjoy it. Students are pretty close knit with the faculty and because we're a small school, there's a lot of colaboration between students in studying and working on sets etc. Basically, if you're an engineer here by the time you're out of here you will have made at least 5-10 real close friends who you will get to know really well because chances are you've been helping each other through over the past 4 years. The department will hook students up with internships during the summer and most engineering majors get jobs right after graduation (usually around the gulf coast-chem E is huge with all the oil companies around houston). A handful do decide to go get masters or PhDs and they fare pretty well with graduate admissions. Hope that gave you an idea about engineering.</p>

<p>To the dude with the bugs, nice question, and a good one to ask. Rice maintenance works around the clock-they never sleep i swear. Bugs usually aren't a problem around campus. I don't know exactly what they do, but whatever they do it works. So don't worry so much about the bugs.</p>

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<p>Thanks for the reply about bugs. I used to live in Houston and hated the roaches.</p>

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<p>what are some your r/b friends' stats like</p>

<p>how impt is an SAT score to rice?</p>

<p>Does a plethora of EC's make up for an okay SAT score for r/b?</p>

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<p>not to take over the thread, but about the bugs, you get out during the day so they can fumigate.</p>

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<p>Hi! It's pretty cool of you to be taking questions...how effective is Rice at getting people into medical school? I know for sure that I want to be a doctor, but I definitely don't think I have the stats to get into the Rice/Baylor program. I was just wondering if Rice was one of those schools that weeded out med school applicants, or the kind to do everything it can to get you on the right path (i.e. having premed advisors, etc)</p>

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<p>What kind of programs does Rice specialize in?</p>

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<p>Hi! Thank you for taking and answering all these questions. :)</p>

<p>I'm applying ED this year to the Wiess School of Nature Science, intending to major in either Chemistry or Biochemistry. In your experience, how is Wiess, in general, and the Chemistry department, in specific? How would you rate it overall? I've heard a lot of good things about Rice's Music, Architecture, and Engineering schools, but little about Nature Science. Are there any advice you'd like to give to prospective students about it (e.g. labs, research, classes, etc.).</p>

<p>Thank you! =)</p>

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<p>One more thing, It looks like the only difference to Rice App Part I and Part II and Commonapp + Rice Supplement, is that you have to write the common app essay for the latter. Why do you suppose that is?</p>

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<p>Great to see the questions, now here are some answers (I hope):</p>

<p>Aspen D: Well the stats kind of vary. I know one girl who had a 1330, then again I know others who've had high 1500s. Likewise I've known people with 1600s who weren't even offered an interview. Generally speaking: 1500+ with strong SAT IIs, crazy high gpas-that's almost a must. That won't get you far though. You have to show that you are dedicated to medicine and that will show through your ECs. Most ECs i've heard of included heavy research with publications and professional presentations. Most students were committed to medical volunteerig (generally hospital) and one was a licensed EMT-B. R/B is hard to get into, and honestly, i've noticed half of my r/b friends kinda just slack off during their undergrad years and lose focus, while the other half remain gunning and stay dedicated to their studies. R/B is a great program, but if it doesn't work out, it might be for a good reason. Perhaps it's better to build a good work ethic, pay your dues and train yourself through your work at Rice to handle the rigors or med school? I don't know, just two-cents form a non r/b student.</p>

<p>To myriadp: Rice is an amazing place when it comes to getting people into med school. We do not weed out people like other schools (like Swarthmore or Amherst (i think) that require you to have a certain gpa in order to apply-to keep the schools stats high). This isn't to say that people aren't "weeded out" for other reasons (i.e. got rocked by orgo, or other sciences, or maybe just realized medicine wasn't for them). I'd say that about half of my friends who came in as "pre-med" are no longer interested in medicine. Of those who remain pre-meds and apply, we pretty much get everyone into medical school (96% or something like that). Do note that this particular stat is sorta flawed since it includes those who didn't apply to med school their senior year, and since it includes those who may have not gotten in on their first attempt. For the most part though, if you're serious about being a doctor, Rice is an amazing place to be-arguably one of the best. Advisors, professors etc will do everything they can to get you to where you want to go. The atmosphere is contagiously supprotive. </p>

<p>Don't worry about the Rice/Baylor program. You will get into medical school. Just remain dedicated and enjoy what you do, it will work out! </p>

<p>mikenthemaddog66: If by specialize you mean most widely recognized for, then I'd say engineering, architecture, music, history, business (good mba program) and nanotechnology (arguably the best nano research center). Let me know if I missed the boat on your question. Regarding the app question, sorry man, but I have no clue. I barely remember any of this app stuff-it was just too long ago. If you have specific admissions questions contact the admissions office and they'll do their best to help. Sorry I can't help you.</p>

<p>Shina Laris: NP for taking the questions. It helped me back in the day and I just want to do what I can to help. The Weiss school is a great place for undergrads. So here's the scoop on the chem department: It's an amazing place to be an undergrad; it's a so-so place to be a grad student. There is a huge disparity between the graduate and undergraduate programs at Rice. Our undergrads are some of the best students in the nation, but our grad students aren't quite on the level our undergrads are on. As a result, many of our departments (mostly in the Weiss School) aren't highly ranked. Although this may be the case, some amazing research is being done in the chem deaprtment. I recently got to work as a consultant to a nuclear engineering start-up here in houston who contracted work through one of the chem profs. I spent 12 hours/week working on organic synthesis and designing my own set-ups and giving in my two cents regarding the specific R&D project we were working on. Since there aren't many grad students, undergrads get close contact with professors and get to work closely with them on research projects-something that many other highly ranked universities can't claim since preference is given to grad students. Most studnets in the natural sciences who are interested in graduate studies, get into top-notch programs due to the mentoring they've had and the research they get to participate in (and I don't mean being a slave to a grad student, but rather, real original research).</p>

<p>Regarding advice, search the department websites and find what professors are working on and don't be afraid to contact them regarding research opportunties. Chances are they will be thrilled to mentor you. Get started early and build a good relationship with certain profs. Regarding specific labs and classes, I don't know of any real relevant advice I can give to prospies, but if you have any more specific questions I definatley answer them. Just let me know and I'll do my best.</p>

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<p>Didn't see you last two questions:</p>

<p>SAT score is important, but not the only factor. Get in the range (1350ish+) and you'll have a good shot. Also depends on when you apply. By the way, I'm answering this question as if it pertained to getting into Rice undergrad alone and not r/b.</p>

<p>A plethora of ECs won't cut it for r/b. It's not quantity, it's quality! Perhaps good ECs showing dedication to medicine might make up for lower SAT scores, but it's no guarantee. These r/b students are top notch and each has their own unique story.</p>

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<p>Thanks for answering questions. =)</p>

<p>Do you, by chance, know any double-majors that are pursuing majors in music and a science?</p>

<p>Also, do you know any Music major pre-meds?</p>

<p>TIA</p>

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<p>I don't know of any. Shepherd is a very prestigious music school, and so students who go there tend to be virtuosos who want to do music with their lives and nothing else interests them as much.</p>

<p>So that is not to say it isn't possible to double major (and I'm sure some do) and be a pre-med. It's just that the music students really put 100% into music.</p>

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<p>I've talked with a Rice music professor about double majoring in music and engineering, and she told me it's very difficult to do. Apparently the music students take music theory as their 'science' classes (and make some other substitutions), which makes it really hard to get all the classes needed for the non-music major. Also, scheduling often becomes a nightmare, and to be competitive in the music world you really need to put in more time for music than you would probably have available as a pre-med/science double major. You would also have to get into Shepherd, which is quite difficult. Sometimes there are only 1 or 2 openings for a specific instrument.</p>

<p>It would, however, be possible to play in Rice's non-majors orchestra and to take private lessons from a graduate student (probably $40-50/hr). If you really want a double major, I would suggest looking at colleges with weaker music schools that would require a lesser time commitment. I do know two people attempting music/science double majors at Northwestern, and one who started as a double major at Johns Hopkins/Peabody, but I'm not sure if any will actually finish as double majors.</p>

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<p>To the OP, I have to thank you for accepting questions even though others already have. The path you have taken is one that I have been strongly considering (attending Rice for undergrad, which the eventual goal of med school), and I have a few questions about it. First, how easy is it to get involved in extracurricular activities at Rice (something I am interested in for my own non-med school-related benefit as well as for getting into med school)? Second, what is the relationship with professors at Rice (is it at all personal; I kind of like the fact that Rice is a small school)? Third, what I seem to keep hearing is that what institution you go to for undergrad is not extremely important in terms of med school admissions, and while I like Rice, there is no denying that it is much more expensiv e than in-state public school. What are your thoughts on this?</p>

<p>Sorry for all these questions, but if you could answer them, I would greatly, greatly appreciate it. Thanks</p>

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<p>psychotropic, I am interested in Rice and majoring in pre-med as well and used to live in Cleveland, Ohio (Shaker Heights). LOL I am also looking in to the Rice/Raylor program. Do you know anything about the program? Is it hard to get in to? What is the difference between taking pre-med at Rice and doing the program?</p>

<p>thank you for your help!</p>

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<p>Although I am not a student at Rice, I think it's safe for me to say that it is very difficult to get into Rice/Baylor. I believe that there are only 15 students a year who enter the program.</p>

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<p>Also, there is no pre-med major at Rice. It is like this at a lot of schools. I think it is a lot better this way. (The same goes for pre-law). The college experience shouldn't be just about getting into med school. I think majoring in "getting into med school" is stupid. Choose something you are actually interested in and major in that. You can still get into med school and you are a more interesting candidate if you major in something else.</p>