Rice has just recently removed the anti-score choice language from its Standardized Testing page on the admissions section of its site and changed it to read, “We hope applicants will report all scores knowing that we will recombine the sections to get the best possible set of scores for each candidate.” https://admission.rice.edu/policies/standardized-testing Thus, it no longer actually requires all SAT scores and just reduces sending all scores to a suggestion that need not be followed.
An addendum: I emailed to ask if I have to send in all of my subject scores (because I’m rocking a 610 on German, which is just terrible) and they said that you do not have to send in all subject test scores, but that you do have to send in scores from each administration if you’ve taken one multiple times.
^I have found no place anywhere in any current admission materials on the website that states you must provide all subject test scores of any particular test you took more than once. The only rule actually provided is that subject tests are now recommended and you can send any two subject tests. That kind of language suggests the opposite of what you were told. You cannot have “oral” rules requiring all scores of any tests and expect all the applicants to know what they are and follow them. It sounds like you just got some elitist admissions person who was making things up in the spur of the moment or was answering based on rules applicable to prior years’ applicants when Rice had both an all scores rule and required subject tests. Both of those rules were abandoned only recently. Unless you can actually find the rule you were told spelled out in the current admissions website pages, Rice cannot possibly claim such a rule and expect it to be followed, and personally I would just ignore the response you got.
"Hello awesomepolyglot,
Thank you for your email and for your interest in Rice.
Rice no longer requires that the SAT Subject tests be submitted. You
may choose which Subject Tests you would like to submit, however you
must submit all attempts taken for any given test. This means that,
should you decide that you want to send us the SAT Subject test in
Chemistry, we will have to receive all of your attempts on that test.
The university superscores all exams taken, so we will only ultimately
see the highest score for each type of exam taken during our
decision-making process.
Please do not hesitate to reach out should you have any further questions."
That’s the email I got from Rice Admissions.
Maybe the policy has changed since mid-June, I dunno.
Rice has recently added Application Instructions for those applying in Fall 2018: https://admission.rice.edu/sites/g/files/bxs676/f/FreshmanApplication_Instructions.pdf Nowhere do those instructions even hint at a requirement that you must submit both test scores for any single SAT subject test that you provide. In fact, if you read the instructions, they lead to the conclusion that (a) you are not required to submit any subject tests, and (b) you can choose to send whatever ones you want to send and the ones sent should be in different subjects. My view is that, if it is not in the instructions, it ain’t a rule because Rice cannot punish applicants for actually following the formal instructions given. Also note that Rice now allows self-reporting of scores in the application and you need not send any offical scores until after accepting admission.
@awesomepolyglot, I now realize another reason you can ignore the email you got. You mention “maybe the rule has changed since mid-June,” indicating you got that email in mid-June. I was under the impression originally that you got it very recently in August. Rice switched from requiring all scores to accepting score choice in the first week of August 2018, so when you got that email it still had its all-scores rule.