I’ve been trying to figure out what they’re asking for…they say upload an image of something that appeals to you, but it’s called the Box. Are we supposed to send them a box? Or upload a picture of a box? If it’s anything that appeals to us, does it have to be original, or can it be a picture off the internet?
My understanding is that you:
- Procure a box
- Put something or things that appeal to you in the box
- Take a picture of the box
- Upload the picture of the box
- B-)
No, you simply put an image in the box. You can insert anything that you like. It can be a picture off of the internet. Pick something that appeals to you and that makes you unique. Try to be interesting! Whatever you do, don’t insert anything related to the foodstuff rice (that’s a total lack of originality).
@whatisyourquest so in theory i could do a picture of a person? that’s why I was having trouble with this…wasn’t sure if the thing that appeals has to fit inside a box
Sure, you could paste in a picture of a person. Presumably, it’d be a picture of someone that the admission officers would know. I’d scale the picture or crop it to make it easily visible. Not much point in pasting in something that’s only discernible with a magnifying glass 
My kid, who was admitted by Rice, pasted in a picture of a fencer (leaping to make a touch) that he found on the internet. Fencing is his sport.
@blink24, you are overthinking it. Just upload any picture, cartoon, artwork, graphic, whatever, that appeals to you.
You could try google searching images with a few words about yourself that you are trying to get across in your application. So let’s say you want to show that you are a funny scientist, and you play baseball. Type those words into a search and see what you get.
A bit off-topic, but here’s another tip:
The Rice application is unusual in another way: it asks you to state what other universities you are applying to. The best approach, IMHO, is to be honest (don’t leave the space blank), but to list your schools alphabetically. It’s not a good idea to sort them by your preference. Rice is proud and cares about yield, and will likely see a rank-ordered list as an indication of your true interest (or lack thereof) in attending Rice, if admitted.
@whatisyourquest thanks for the tip! I haven’t seen that question though I am going through Questbridge, so maybe they removed that question on the form!
It’s been on the Rice app for the last umpteen years, so I assume it’s there this year too, but I could be wrong.
My daughter was accepted ED last year and she drew a picture of a bee and uploaded that.
“The Box” is a blank white box on the paper application. They want you to fill it with an image, and you don’t have to show off how deep and clever you are with it. Be yourself. On the digital application, you can just upload an image, I believe.
To the best of my knowledge, Rice no longer asks about other schools on their app. And yes, just upload s pdf or jpg of something interesting for the box.
@whatisyourquest My D applied to Rice recently and it did not ask her about other schools. It did have the infamous box however, and what she uploaded made us laugh quite a bit.
^ Good to know. The “what other schools are you applying to” question was there last year, when my kid applied… I found it awkward and off-putting. Maybe the Rice adcom ultimately realized that too.
yea uchicago had it on my financial aid form i didn’t answer though because it was optional and i found it weird @whatisyourquest