I’m surprised there isn’t already a thread for this! I figure it would be nice to talk about everything and anything Rice/application wise here. 
Hi! high school senior who applied to Rice this year. Glad to see someone who’s openly showing their interest in Rice online LOL. Rice is my dream school, but the only thing that I don’t like is all Rice forums are so dead compared to other top schools =(( I want to talk about how awesome Rice is gosh darnit!
Anyways, good luck to the both of us and I hope to see you there 
Rice wasn’t on my college list back in November, but after receiving an email from Questbridge I decided to take a closer look and now Rice is one of my top choices! I love the size, residential college system, and the policy studies major.
@eunjungie thanks haha! Rice is definitely in the top of my college list. I applied as an English major, plan to minor in Business if I go here. I still haven’t visited (even though I live in Texas) and I probably won’t unless I get in. Has anyone visited, and if so, what is it like at Rice?
I, too, didn’t have rice on my list initially until I received a fee waiver from them. Visited in December. Nice change from the freezing weather in my home state. We actually used the AC haha; it was almost January. Campus was beautiful and the facilities we were shown were quite nice too. Only saw one dorm, the newest one, so can’t speak for overall quality but PR ranks Rice in top 10 in quality of living , student happiness, and dorms. Though in the city, Rice’s campus is kinda shielded off so doesn’t feel like you’re in a major US city unlike, say, Penn’s campus. Campus is one entity and isn’t split by busy streets or anything. City kinda grew around Rice. Visit and tour definitely reinforced my desire to apply and actually pushed Rice toward the top of my list.
Visiting is really valuable and really gives you a good sense of the school. I very highly recommend it. The other thing you can do though, if you don’t want to do that, is to explore Rice’s youtube page. A lot of the videos really accurately represent the environment there.
Hi, high school seniors! I’m a freshman at Rice now, so the feelings of anxiety/excitement over college admissions is a recent memory for me. I wish you all the best of luck no matter where you go!
Feel free to ask me any questions about Rice. It’s an amazing place.
@tropicalslushies what was the easiest way you made friends? How’s the party scene?
During O-week you get a chance to meet most of the new freshmen in your college. Some of those o-week friendships have stuck and some haven’t as is normal. The college community is just so open and there are always events that it is super easy to meet people/make new friends. I have also made a lot of friends outside my college at work.
The party scene is very inclusive (even across colleges) and fun. Nothing gets too extreme (at least that I’ve seen). People will really watch out for you and make sure you aren’t getting into trouble. I’ve never felt pressured to drink and still have fun at parties.
Sounds like a great place!
So, you guys, where did everyone apply besides Rice?
@DL43516 Stanford (literally no chance, but tried), Notre Dame, WashU and Clemson. UConn, RIT, Clarkson and Illinois Tech as the safeties.
Our son applied to the following schools besides Rice: Still waiting to hear from – WashU, Boston University, VCU. Accepted – Case Western, Univ of Minnesota, Univ of Alabama-Birmingham, Univ of Pittsburgh, Univ of Illinois-Chicago.
This waiting is killing me!
How much does the interview affects the decision…? I wasn’t able to schedule an interview in December 
Not much at all, from what I understand.
@DL43516 Thanks! I checked the decision posts from last year’s RD round and found some got accepted without interview. Makes me feel a little better.
Yeah it’s not a huge deal, they understand that not everyone has the opportunity. I’m not doing one either.
Does anyone know if being in Texas is a disadvantage or advantage?
@DL43516 In-state people do tend to have an advantage, I think. I was looking at the statistics of Rice and Stanford’s classes, and both have around 50% in-state students. I’m sure that’s similar to most other non-public schools as well.
Wow, that’s quite a lot. I hope I do have the advantage, god knows I need it…
Daughter applied to (waiting) Rice, Cornell ,RPI. Accepted to Alabama, UF, UCF, FSU, Colorado School of Mines, Georgia Tech. National Merit ( hope to be finalist) so that might come into consideration for the big state schools and their generous awards.
I applied to Rice, Brown, UPenn, Columbia, UChicago, USC, Stanford (deferred REA), and Tulane. Accepted to UT Austin and Hartwick College (with $104,000 scholarship).