Rice University Regular Decision Class of 2025

Did you son apply Cal Poly SLO? The school‘s CS program is awesome.

We did not, we thought it’s crazy for oos to apply 8 California public schools already. Little do we know :joy:

Usually both my daughter and I get these emails, but this time only I got the email :woman_shrugging:

I’m a parent and I never get these emails! My kid was deferred ED - maybe they think sending promo emails is salt in the wound? Seems kinda like a bad sign tho! :frowning:

Being deferred to Rice means your student is great. Congrats to him. That tells me he has options - whether in Houston or elsewhere.

3 Likes

Yes, it is a tough year. Most kids applied to 20-30 schools. I mentioned that some kids applied to 20 schools. Then it was like a contest on who applied the most. I was astonished to find out that so many kids applied to astronomical number of schools. It makes it tough to get accepted to any schools even where you thought was safeties.

Maybe your spouse got it, or maybe it’s in junk mail. I won’t read too much into it. We got a lot of emails from one school that rejected my kid. For that matter. We got mails from a school who rejected my daughter 2 years ago and try to recruit her this year. One of my friend’s daughter ED to Duke and withdrew application from UCB, still got admitted:)

Hanging there, it’s a crazy year. All kids will have school to attend eventually. It seems so big now. But think of ourselves and people around us. Every school has outstanding alumni, right?

I don’t think it means anything. I think this is another mass mailer and looks like their mail bot did not pickup all the email addresses.

1 Like

Really? What makes you say so? My son was deferred as well. Been his top school for a few years. Only applied to 3 top tier schools cause he couldn’t find more schools like Rice. Now with admissions so crazy, he’s likely not going to have multiple options. He has an in-state safety option (83% acceptance rate) not hardly comparable- yeesh.

1 Like

Right? My kid applied to 4. Makes me wish schools could see that again!

1 Like

Wow. I applied to 3-4 colleges, but that was 34 years ago. My son applied to 14 schools. I thought that was already too many. But it was not too many after all. My son got rejected and waitlisted from many schools, even from schools that we thought were safeties.

What makes me say your kid must be great if they got deferred to Rice? Well - it’s a top university - so if he wasn’t great, they’d have outright rejected him. There are schools that don’t reject in ED (I believe Gtown) but I believe Rice does.

Applying to three stretch schools is fine. We applied to more. It’s great you have a safety - because the likelihood of getting in to a stretch isn’t great.

Did you have a target / match? Perhaps for Rice, it’d be an upper tier public such as Florida or Georgia…if they’re a tad below. Or mid size private like Rochester or Case Western.

Just because a school admits 83% doesn’t mean it’s bad. My daughter is in at Washington and Lee and likely will end up at Charleston (her preference anyway).

You can get a solid education anywhere.

As for not having multiple options, well - and if you have another child, that’s just application strategy. We applied to 21 but chasing yield and made sure to include “affordable” options such as Alabama, South Carolina, Arizona, and Florida State…in addition to the unaffordable with hopes of merit.

Anyway, you have a safety - and if your child doesn’t get into Rice and I have my fingers crossed for you - he’ll still be fine.

In the meantime, you should be proud of your child regardless.

2 Likes

The mistake you all made is getting emotionally attached. I’ve been very upfront with my daughter - do not get emotionally attached. I’m not saying this is your family but what if Rice is $75K (no aid) and a school like Alabama (where many go after turning down Ivies) is $15K.

Not everyone is choosing the $75K.

We have a budget. Washington and Lee is a top liberal arts school but at $80K, not going to happen for us. So if my daughter attends a “lesser” school - so be it. Most people, btw, are making that same decision - hence the yields of most private schools are well under 50%.

You can’t go back and second guess- the process is over. You can check the few schools that are still taking apps. You can get a great deal at U of Arizona if admitted by May 3rd - it’s a 3 week or so turnaround. It’s a solid school and you can apply to Honors next year.

Your kids will be fine anywhere - if it’s at Rice, great. If not, they’ll still be fine.

6 Likes

So true. It is about fit. Which also includes financials. They will surely be fine anywhere they go.

3 Likes

My son applied to 4 schools. Got into 1 EA but waiting on 2 more. Rice is his #1

2 Likes

I made the mistake of letting S21 get attached to Syracuse. In a “normal” year, getting in with his stats, even to the small and selective Sports Management program, wouldn’t be an unknown, and we could be confident that he would get good merit aid. Not so this year. We still don’t know either of those things, but his heart is so set on 'Cuse that he is having a hard time thinking of going to any of the other schools he has gotten into, even a good one that gave him a full tuition scholarship and honors college perks.

OK - I’ll let you make one mistake of attachment - the 'Cuse because it’s my alma mater - Newhouse School - and no i’m not a journalist - so you can go to the best and still not succeed. We all “assume” - top school, top success. SU is a good sports program, but so is South Carolina, Florida State…there’s lots of them.

The 'Cuse is pricey even with merit. My daughter wouldn’t apply although I tried to get her to and I wouldn’t have wanted to pay.

My daughter is attached to College of Charleston - it’s not even a lesser school rank wise - it’s below that. But she loves it.

If I veto it she’ll be crushed - but my veto would be with $$ - she got into FSU with an out of state waiver (like 15K a year - but no Honors) and she’s into South Carolina which is the top Honors college in the country.

I’m just trying to keep everyone level. The odds of more than 1/12 of our kids getting in are slim. But the world won’t end at Rice…I promise.

If it’s a lesser ranked state school they end up at, it also won’t end. And even if you go to Harvard doesn’t mean you’ll be a success. This “wanna be broadcast journalist” sniffed behind the scenes at ESPN for a year at $7.50 an hour working 80 hours, getting paid for 40 and couldn’t land even a radio gig in Alaska after.

Yet things have a way of working out = it’s all I’m trying to say.

2 Likes

Thank you and others for the analysis. Exactly. DS might never know why if he is rejected. I’ll just say “mistake happens” LOL. Like many other applicants, DS has a presentable resume but there is also weakness. Learning that he missed out on the interview – it is almost a temptation to add to the nervousness in an already stressful year.

1 Like

Is the general thinking here that decisions will be released 5pm CST on Friday? Of course with the caveat of “but who knows?”

1 Like