<p>I really like Rice, and if I ED, my chances of getting in are extremely high (ED increases chance of admission, my Houston school is a feeder to Rice and Rice accepts about 50 percent of all applicants from my school, sat and sat 2 scores that are solidly in rice's range, my gpa is about the target range for acceptance from my high school, good ec's).</p>
<p>I really like Rice, as it has what I want, nice smallish medium size, undergrad focus, small classes, teachers get to know the students, residential college system, football, intramurals, a degree from Rice means something, I'll be a ble to visit my Houston family.</p>
<p>However, I also really like UPenn and Brown, but I'm scared that if I don't ED to Rice, there's a good chance that I won't get accepted anywhere that I really want to go to and will end up having to go to a school that I dpn't really want to go to, like A and M.</p>
<p>I didn't take any honors courses freshman or soph year but 5 ap's and an honors junior and senior year, which I worry might take me out of the running for schools like Brown and UPenn.</p>
<p>What is your GPA, what's your rank, what AP's/honors have you taken, what are your SAT/SAT II scores, what are your EC's/awards, are you 1st gen./URM?</p>
<p>It's hard to give you advice without knowing these things. Even if you don't get into Rice, Penn, or Brown, you still should be able to get into a school you're qualified for. I would definitely recommend applying to some schools that are better than Tex A&M but still not as selective as the ones you mentioned.</p>
<p>91 gpa, slight upward trend, about 50 out of 138. sat- 2150 (hopefully 2220 or 33-34 on act when i retake), sat II's- planning to get at least 700's on both (hopefully higherr lol) . ec's- event organizer for my youth group, football 4 years, 2 years of track, 1 of wrestling, go to hebrew school every sunday and helped set up a money drive for it, gold presidential community service award freshman and soph years, bronze junior year, most of my volunteering involves helping sick and underpriveliged ppl, eg giving guitar lessons to kids at ronald mcdonald house (so much fun fun!), helping mentally disabled kids play baseball (challenger little league), helping out with eyecare for the homeless organization, a bunch of other stuff for community service club at school.</p>
<p>Honors/ Ap Enlish and USAP junior year- probably 5's or 4's on ap's
AP stat, gov, modereauropen, honors english senior year</p>
<p>My gpa and class rank appear low, but our school is really competitive (aerage sat score around 2185), and just for perspective, a girl with a 93 average and 2120 sat (about 75th percentile) got into dartmouth after being deferred from ed, and 94 percent of dartmouth's freshman class was in the top 10 percent.</p>
<p>The "target gpa" to get into rice is 92.6 (according to school data) and I have a 91.</p>
<p>my mom went to rice, and Rice accepts around 50 percent of the applicants from our school.</p>
<p>I hate doing this cuz it seems lieke bragging.</p>
<p>Rice is a great school! If you really feel you would be happy going to Rice, you should ED. Especially since admission to Brown and UPenn seem to be reaches or at the very least uncertainties, increasing your likelihood for an acceptance to Rice would be a great thing. You will probably still get into a good school even if you don't ED to Rice. What other schools are you possibly looking at? All in all though, if you like Rice and can see yourself happy there for the next four years, I say you should ED if it really does extremely boost your chances.</p>
<p>It seems to me that you like Brown and UPenn (though it's so different from Brown and Rice....) but you love Rice. </p>
<p>Penn and Brown are major reaches, despite excellent ECs. </p>
<p>From Brown's CDS, it is clear that top 10 percent matters to them. (And a student from our high school, a recruited athlete, was told up front that if he was not in the top 10 percent of the class academically, he should not apply.) From the CDS, Brown's admission rate for students in the top 10 percent for the class of 2011 was 19 percent. For the next group, the second 10th below that, the admission rate was 4 percent. Big drop. Big risk for you. Couldn't find Penn's data quickly, but I suspect there's the same drop off after the top 10 percent. </p>
<p>I kind of want to say flat out: ED to Rice. But I will add, that if you have to ask online for advice, you haven't done enough thinking and researching to make up your mind. The decision to ED should be easy because there is no other place that's No. 1, where you would rather be. Good luck with your decision.</p>
<p>Slight hijack here (but I find that one questions leads to another and another, and they all help each of us!):</p>
<p>My son is interested in Rice. The knock on ED is that you are stuck with the financial aid offer, but we make less than $60,000. Because of the new policy at Rice, does that mean he can apply ED and we wouldn't have to worry about the financial aid situation because of the new policy?</p>
<p>If you would be happy there and can afford to go there no matter what the financial aid offer is, ED can be a very good idea. I know one Rice alumnus in town--he is a smart man. My family isn't as focused on one school, and we would like to compare financial aid offers, so my oldest son currently expects to apply only to nonbinding, nonrestrictive early action colleges in the early round. But he might apply to Rice in the regular round.</p>
<p>You might peruse the results threads here for Brown and Penn. I don't see you as an overwhelming candidate at either, although an ED application at Penn might help.
I would be inclined to ED to Rice with the legacy advantage making a competitive application even stronger. If Rice has cooperative arrangements with other elite universities, you might do a term or two elsewhere to get a taste of the world outside Houston.
If you were ambivalent about Rice, I would advise rolling the dice. But you seem to like it just fine. And you should. It is a terrific university.</p>
<p>Dude, there is no way I am going to base my decision off what some random person on the internet tells me. I have a good college counseler and family who give me advice; I just want to see what people have to say.</p>
<p>Also, I'm not trying to sound depressed or anything, and I know Penn and Brown and reaches, but are Penn and Brown really FAR reaches? I mean, my school is really competitive with an average sat score of like 2185, and a girl who was ranked like 32 out of 140 with a 2120 sat got into dartmouth. </p>
<p>Don't colleges take into account how hard your high school is, seriously.</p>
<p>Rice is widely known as one of the best buys in America, so if you apply ED, money shouldn't be that much of a problem</p>
<p>well, I think what other people are trying to tell you is that PENN and Brown are major reaches. For anyone. Even from your school. ESPECIALLY in today's admissions world.
Since you're a legacy, applying ED to Rice might increase your chances beyond the sole ED benefit.
Also, this girl from your school probably took mostly ALL honors and AP in all four years of high school. No honors freshman year's probably OK provided there were extenuating circumstances, but with a rank of roughly 35-40th percentile (if you're 50/138) and NO honors/AP your first TWO years.....Rice is probably your best shot if you apply ED. Penn and Brown are very unlikely admits for you. Of course, anything can happen. But realistically....</p>
<p>Yeah. That was pretty stupid of me to not take honors and ap my first 2 years. I guess it looks pretty bad considering all the other applicants to the competitive schools have all ap's and honors. </p>
<p>What percent chance do you think I even have of getting into Brown or Penn?</p>
<p>8 percent ?</p>
<p>Oh well, I'll probably get into Rice and have a great time.</p>
<p>Oh my. Your school ranks by percentages? That is SO intense. My school is the polar opposite. Our principal brags about our 70% PASSING rate for AP's. It's kinda sad.
:|</p>