Wow, everyone is from so far away, how did you all hear about SOAR, what made you apply?
@ethiopienne no Discover emails, I believe you will be interacting with the discover student a few times over the weekend.
Rice just emailed me with an invitation to apply. I’m not really sure exactly how you get on their radar. I did demonstrate some interest at a college fair I went this past summer. I applied because I really want to learn more about STEM at Rice and also because it was free.
@psywar I was invited, possibly because of my participation with Questbridge, and Rice is a partner school so I figured it would be a great opportunity to experience the school for my decision making 
I’m coming from California by the way
I arrive at 2:45 pm from Orlando, FL!! So excited
I was invited, assuming that it’s from being named a Questbridge College Prep Scholar junior year (:
I couldn’t pass up the opportunity for a free chance to visit a fantastic school and help me pinpoint my top schools that I want to apply to.
@YodaMcGwire @cerealwithoats do you think that there’s still a chance to be invited to apply to the Discover Rice program? And would going to SOAR increase the chances of being invited? Sorry for the questions, I’m just really interested in going to Rice
I don’t think Discover Rice is by invitation. Don’t you sign up and go, but you have to pay your own way? Could be wrong, but didn’t see anything on the site about invitations…just “see you there!”. http://futureowls.rice.edu/futureowls/discoverrice.aspx
Hmm. Lots of college prep scholars here. I was one as well!
And there’s at least /one/ failed college prep scholar here too.
@psywar I was invited to SOAR! I hadn’t heard of SOAR beforehand, so I’m not entirely sure how I got on their radar. @MsAjebutta Like someone said above, I think SOAR & Discover overlap, so we’ll be with some Discover applicants during our stay at Rice. So basically, if you’re already going to one of the programs, I don’t think you can go to the other one!
My daughter is going to Discover Rice which does overlap with SOAR at times. And both are by invitation although you can request an invite.
Discover starts Saturday morning with a tour and info session and the afternoon is dedicated to personal interviews. Nothing going on at night. SOAR candidates arrive later on Saturday. On Sunday Discover Rice and SOAR take part in all the same afternoon sessions, but Discover Rice ends no later than 5 pm whereas SOAR continues into Monday. But Discover invitees can stay into Monday to attend classes.
Have fun this weekend @ Rice! I look forward to reading about your experiences. - psy
@psywar @DressingIron @ethiopienne
Hello! I know this thread is done now, since SOAR 2015 has finished (how was it, by the way? Did you guys end up meeting each other?)
I am a current junior who is planning on applying for SOAR next year. I want to apply as soon as possible, to avoid the capacity problem. Could you tell me, if you happen to know, what time in July the application process opened? As in the week? I want to be prepared next year.
Thank you so much!
@classical774 my son applied for SOAR on August 27th. About 2 weeks before the deadline. IDK when it opened, but I’d just look for it in late July and maybe send in an email to admissions (admission@rice.edu) asking about SOAR around the first week in August if you cannot find the page (it should be: http://futureowls.rice.edu/futureowls/SOAR.asp)
My son loved it, and really appreciated Rice. He did say he was with his host student more than the SOAR group. The classes he sat in on were very inspirational and he will be applying. One anecdote: in an admissions talk the speaker let slip that the SOAR participate has a 99% admission offer rate. Take that for what you will.
Cheers,
Psy
I will definitely take that into consideration! Haha. Even more motivation to apply for SOAR.
Thank you so much for the information! I appreciate your fast response.
It was an excellent program! They gave plenty of time for students to explore campus yourself and really talk to students about their experiences. I wasn’t very sure about Rice before I had went and now it’s one of my top choices. The application DOES open in late July, I began checking the website every day starting in mid-July and it opened up the last week of July if I recall correctly.
Disclaimer: I’m assuming I was one of the first people to apply to SOAR because of how frequently I checked the website, but I was still one of the last to hear as compared to others on CC who had applied way after me. Moral of the story: Don’t lose hope when you see other people being accepted before you haha.
Also, just some advice. Apply to a lot of fly ins even if you don’t think it’s a top choice. Look at what your options are and explore some new options if you get the opportunity. Fly ins are overall great opportunities, I think they are really helpful in narrowing down what colleges I want to apply to! (Coming from someone who has been accepted to quite a few and went to 3 (Rice, UPenn, and Tufts))
@ethiopienne Thank you for your advice!!
I hope everything goes well for you!
Oh, hey, I’m going to the Tufts one. Small world, ain’t it?
And yeah, I think you should apply to at least three fly-ins. And do your research! I really wished I applied to more fly-ins, especially a lot of the fancier ones. (U of Chi had one, Penn had one, Dartmouth had one. I so would’ve applied to those, if I had known they were out there.)
@DressingIron @ethiopienne @psywar
Sorry, came back because I thought of another question.
I will be a Caucasian and in-state applicant. Will this drastically reduce my chances? I have heard that the program was geared towards minority and out-of-state students.
How many people there were from Texas or were Caucasian? Were there only a few people with those characteristics?
Thank you so much for letting me know about the Tufts fly-in program! I never heard of it before. I’ll definitely be applying for it as well!
(And when did the application for that one open as well? 
)