TIPS. I love Rice

<p>Hey you guys, I'm going to be a senior next year which means i'll be applying to universities soon! yikes.
I love Rice and i want to major in economics. I'd like some advice, especially from people who have got admitted into rice. I want tips in terms of what Rice wants in our extracurriculars (does internship help?) and tips for the essay too (i've heard it's a vital part) </p>

<p>Thanks in advance! And good luck to all.</p>

<p>I’m currently a rising sophomore at Rice.</p>

<p>First of all, I do not think certain extracurriculars will give you an advantage over others. What is important is that you have commitment and passion for a few select activities in a certain field (i.e. music, leadership/student government, part-time job, etc.). </p>

<p>Secondly, be genuine and show voice in your Common App essay. I can’t really help you with this… just realize it has to be a strong essay for you to get admitted.</p>

<p>Third of all, do your research on Rice before you apply. Research the residential college system, economics courses (go to courses.rice.edu for course listings), economics department (economics.rice.edu), opportunities in Houston, etc. Make it very clear in your “Why Rice?” short answer and “How you are going to contribute to the residential college system at Rice?” that Rice is a top choice and that you know a lot about Rice (but don’t just simply list a bunch of Rice facts… incorporate a FEW, not every Rice fact, into your supplement essays). </p>

<p>Hope this helps.</p>

<p>Thank you silk nik! Yes, that helped. I’m nervous already. I would love to go to Rice.
Are you happy there? :)</p>

<p>If you’re interested in doing banking or going on to grad school in econ, you should look into the mathematical economic analysis major. Most kids I know who are going into the finance sector or going on to grad school in econ are math econ majors.</p>

<p>Yeah thanks, i’ve heard about this major. I’m probably going to major in this. Just hope its not tooo hard, the math part atleast. Have you heard from people about this major’s level of difficulty?</p>

<p>I’m content at Rice… I feel I can be happier than I am at Rice, but hey, no university is perfect. There’s always going to be happy and unhappy people at any university, although most students at Rice are pretty happy.</p>

<p>slik nik, that’s the impression i got when i visited rice campus last year. everyone i met seemed bright and super friendly.</p>

<p>I’ve visited a lot of universities myself, and I do feel that Rice has some of the friendliest students anywhere… we don’t have a lot of jerks.</p>

<p>i feel like they’re very interested in personality. when you’ve got only 940 students in the class, it’s that much more important for each one to be a “character” who brings something different to the table. that’s what my interviewer said about the school’s admissions process anyway, and i think what i saw from contact with the school during the admissions process reinforced that.</p>

<p>also, if you’re out of state, it’s important for you to show even a higher degree of interest than the texas kids may have to. from what the admissions counselor said to me when i called up the school earlier this year, the yield from faraway places like the northeast is always more iffy and so if your hometown is located far from rice, the school wants to be sure that you’d attend despite living so far away. so geography plays in as a factor–sometimes if there’s a qualified applicant from far away but the admissions office isn’t sure about whether or not he/she is likely to attend rice, they’ll waitlist them instead.</p>