Transfer to School of Engineering

Colleges and Universities A-Z Rice University
1

Hello! I am currently a physics and chemistry double major math minor at James Madison University. I love JMU, it’s a place that I definitely call home however I really wish to study material science/engineering, which JMU does not offer, so I am looking at transferring to Rice for the fall semester of 2016. I am nervous out of my mind as to whether or not I have what it takes to make, could someone please help me out and let me know what my chances are??

My Information:
Current GPA: 3.836 after 3 semesters
Current Major: physics and chemistry double major
Current Minor: math
SAT scores:
–Math: 750
–Writing: 650
–Reading: 630
SAT subject tests:
–Math 2: 790
–Physics: 800
–Chemistry: 800
High School GPA: ~3.5

Extra Curricular:
Eagle Scout
Held various leadership roles in my boy scout troop
Attended/Ran various leadership camps/programs
Founding member and officer of a Venture crew
300+ volunteer hours at a variety of places
Member of NSCS
Did research in thin films over the past summer and semester and attended the Materials Research Society Conference at which I presented two posters. I also have 4 conference papers published on the research that I conducted.
For the Spring semester of 2016 I am studying abroad at Oxford University where I will be studying materials science and possibly programming.
I was a first year orientation guide for JMU’s freshman orientation week
In high school I started our school’s chess club as well as served as an officer in said club and additionally in the Latin club

2

Chance threads are kind of intrinsically flawed because it’s so difficult to know what the admissions office is going to do, especially with transfers. I am personally of the opinion that what you’ve done since you started college has a greater effect than things like your high school GPA or SAT scores. The research stuff and study abroad sounds cool, and it sounds like you’re setting a rigorous curriculum for yourself, so I’d say you have a chance, but that’s about all I can guess at!