Waitlisted at Rice!

<p>I posted this on the Rice forums, but since my situation is pretty universal I decided to post here as well:</p>

<p>I've been accepted at TCU, NYU Stern School of Business, and UT is pending... </p>

<p>Rice has waitlisted me... and as of now they are my first-choice!</p>

<p>They say on the form that 40-50 people get accepted from the waitlist every year, but how many people get waitlisted out of the 8000 people who get rejected?</p>

<p>This is important because if 200+ people are waitlisted my chances of getting in are still very small.</p>

<p>How are the people who are waitlisted chosen for acceptance?</p>

<p>Exactly what kind of spring-term information am I allowed to send in? Can I get a teacher to write me another reccomendation?</p>

<p>Can I write an essay explaining how important Rice is to me?</p>

<p>Basic Stats (Check my post-history for full details) -</p>

<p>SAT: 2200, 790M, 760R, 650W
SAT II: 740 Math 1, 740 US History
Class Rank: 55/480 <---------- What Killed Me!
Taking a total 13 AP courses by the end of the year.</p>

<p>Essay: Though written on short notice, it was well written and expressed a deep interested in Rice.
Teacher Rec's: Assumed to be good
Counselor Rec's: Excellent</p>

<p>EC: Debate Captain, Volunteer Activities, Rotary, NHS, etc
Awards: Many debate related awards, NHS, National Merit Commended, a few school/local awards, AP Scholar with Distinction.</p>

<p>Hook: I didn't emphasize it enough,but I helped run my father's small business when he became extremely ill.</p>

<p>My first strategy is to flood (not literally, but close) their Office of Admission with EVERY relevant accomplishment that might not have been covered in my application. (I got 2nd place in Debate and Extemp Speaking at UIL Districts, going to regionals soon, and many other minor things like a small school award, participating in a summer Children's reading fair, going to help managed a National Debate tournamnet, and other mundane things).</p>

<p>I also plan to write one, if not many essays, explaining why Rice is so important to me, and perhaps another small informative essay detailing the relevancy of my recent achievements and reinforce other achievements that I may not have covered as well in my application.</p>

<p>Lastly Im going to ask my counselor to send them a letter asking them to deeply consider accepting me, and an additional letter from either my Debate Coach or another teacher (or two) to recommend that I be accepted (not the same teachers who sent in the initial rec's).</p>

<p>If you have ANY relevent info to how waitlisting happens at Rice and what I ought to do, please do so, Im desperate!</p>

<p>EDIT: Would a college visit do anything for me at this point? If there is ANYTHING I can do to improve my odds at this point, please let me know</p>

<p>Keep up your grades this semester and improve them if you can. An upward trend in your GPA is always good. Tell Rice about any awards you've gotten recently but didn't put on your application. You can also visit them, which is a great way to let them know that you are interested in attending.</p>

<p>I don't know much about how writing an essay can improve your chances of getting in, though, as I don't know anyone who has ever tried that before. But, I think Rice will appreciate you spending the time to write about why they're the best choice for you. It never hurts to be a little enthusiastic, right?</p>

<p>An upward trend in GPA isn't happening, with Calculus and Physics absolutely destroying my grades.</p>

<p>Though my overall GPA might be on the rise due to success in other classes, they certainly wont be impressed with the low B's/high C's im going to be getting in those classes.</p>

<p>Im curious as to how they choose which waitlistees to let in and how many I'm competing with?</p>

<p>I mean, say they let in 60 from the waitlist, that sounds nice, but what if I'm competing with 1000 other waitlistees?</p>

<p>Do you really think a college visit would work? What should I do when I go there besides tour the campus?</p>

<p>Buuuuuuuump!</p>

<p>ok here's what happens with waitlisted people. Basically, they want diversity in their incoming class. So during the admissions process, they admitted students with all kinds of profiles (mexican with high sat scores, editors in chiefs. If one of these kids turns down the offer of admission, the school will go to the waitlist to shop for a candidate with a similar profile and offer him or her admission</p>

<p>its all random</p>

<p>So I guess if they lose a mediocre candidate with no diversity and weak class rank then I'm in!</p>

<p>/sigh</p>