<p>I plan to apply early decision to Rice. As of right now, I have a 31 on my ACT, a 2060 on my SAT plus writing, 670 on the Math portion of the SAT, 730 on the Reading section of the SAT, a 660 on the Writing (which includes a 10 on my essay). Right now I have a 4.43 on a six point scale as my GPA and have taken as many AP courses as I could and got no lower than a B in those. I got 5's on my AP US History and AP English Writing and Comp tests and 3's on my AP Chem and AP World History (which I didn't take the class for) tests. Additionally, I have compiled well over 200 hours of volunteer work in my four years of high school and was Life Rank in the Boy Scouts. I attended a Neuroscience class at Brown University as part of the Summer@Brown program and did "commendable" on the Duke TIP test. I have participated in varsity level sports as well, albeit at a small private school. I am planning to say that I am Hispanic as my great grandmother was of Spanish descent (although she had green eyes and white skin) , and despite the fact that I have a German surname and white skin . I may also put that I have Asperger's Syndrome if it would help any. Do I stand a good chance at getting into Rice or not? I am from the Houston area and I've heard they don't like to accept Houstonians.</p>
<p>TLDR</p>
<p>2060 on SAT
31 on ACT
Lots of volunteer work
Lots of AP classes
4.43 weighted GPA
White Hispanic Male</p>
<p>Rice University has an admittance rate of 19% (it’s practically an Ivy League) so you can never be sure if you’re going to get in. Your SAT scores match up pretty well (they fit in the mid 50%). But your GPA is going to be a HUGE advantage. Anyone with over a 4.0 is going to be REALLY desirable for any institution (maybe not Harvard or Yale, but you get what I’m saying). The fact that you’ve gotten 5’s on AP exams, and attended a class at Brown over the summer makes you an even more competetive candidate. By the looks of it, you have a pretty good chance at getting in. </p>
<p>You have aspergers? That will probobly work to your advantage, since colleges can’t disrciminate against applicants who have syndromes. You’re hispanic? I’m beginning to question whether or not you WON’T get in. You have a REALLY good chance at acceptance at Rice. Don’t worry about being from Houston.</p>
<p>Could you maybe chance me back? My post is the “Need help with college admission decisions…” </p>
<p>I think your post is overly optimistic wchrabasz.
His GPA is 4.43 out of a 6 point scale, not out of a 4 point.
What’s the deal with your GPA? That’s really rather low… is it weighted or unweighted?
What about class rank?
Honestly, Rice is about a med-high reach for you. Good luck though. See if you can get your SAT a bit higher to compensate for your GPA</p>
<p>What I mean by a 6 point scale is that you are awarded a 6.0 if you get an A in an AP course, 5 for an A in a dual credit or Honors course, 4.5 for an A in a Pre Ap course and 4 for an A in a level course. Because you are required to take athletic, elective, fine arts, computer, heath and speech credits it is impossible to graduate with a 6.0 GPA</p>
<p>They never specified that you had to be a certain percentage and I’m sorry, affirmative action is a cancer of a flawed system that I don’t want to take my chances with.</p>
<p>My application is actually eerily similar to yours… I’m applying ED to Rice as well. I’d put myself at a reach, and I think you are as well.</p>
<p>Btw… you’re required to have the SAT with two SAT II tests OR the ACT with writing.
If you didn’t do either, you need to sign up for either the SAT subject tests or the ACT w/ writing now.
The last applicable test date for ED at Rice is (SAT) Nov. 3rd. You can sign up for that regularly, or you can also sign up late ($79) for the October test.</p>
<p>It’s hard to figure out how exactly you stand with that sort of GPA scale/weighting. Hopefully your UW isn’t too bad. But the class rank/percentile is a more accurate means of getting an idea of how academically strong you are, so please share what it is.</p>
<p>And I also agree with jym626, it’s kind of messed up that you’re saying that you are Hispanic with no real basis for it. It’s not against the rules to report being a URM just because you are only 1/8 Hispanic, but it’s still kind of a lame move. I myself am Hispanic though, so I know that you just want to take advantage of AA since college admissions can be rough.</p>
<p>Your SAT/ACT is on the lower end as well. And just as kammn1 said, be aware that Rice requires 2 subject tests if sending in the SAT. So unless you plan to take a couple, I would recommend only retaking and sending in your ACT. I would try and shoot for a 33+ to really boost your chances.</p>
<p>Your biggest disadvantage is probably your ECs. You don’t really have any ECs that are unique or indicate a passion of any kind. There are no truly significant awards, leadership positions, accomplishments, etc. And a ton of people applying to Rice probably have 200+ hours of volunteering. I myself plan to apply to Rice and have ~900 hours :p</p>
<p>Also, I’m a little confused when you say you had “Lots of AP classes”? You only mentioned two classes (US Hist & English) that you actually took. You didn’t take the classes for Chemistry and World History and you also got 3s on the exams, which aren’t very good scores when it comes to Rice. But I suppose if you were taking the maximum difficulty of courses your school offered, you won’t be penalized for lack of APs. And hopefully you’re taking a challenging senior year courseload.</p>
<p>You could use the Asperger’s as a topic to make a fairly compelling essay about overcoming hardship or dealing with an affliction and such. Your choice. Overall, I’d say your chances at Rice are fairly average even with considering URM status. It’s still a reach so I would definitely get some safer choices</p>