Where to Early

College Search & Selection
1

I am an incoming senior. My dream school is Princeton, however, I live in downtown Houston and therefore am somewhat close to Rice (25 min away). Here are my stats:

Race: Asian
Gender: Male
SAT: 1590
SAT Subject: 800 Math, 800 Physics, 800 Biology, 780 US History
AP Exams: AP Calculus BC (5), AP Physics C Mech (5), AP Physics 2 (5), AP Physics 1 (4, oops), WHAP(5), APUSH(5), AP Biology (5), English III AP (5), AP European History (5)
GPA: 4.5/5.0
Rank: Top 7.5% at very competitive high school

Extracurricular: Awards: USAMO Qualifier, 13 on the AIME. Math is what I have spent most of my time on.
Officer Positions: Hold a position in three clubs currently.
Jobs: Work/research at a local hospital for 50 hours a week over this current summer.
Sports: Have won trophies (local level) in tennis, ultimate frisbee, and soccer.
Performs magic at a retirement home during free time.
Founded a STEM club dedicated to teaching the young; has been pretty successful so far and have extended to online classes and helping the underprivileged schools out.

I am planning to go into mathematics and add some pre-med classes on the chance that I want to go into medicine (which is fairly likely); if I decide to continue mathematics I will just go with math and CS.

So I realize that my chances of getting into Princeton are not very good. If I got into both Princeton and Rice I would choose Princeton. However, I am not sure whether to risk it by doing SCEA Princeton and regular Rice or just playing it safe with ED Rice and Regular Princeton, if I get rejected by Rice. It is not like I won’t go to a good school if I get rejected by both of these; I have plenty of solid, virtually guaranteed backup universities. Princeton is clearly the best for undergraduate, mathematics, and is very good for CS as well; Rice is not as great for math and CS but perhaps better for pre-med? Not sure…

So my question is, are my chances of getting into Rice high enough that I can risk it by regular-ing Rice, or should I just ED Rice?? I know that my chances of getting into Rice, even with ED, are not certain, maybe even not likely at all, but I really don’t know. As a corollary, which university would be better for my ambitions? Rice would certainly be cheaper (close to home), but Pton has a better brand name, not sure how much any of that stuff really matters though.

Sorry if this question is annoying or trite or something…

2

Congratulations on your hard work and success!

The question is not annoying or trite. Unfortunately, there’s no good answer. Both schools are hyper-competitive. Lots of great, great, fully qualified applicants are denied admissions. Odds are better ED, I think (even factoring in recruited athletes, legacies, etc.).

Assuming both are affordable, it’s just a bet. You just have to weight the odds for yourself? Price differences? How much more do you want to go to Princeton? How much does getting in ED matter to you?

On the how much more do you want to go to Princeton question, I’d just suggest that both schools are elite, elite schools. Really, the difference would be like the difference between the 7th best player on the NBA West All-Star squad and the 8th best, if that. Rice offers an education as strong as any place in the world. Just for some perspective, I know three extremely wealthy people in my town, think 8 figures or more. All grew up middle class. One attended a second-tier public university, two attended third-tier public universities, both in states that would rank low for higher education. They are all smart and work hard. So if you consider that, then the difference between Princeton and Rice might seem smaller.

Good luck, you are in great shape, you’ll go to a great school. Maybe think about the process as an opportunity to look at yourself. What motivates you? What inspires you? Where do you want to go? What kind of people make you your best person? Figuring out all that will be a huge plus for college, and for life.

Good luck!

3

No one’s chances at Rice are “high enough.” http://www.ricethresher.org/article/2019/03/acceptance-rate-hits-record-low-of-8-7-percent

ED to the school you like the most and have a realistic list of match and safety schools.

4

I’d suggest asking your counselor or looking up (if you can) how students from your high school with similar records do in Rice ED and RD. Unless it’s a huge difference (like 40% get in vs. 10%) I don’t think applying ED to the school you don’t like the best would make sense. (It probably wouldn’t make sense in any case.) I’d say just apply to Princeton SCEA and Rice RD. And if you’re thinking about the cost: Princeton, even with travel, is probably only a few thousand more than Rice. If you need a lot of financial aid, Princeton’s really great FA might well make up the difference or more. And if you don’t need FA, I’m guessing your parents would be willing to pay an extra $4000 for you to go to Princeton.

5

Your analysis of relative strength of each school is correct. If you’re sure that you’d go to medical school later, Rice ED would be a better choice. Majoring in math at Princeton would be very unusual and more challenging path to a medical school.
Rice also offers more opportunities for medical-related internships. Coming from Texas and with your stats, you should have a better than decent shot at ED acceptance by Rice. However, if your real interest is math and not medicine, you should SCEA Princeton instead, but the odds of acceptance are significantly longer. It will also likely produce different, not necessarily better or worse, outcome career-wise.

6

Rice will be better as a Texas resident for pre-med purposes, since interviewing at Texas public medical schools (relatively low cost for medical schools) will be much easier, and Princeton does not have as much grade inflation as many similarly selective colleges.

http://www.gradeinflation.com/Princeton.html (3.39 in 2014 at Princeton)
http://www.gradeinflation.com/Rice.html (3.55 in 2015 at Rice)

But consider undergraduate costs carefully, because even lower cost medical schools will be expensive (probably about $200k total for Texas public medical schools, versus $400k total for private medical schools), and a heavy debt load will limit your career and life choices. Saving money in undergraduate to apply to medical school costs can reduce the debt you will finish medical school with. Depending on how cost compares, do not overlook UT Austin as a possibility, if you can get in.

Princeton may be better connected to Wall Street recruiting, where math majors may be in demand for quantitative finance.

7

I know students who got accepted at Princeton at rejected at Rice and vice versa. At schools of this level, there are no safeties. You are competitive for both but being Asian, your odds aren’t as strong. ED at Rice would increase your chances, SCEA at Princeton is just throwing it away for perceived prestige.

8

There’s nowhere better than Princeton for an undergraduate studying math. Rice is good for math too, but - as you noted - not on the same level.

Many high schoolers think they want to become doctors, but very few end up applying to medical school. Last year 5 times as many students took the MCAT as those who applied to medical school, and many more students dropped off the pre-med track before taking the MCAT.

Then apply early to Princeton. You have a very strong application.