@Calicash, to whom is that directed?
It seems that Jim is bent on putting down this university for whatever reason.
I donât see why someone would worry about Jimkingwoodâs comments. I mean this person is bothered by people donating $million$ of dollar$ to a university & then have the university name them after them after making a ma$$ive charitable gift.
âI donât see why someone would worry about Jimkingwoodâs comments. I mean this person is bothered by people donating $million$ of dollar$ to a university & then have the university name them after them after making a ma$$ive charitable gift.â - By the way, in case someone didnât get my point, Rice University along with Stanford, Duke, Vanderbilt & many others exists solely because someone donated a massive amount of money and had not just a building, but a whole university named after them.
@Fredjan I was referring to the OP.
Iâm in an almost identical situation!
Stats
SAT: N/A
SAT IIs: N/A
ACT: 33 w/ Writing (only took once)
UW GPA: 3.78
W GPA: 4.81
Rank: 1/224
AP Scores: Chemistry (5), Biology (4), US History (5), English L&C (5), World History (4), Psychology (5)
Senior Year Course Load: AP Sciences Aid, AP English Lit, AP Physics 1, AP Physics 2, AP Calculus, AP Government, AP Economics
Awards: Top 50 National STEM Student, BPA State Qualifier (2x Business Management and Global Marketing), National Commended Scholar (PSAT 216, didnât even know what it was), District Champion: Physics, Biology, Chemistry, Ready Writing, Mathematics, Regional Champion: Ready Writing, State: 3rd Ready Writing (on track to win Science this year), Highest GPA (weighted) in Schoolâs History, only 100 ever given by local college in Public Speaking, Varsity Track Athlete, Eagle Scout, and AP Scholar. (probably forgot something)
Extracurricular: Business Professionals of America (Marketing and Business Leader), UIL Academics (President and Science Captain), Religious Seminary (6hr/wk in addition to Sun. and Wed.), Cross Country and Track (Senior Varsity Rep.), Boy Scouts of America (Patrol Leader, Scribe, Varsity Scout), Student Advisory Council (Superintendentâs Advisor).
Community Service Hours: 400+
Work Experience: Tai Li Chinese Restaurant (15-20hr/wk for <1yr)
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Essays: 9-10/10. They were all exceptional essays, insightful and creative. They were edited and complemented by two talented mentors with English Masterâs.
Teacher Recs: Each over 2 pages long without double spacing. They went above and beyond (Iâm a favorite).
Counselor Rec: 8/10
Hook (if any): N/A
City, State: Houston, Texas
School Type: Public
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Gender: Male
Major: Bioengineering
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Strengths: Essays, Recommendations, ECs, Work Experience, National Top 50 STEM award, Course Rigor, GPA, unusually normal Valedictorian, demonstrated interest
Weaknesses: Standardized Scores, Small Class Size, Ethnicity?
It stings that I wasnât even wait listed. If it werenât for financial concerns, I would have applied ED. What do transfer opportunities look like?
@CaliCash, all right, thanks for clarifying that!
@franko5150, I suppose thatâs true.
On the other hand, OP is exactly the kind of student top private universities DO NOT want. Like Suzy Lee Weiss, he offers âas much diversity as a saltine cracker.â
Yet, heâs also highly likely to become a prominent figure in his field.
Recjected by Rice first year and then transfer⊠really reallly sad. Just paid deposit to VanderbiltâŠStill thinking about appealing donât know if itâs worth it.
@RHU1995, you were admitted into Vanderbilt (as a transfer, no less!) for a reason: they firmly belive that youâd be an excellent addition to their campus.
Whatever your field is, youâll do fine.
A lot of the people I know who got into top schools (Ivies) did extraordinary things like publish research papers, publish books, Siemens, etc. âŠ
@ScienceGirlMom re:Rice softies I think Rice can be and is a great school depending on oneâs goals, especially the premed, computer science (used to be very good assume still is). It is a great school, especially for students entering medical and executive-level positions.
But take a big flagship university like UT: freshman are thrown to the wolves (this is, admittedly, somewhat dependent on major) and it is a major test of endurance to get through the lower division and safely into the upper classes. My major lost > 50%. We had a BSci and BArts side, we lost maybe 70% of the BSci. Most of my chem and physics classes had a couple hundred people. English Lit, forget it, it was in a theater that seats 600 or so, and it was full. Our projects were stressful all-nighters, big classes, no excuses accepted. I had to argue with professors, and I reported one to the program office, we had a sit-down with the head of the department and I won, changing a grade from a 40 to a 61 (a high A). It was brutal.
My daughter and I visited a brand-name liberal arts college, where the presenter told us that professors and staff will see you walking on campus, and come up to you to ask how well you are doing, and if they think you are stressed, may ask you to visit with them and discuss your problems and get to the bottom of things to make sure you have help.
I told her that at UT nobody gives a shit how you are doing. Suck it up, study, figure out what you need to do, and get it done.
And I am not saying that is better, good, or worse, whatever, it is what it is. I do know that the big flagship resumes go to the top of the stack for positions requiring independence, self-starting, a strong work ethic and proven ability to just get things done without complaining, period. And knowing when to ask for help and what questions to ask.
This is what my friend was saying: the Rice grads he has worked with, or had working for him, were not toughened by the forge of college life. He is a CPA and VP of accounting, but works with marketing, legal, technical, and other professionals but I assumed he was referring to accounting.
Edit: he also worked with one notable Ivy grad that he thought was just not up to the job at all; the person was a Columbia grad, and he said âfor sure he/she could not have made it through the UT College of Business.â The person asked off-base questions, didnât know when to ask for help rather than get bogged down, argued points that were settled and not up for debate, etc. âYou know, this person has never been tested, wasnât vetted the way a weed-out school does. huh. I guess they (Columbia) just take the money and pass them through.â
And I think there is truth to that. And I think the purpose of a Rice or Columbia degree is sometimes different from, say, UT-Austin, or UNC Chappell Hill, etc. It depends on, maybe, whether someone is pursuing an MD, fine arts, or accounting, or engineering or communications, etc.
Just my $.02
Let me put things in perspective for all readers who are complaining about not getting into Rice.
There are 3700+ high schools just in state of Texas. If Rice wanted to admit 100% of the class from Texas and just made offers to Valedictorians only, with the yield rate of 38%, they will have a class acceptance of over 1400 students. Whereas the class size at Rice is 950 every year. Adding to this the Athlete recruits and minority (Hispanic and Black etc) students and Vision candidates (low income), they will end up with a class of over 1800 students which is 2 times what their class size needs to be. Its that difficult to get into Rice or for that matter any other top 20 institution.
Jimkinwood makes interesting points I think. I had a boss I respected who told me he encouraged his son to go to the State flagship for just the reasons Jimkinwood cites. However, as with all things, it is not a hard and fast rule. But as parents we can recognize where the school might be weak in terms of your students development and then try and provide opportunities to shore these areas up.
- There are more qualified applicants than open spots.
- Rice wants to expand its name recognition accross the US and overseas. To do this THEY MUST decrease the percentage of TX students to around 15-20%. Most of the other top 20 U's are in this range for instate students. This will make it more and more difficult for Tx students to get in.
@Jimkingwood As far as majors, I completely agree with what you said. UT (for example) ranks #1 in Accounting in the nation and business/finance/accounting interns/graduates are accepted into Wall Street. However, UT may be slightly more lacking in other majors, or may have bigger disadvantages in other majors (medicine, etc.), but this should not be a discouragement. Of course, disadvantages (and advantages) introduce cutthroat competition.
Perhaps some Rice grads arenât âtoughened,â socially and/or academically. I would like to point out that people from other public schools arenât âtoughenedâ either. My dad had a few interns under him, one of whom was a UC Berkeley sophomore, and my dad claimed that he didnât know what he was doing at allâŠand UC Berkeley is definitely very competitive.
Exceptions apply to every situation. Regardless of which college someone attends, that person should learn to be independent, self-sufficient, etc. Personally, I do not believe that Rice is soft, but even if people find that Rice doesnât challenge them to their full potential, they should find opportunities to do so.
By the way, D went to WashU St. Louis for a specific program. She rescinded her app at Rice, but her counselor told her she was accepred, they were going back and taking Texas residents in a second rou d or something like that. I asked her to consider UT but she refused. She- and I- disliked the campus and the tour. They took up so much of the open space, the campus is not attractive.
Her mom and I are UT grads. Mom is a business school grad and an executive today.
@Jimkingwood
Good for her!
Jimkingwood, so will she be attending Rice, or WashSt.L? Enjoy reading your posts.
@franko5150 @Fredjan Thank you! She is at WUSTL, in mid-terms and doing well do far.
Thanks for sharing & responding. Both are great schools, so whichever way landed on her feet.