<p>Hi, thanks for looking at my post, I really appreciate it. </p>
<p>Right now I'm a junior in high school, and recently I've been really interested in Rice. I think it might be my dream school; because of financial reasons, I've mostly just been looking at state schools such as FSU, UF, Auburn, and LSU, but my aunt told me to check out Rice, and from what I've heard it just sounds perfect. </p>
<p>I'm just a little worried about getting in-- I don't know my "real" college GPA, but I've projected that by the time I send in my application, I'll have about a 3.5 unweighted GPA, and a 5.3 weighted (with 0.4 points added for each honors class, .08 for each AP). I'm scheduled to take the SAT in March (I don't know if this gives you an idea of what I'm going to get on it, but I was in the 94th percentile for the PSAT--in Math I usually get around a 69, Writing a 61, Critical Reading a 59). </p>
<p>My Extra-curriculur activities have been:
Cross-Country
Track & Field
Vice President of Latin Club
Ecology Club (only 1 year)
Fellowship of Christian Athletes (only 1 year)
National English Honor Society
National Social Studies Honor Society
Anchor Volunteer Service</p>
<p>AP Classes I've taken:
Human Geography
American Government
World History
Calculus AB
English Language
American History
Psychology
Comparative Government</p>
<p>APs for next year:
Biology
Latin
Statistics
English Literature
European History
(Maybe Economics....)</p>
<p>Thank you so much! If you go to Rice, please mention if you think it was worth it, and any positive or negative comments you have about it!</p>
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<p>Before I comment on your actual question, I’d like to take a moment to point out how little sense this makes. Your high school has failed spectacularly in understanding what a weighted average is. Adding points to an average makes zero sense. I find it hard to call something a “grade point average” when its value is higher than the maximum number of grade points from a single unit.</p>
<p>Anyway, end rant. Begin on topic post.</p>
<p>I think you clearly demonstrate academic rigor in your curriculum. Your UW GPA is worrisome, as it’s pretty low for Rice. That said, your class rank is more important than your GPA (or estimate class rank where it’s not reported). Do you have any idea what it is?</p>
<p>I’m not really sure how that PSAT is supposed to translate to the SAT, but it looks a bit low - nothing too worrying though, especially since you can bring it up for the actual SAT.</p>
<p>As currently displayed, your ECs aren’t anything special, but they’re not bad either.</p>
<p>Therefore, while I’d prefer to have more information (e.g., actual SAT/ACT scores, some sense of your class rank, race, ethnicity, gender), I think that you have a shot, but that Rice is going to be a high reach for you.</p>
<p>I’m currently a freshman at Rice, and I’m definitely glad I picked it. I’ve only gotten happier with it since I’ve been here. Refer to some of the other threads for my specific comments.</p>
<p>Thanks for replying! Sorry my GPA was confusing (my school in general is pretty confusing, unfortunately), let me explain. If I continue getting the grades I usually do for each semester (6 As, 1 B), then I should have around a 3.5 when I apply to Rice. Now for the weighted part-- I don’t know why my school does this, it makes zero sense to me, but the way they figure out my weighted GPA is by adding .08 to my GPA for each AP class I’ve taken, and .04 for each honors. They’ve made it clear that this is not the weighted GPA I’ll be sending to college…but they neglect to tell me what that one IS. It’s incredibly frustrating. If you have any idea how to figure it out, I’d be really appreciative. </p>
<p>The reason my unweighted GPA is so low is because in seventh and eighth grade, I was hanging out with the wrong people and completely slacked. Because of it, I now have six Cs bringing down my GPA. Do you know if there’s anyway I could retake them over the summer? It should be easy for me, it would be Algebra I, Geometry, and one semester of Chemistry, one semester of Physics (very beginner). I’ve calculated how my unweighted GPA would increase if I exchanged the Cs for As, and I think it went up to about a 3.78 (so a huge jump). </p>
<p>Oh, and I’m a white female. Also, what could I do for my ECs? Because of my less-than-stellar GPA, I’d really like to stand out with that. What SAT/ACT score should I aim for?</p>
<p>Thanks so much, you’ve really been a huge help!</p>
<p>One more question, what are the dorms like? And are there any programs or anything to find roommates?</p>
<p>Sorry, just thought of one more question: I went to New Orleans freshman year for a week to do volunteer work for Katrina victims. Can I put that on my app? </p>
<p>And what are people like at Rice? I mean, if you HAD to put them in a stereotype…where would they be? I’ve just been kinda surrounded by rich, white, Christian preppy kids my entire life, and I’m a little sick of it. Just lots of racism and homophobia, which makes my blood boil.</p>
<p>It sounds like you’re have an upward trend in your GPA, which is definitely helpful. Freshman grades don’t usually carry much weight compared to the rest of your grades.</p>
<p>At this point I don’t think it’s worth trying to calculate your GPA, as admissions offices everywhere will look at it, say “huh?” and then look at the transcript and make their decisions based on that. Even with normally calculated GPAs, the transcript is far more revealing than the number.</p>
<p>Talk to your counselor about retaking courses over the summer - how that works depends on the high school.</p>
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<p>Middle 50% is usually a good goal.</p>
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<p>The residential college system is one of the best things about Rice. You’re assigned to one of the colleges the summer before you matriculate and remain a part of it even if you move off-campus. Unless you request a roommate (it has to be a mutual request), you’ll be matched with a roommate based on an extensive questionnaire that you complete before you come for O-Week. Your O-Week coordinators match you with a roommate based on the questionnaires and generally do a great job of it.</p>
<p>I’d definitely put the New Orleans thing on your app.</p>
<p>People at Rice are awesome. If I had to classify them, I’d argue that they’re generally cool nerds. Not your anti-social, nose-in-a-book-all-day nerds, but rather people who have some level of nerdiness to them but are still socially competent and great people.</p>
<p>There’s definitely a lot of diversity in SES, religion, race, ethnicity, etc. Racism and homophobia have no place at Rice; neither would go over well at all with anyone I’ve met.</p>
<p>Ok, thanks for all your help!</p>