get into Rice University

okay i REALLY want to get in like REALLY bad. im a freshman in college i have like a 4.1ish 2 ish average. but i live in texas which they dont seem to like and my school is like SUPER competetive with like people that have like 4.7 GPA not in top ten percent not that being top ten will get you in rice. but I REALLY want to go and I heard you have to be unique?? like what community service.. lots of jobs.. im probably going to do dance in my junior year and ill be in NHS next year,, um im in this latin club thing and im in the yearbook staff.. i play piano and clarinet outside of school and i work pretty hard to keep my grades up except i get lazy sometimes.. lol
anyways does anyone have something they can help me with?? thanks!

i really really do… it’s my dream school- and it won’t kill me if i don’t. i just… i dunno, don’t you ever feel like there were some things that were just made for you?
My GPA isn’t good enough for the average Rice student, but I am doing International Baccalaureate for the Diploma, and I’ve been in Model UN for 4 years now, I’m the VP of my school’s national honor society chapter, I’m in the school play every year, and I started a service/awareness group for students wanting to take action against genocide.
I’m not trying to make up for anything, I just hope I seem well rounded enough. I loved rice when i visited following my sophomore year of high school. I’m a senior now, but i can’t get that arch out of my head… I live overseas (I am an American) and it just seemed welcoming to people of my situation. I fell in love.

Iam from Omaha, Ne and my freshmen year of high school i went to go visit some universities in texas and I also fell in love with Rice University. So i worked super hard on my grades and played soccer through out my high school career. I applied to Rice university on my Senior year i had a 4.2 GPA and when i opened up the letter they sent me i was surprised i did not get in, it was biggest let down i have ever experienced . So now i go to a private university here in Nebraska but hoping to get accepted at SMU!

I’m actually on my second year at a community college – I HAVE to transfer after this semester and if I don’t get into Rice, I’ll have to go to UH Clear Lake. I actually have so many things going against me that I have lost hope so many times – I am too old (23), I have 2 kids already, my GPA is only a 3.2, and I’m not really involved in anything – I hadn’t really had a chance to, but who is going to care.. The only things going for me are – lots of multi-cultural experience – I’ve moved to a new country every 4 years of my life, I’m bilingual in Engl and Russian, I can also speak some Arabic. I seriously don’t think that I can get in, but having a high quality education has been a very important goal in my life…I just never really knew what steps I had to take to get it – the requirements are so different in every country… But as I read y’all’s posts I also got a feeling that I don’t really deserve this – I hadn’t worked for it as long as y’all have…

ok so im going to be a senior next year in high school and I’ve been doing some research on
colleges and basically my university is Rice… I’m in a bit of a predicament because I’ve had ok grades in the past like a B average, and I’m just starting to realize how badly I want to go to Rice. Is it too late to start trying? Well, I have a year left so I signed up for all AP/honors classes. I’ve taken them before but I never tried hard enough in those classes. So hopefully if i study really hard and keep focused I can get a 4.5 GPA but is it possible? Is it enough? I just need to know what i need to do!!! HELP! well what I’ve done so far is sign up for volunteering for as much as I can this summer and I’m taking the SAT for the first time in October,What score should i shoot for?. Also, I’m involved in my high school orchestra and I’m in spanish National honor society. Should I join more things?
AAhhhhhh this is my dream college! I need to know everything I can do and what I need to get. I’ll try my hardest!! Any tips??

I have okay grades (3.2 GPA) I am now trying harder. But I’m only a freshman in High School and I am already in the top 25 Percent in my class. I know I need to do better if i want to get into this college but, what classes should I be taking. I’m taking 2 math classes next year to make up for my faults in 8th grade. But what other classes should i take instead of an elective?? I REALLY need help!
Thank you!

I’m a junior in high school this year, until last spring I had no idea where I wanted to go to college. I have always known that I wanted to go someplace really unique and unconventional, and none of the state colleges in Texas that I had visited(A&M, UT Austin, Tech) really lived up to my expectations. Then I heard about Rice… It sounded amazing, so I researched it, and I decided that I might really want to go there. Then I read the admission statistics, and only about 30 percent of applicants are admitted. Tough odds.
My mom took me to Houston to visit Rice during an on campus day in November, and on that day, I fell in love. It might sound overdramatic, but I completely adored every aspect of Rice University. The originality of the student body, the gorgeous campus, the caring professors, the educational opportunities…. it just amazed me. Rice seems like the perfect place for me, and honestly, I can’t imagine myself going anywhere else. It’s kind of hard, because I know that the odds of getting in are REALLLY against me. I don’t want to build my Rice dream up in my head too much, because I don’t want the letdown if I don’t get in. I can’t help it though! I want this SO much… Rice feels so perfect and so RIGHT. I strongly believe that if I get in, my life will be changed forever for the better.
I make good grades, mostly A’s, I take all honors classes, I’m in the top 8% of my class, I am yearbook editor, decently conversational in spanish, on student senate, on drill team, in Spanish Club, in NHS, I recently made a 2090 on the SAT and I think I’m pretty creative. Is this enough to get in? If anyone knows what I should do differently, or has any tips on what classes I should add to my schedule, or advice on what to say in the Rice interview, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE tell me.
I want this more than I have ever wanted anything in my life.

Transferred into University of Houston instead, and all in all, I love it. Not bummed anymore at all about not getting into Rice. They don’t know what they are missing.

But I did get wait listed. I guess thats better than rejection in some ways, but I don’t plan on waiting in limbo or being an alternate. If Rice doesnt think I’m good enough, then they don’t deserve me. I cried, I thought about it, and in the end thats what I have realized. I already have an honors program lined up at the University of Texas that only accepts 180 kids a year, I don’t need Rice. Yes, I’ve been wanting to go there for years, but if they can’t open their eyes and realizes how amazing I am, how much potential I have, how much I would help their college and make them look good, then their loss. Not mine. And I refuse to see it any other way.

I’m incredibly nervous…Just a few more days and not only do I hear back from Rice, but almost every college I applied to what seems such a long time ago. All my hard work for 4 years…and this is what it comes down to. The final stretch, and less than a week before I decide on a huge part of my future.