Official Decisions Thread - Reference for 08/09 Applicants

[Beef]

It seems that the decisions are scattered and unorganized, so this is a thread for all ED'ers to post whether they got accepted/deferred/rejected.
Good job to everyone who got in. If you didn't, don't worry. Work on your other apps and on supplementing the Rice app; you guys are all awesome and will get in somewhere good, whether it's Rice or not.

I stole this format from another thread somewhere, but this is a good way to post stats. Erase the blank spots and fill in the info, even if you're not happy with it.

This will be a great help for next year's applicants, so please do it!

(you don't have to fill in the "What I put in my box" section)


[ size=+1][ color=green][ b]Accepted[ /b][ /color][ /size]

[ size=+1][ color=red][ b]Rejected[ /b][ /color][ /size]

[ size=+1][ color=blue][ b]Deferred[ /b][ /color][ /size]

[ b]Stats:[ /b][ list]
[ *]SAT:
[ *]SAT II:
[ *]ACT:
[ *]GPA:
[ *]Rank:
[ *]Other Tests (AMC, AP, IB):
[ /list][ b]Subjective[ /b][ list]
[ *]Essays:
[ *]Teacher Recs:
[ *]Counselor Rec:
[ *]Supplementary Material:
[ *]Hook(recruited athlete, legacy, Nobel Prize):
[ *]What I put in my "BOX": [ /list][ b]Personal[ /b][ list]
[ *]Location:
[ *]High School Type:
[ *]Ethnicity:
[ *]Gender
[ *]Applied for Financial Aid: Y/N[ /list][ b]Other[ /b][ list]
[ *]Extracurriculars:
[ *]Awards:
[ *]Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?:[ /list]

[Beef]

Accepted

Stats:

• SAT: 2100
• SAT II: 800 Physics, 750 Math II, 710 Spanish
• ACT: 32
• GPA: 3.9 W, 3.75 UW
• Rank: No rank, Top 5%
• Other Tests (AMC, AP, IB): Physics C Mech (5), U.S. History (4), Calc BC (5)

Subjective

• Essays: very good
• Teacher Recs: excellent
• Counselor Rec: good
• Supplementary Material: none
• Hook(recruited athlete, legacy, Nobel Prize): co-authored research paper

Personal

• Location: Texas
• High School Type: Very competitive
• Ethnicity: White/Latino
• Gender: Male
• Applied for Financial Aid: Y

Other

• Extracurriculars: Under-water basket weaving
• Awards: AP Scholar
• Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?: Write a kick-a** essay. Show interest.

[xntrick]

Accepted

Stats:

• SAT: 2200
• SAT II: 700 Chem, 690 Lit, 600 Math II :x
• ACT: Didn't take
• GPA: ~3.7 UW
• Rank: Our school doesn't rank
• Other Tests (AMC, AP, IB): None

Subjective

• Essays: Pretty good, I'd like to think
• Teacher Recs: Decent
• Counselor Rec: Decent
• Supplementary Material: None
• Hook(recruited athlete, legacy, Nobel Prize): Didn't really have one...
• What I put in my "BOX": I sketched a picture of Damien Rice

Personal

• Location: Southern California
• High School Type: Public, very large
• Ethnicity: Chinese
• Gender: Female
• Applied for Financial Aid: Yes

Other

• Extracurriculars: School newspaper, editor of school's literary and art magazine, historian for Hope Can Cure Cancer Club, secretary for Spanish Club, Student Council Orientation Commission, VolunTeens, internship at local newspaper, job at Kumon Math & Reading center as a reading instructor.
• Awards: Some random, unimportant stuff...NHS, CSF, etc.
• Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?: I wrote my Common App essay on Batman and I seriously think it's what got me in :P So seriously, spend some time on your essays!

[natb22]

Rejected



Stats:

• SAT: Didn't take
• SAT II: Biology E-660 Literature- 650
• ACT: 25 (E-29 M-18 R-30 S-24?Writing- 5 (long story about why it's like this, but I do have an excuse))?This is no doubt what killed my chances
• GPA: 3.5
• Rank: Top 10%
• Other Tests (AMC, AP, IB): None

Subjective

• Essays: Decent, they were rushed, though
• Teacher Recs: Don't know, but I figure they were pretty good
• Counselor Rec: No idea, it could have gone either way, knowing my counselor
• Supplementary Material: None
• Hook(recruited athlete, legacy, Nobel Prize): First Gen
• What I put in my "BOX": A star (I'm going into Astronomy)

Personal

• Location: MO
• High School Type: So un-competitive that there isn't a word to describe it
• Ethnicity: White
• Gender: Female
• Applied for Financial Aid: Wasn't going to apply until I knew the decision

Other

• Extracurriculars:Environmental club, Book club, various service projects
• Awards: Science award, Academic achievement
• Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?:?Oh yes, this is totally something I want to brag about.

[freespirit22]

Accepted



Stats:

• SAT: 2270
• SAT II: 800 Math Level 2; 780 Chemistry; 720 Literature
• ACT: 33
• GPA: 4.0
• Rank: 1/843
• Other Tests (AMC, AP, IB): AP - Physics B (4); Chemistry (5); English Lang. (5); U.S. History (5); French Language (5); Statistics (5)

Subjective

• Essays: creative
• Teacher Recs: didn't read but am assuming that they were "glowing"
• Counselor Rec: didn't read; probably good
• Supplementary Material: none
• Hook(recruited athlete, legacy, Nobel Prize): none
• What I put in my "BOX": drew a picture about Cats (the musical)

Personal

• Location: Texas
• High School Type: Public
• Ethnicity: Asian
• Gender: Female
• Applied for Financial Aid: Y

Other

• Extracurriculars: Mu Alpha Theta (VP); NHS (chairhead); Decathlon; UIL Academics; volunteer at hospital; lab assistant for high school science dept.
• Awards: Local science award; AP Scholar with Distinction; National Merit Commended Student; Teen volunteer award
• Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?: Work on those essays! They reveal your writing skills and your personality. Also try to get an interview and take a tour; I think Rice cares about demonstrated interest.

[mathnerd4869]

Accepted

Stats:

• SAT: 2230
• SAT II: 800 Chem, 800 Math II, 800 Latin
• ACT: didn't take
• GPA: 4.36 W
• Rank: 6/1309
• Other Tests (AMC, AP, IB): Human Geography-5, Calc BC-5, Latin Virgil- 5, US History- 4, English language-5, Chem- 5

Subjective

• Essays: I knew they were the other me when I finished them
• Teacher Recs: Didn't read but possibly better than my whole app
• Counselor Rec: probably amazing
• Supplementary Material: None
• Hook(recruited athlete, legacy, Nobel Prize): Recently moved to the US, also mentioned in a research paper ^_^
• What I put in my "BOX": A pic of T-shirt saying "Latin Kicks!" below a map of Italy

Personal

• Location: Texas
• High School Type: public, very large
• Ethnicity: Asian
• Gender: Male
• Applied for Financial Aid: Y

Other

• Extracurriculars: Math club, Latin club (treasurer), Piano, Band, NHS, internship
• Awards: AP scholar w/ distinction, National Merit SF, AMC awards, USNCO, international piano, NJCL, etc.
• Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?: The essay topic might seem like a hard one, but don't make it so hard for yourself!!

[reid2575]

Accepted

Stats:

• SAT: 2240
• SAT II: 780 BioM, 710 Lit, 710 USH, 690 MathII :/
• ACT: 33
• GPA: 5.4 W, 4.0 UW
• Rank: 4/1000
• Other Tests (AMC, AP, IB): AP Eng Lang (5), AP Span Lang (4)

Subjective

• Essays: I was proud
• Teacher Recs: Very nice... "glowing"?
• Counselor Rec: Idk, probably generic/ok... counselor is new & cold
• Supplementary Material: None
• Hook(recruited athlete, legacy, Nobel Prize): First Gen; Family Issues; Gold Medalist in my martial art
• What I put in my "BOX": pic of a tarsier

Personal

• Location: Houston area
• High School Type: large public, very competitive
• Ethnicity: white
• Gender: female
• Applied for Financial Aid: Y

Other

• Extracurriculars: NHS, NSHS, Spanish Club, sculpture, hospital volunteer, martial arts
• Awards: Various medals at various tournaments in my martial art, National Merit Commended, and just some school stuff like perfect attendance, etc
• Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?: Demonstrate interest. Essays are key.

[xntrick]

Beef:

you do underwater basket weaving???
that is...amazing!

[pedrossi]

Accepted

Stats:[/b]

• SAT: 2050
• SATII: 650 US History (ouch!), 800 Physics, 740 Math II
• ACT: 31 (35 Math, 31 Sci, 29 Eng, 28 Reading (ouch!))
• GPA: 3.9 W (hardest curriculum, lots of engineering, math, science
  classes)
• Rank: 7/144
• Other Tests(AMC,AP,IB): Physics B - 5, US His - 4, Spanish Lang - 4 (non-native speaker)

Subjective

• Essays:
  Started them in the summer. The 9 people who reviewed them said they were the best they'd read in a long time, and I thought they were pretty interesting.
  
• Teacher Recs:
  Great rec (I think) from physics teacher who is Rice alum, also letter from local ophthalmologist and one from a PhD researcher in whose lab I worked.
  
• Counselor Rec:
  We're tight, she considers me one of her top students.
  
• Supplementary Material:
  Well-organized resume
  
• Hook(recruited athlete,legacy,Nobel Prize):
  Immigrated from Brazil a few years ago, two-time karate state champion, passion for engineering.
  
• What I put in my"BOX":A drawing of schematics, white board, blueprints, space shuttle taking off, and a quote.
  

Personal

• Location: South Texas
  
• High School Type: public magnet, recently ranked 6th best in nation by Newsweek, makes top 50 every year, geared towards engineering, very competitive.
  
• Ethnicity: Brazilian (latino but not hispanic)
  
• Gender: Male
  
• Applied for FinancialAid:Yes

Other

• Extracurriculars:
  lots and lots of karate, peer tutoring, taught myself some programming languages, worked as freelance programmer throughout high school, lots and lots of soccer, and decent volunteering. Also random clubs like NHS, etc...
  
• Awards:
  AP Scholar, karate state champion 2005+2006, random non-notable awards here and there.
  
• Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?:
  Put a lot of effort in your application, the box, and especially the essays. Show a lot of interest in Rice (I spent 2 weeks in a bioengineering symposium in the summer, knew Rice alumni, visited on open-campus day even though I live 7 hours away, etc). Also, make friends with the admissions counselor for your area (mine is really awesome) and definitely do an interview if you can.

Good luck to everyone!

[shanny08]

Accepted


Stats:

• SAT: 2230: 760 M, 720 CR, 750 W
• SAT II: 790 Math II, 740 US History, 700 Physics..
• ACT: didn't take it
• GPA: 4.6331 W
• Rank: 4/690
• Other Tests (AMC, AP, IB): AP World History (4), AP US History (5), AP Eng Lang (5), IB Spanish SL (7)

Subjective

• Essays: pretty good in retrospect, hastily written, but honest
• Teacher Recs: amaaaazing, my english teacher writes beautifully!
• Counselor Rec: good, IB Coordinator, so she actually knows me and had things to write about.
• Supplementary Material: none
• Hook(recruited athlete, legacy, Nobel Prize): none

Personal

• Location: Fort Worth, TX
• High School Type: Public, IB World School, good district, school is very diverse (yay tongans haha) and excels in a lot of programs (football, choir, photo, etc.)
• Ethnicity:white
• Gender: F
• Applied for Financial Aid: Y

Other

• Extracurriculars: NHS President, Earth Club, Band Council Treasurer, Principal Oboe, Drumline (Cymbals), Spanish Honor Society, IB, Church Mission Trips, Camp Counselor, Computer Programming Team (went to state), Gymnastics
• Awards: National Merit SF, AP Scholar, Texanne of the Month
• Advice? Commiserations? Feel like bragging?:

I would say let your integrity and your passion for education and human connection shine through. You really stand out when you're committed to using your talents to better the community and when your activities reflect compassion for others and the pursuit of collective fulfillment rather than an attempt to inflate your application with clubs that have no significance in your life. Honesty, humility, and selfless ambition are worth so much more than a perfect SAT score.

[pedrossi]

Honesty, humility, and selfless ambition are worth so much more than a perfect SAT score.

I agree completely.