smartone92

Rice is my top choice for sure and it is my dream school! I love everything about it!

Me:
17 yrs old, Asian - Vietnamese, 3 little sisters, father is a computer engineer with a masters (probably no financial aid for me :[ ), mom stays at home and has no degree

Grades over the years:
Mid-As to low-As and some high B's here and there

ACT score: 32

Unweighted GPA: 4.0/4.0
Weighted GPA: 5.2969/5.0
Rank: 18/566
*My district's GPA scale is really weird. The regular scale for us is 5.0 scale and then AP classes are on the 6.0 scale.

9th grade classes:
Pre-AP: World Geography, Geometry, Biology, English I
Electives: Spanish II, BCIS (technology), 2 gym classes (to get rid of required credits), Personal & Family Development (just a filler)
*My parents made me take regular Spanish II because they didn't want me to spend lots of time working on projects for Spanish like I did in Spanish I.

10th grade classes:
AP: World History (score - 4), Computer Science A (did not take test because bad teacher)
Pre-AP: Chemistry, English II, Algebra II, Spanish III
Electives: Communication Applications (speech credit, required), Medical Terminology, 2 gym classes

11th grade classes:
AP: U.S. History (5), English Language (5)
Pre-AP: Precalculus, Spanish IV, Physics
Electives: Health Science Technology I, Art I (required), Medical Microbiology, Pathophysiology

12th grade classes:
AP: Calculus BC, Biology, Chemistry, English Literature, U.S. Government
Regular: Economics*
Electives: Office Aide*, Health Science Technology II Clinicals (go to hospital for 2 months and get medical experience, double-blocked class, about 2-3 hrs long)
*Being in HST II made me drop some of the classes I wanted to take. I wanted to take AP Macroeconomics, Honors Anatomy & Physiology, and AP Spanish Language. I ended up keeping HST II because I wanted medical experience since I want to become a heart surgeon. So, I had to take regular (ew) Economics because it's required and Office Aide because we can't have off periods during 2nd or 6th period (those are the attendance periods for A day and B day).

Extracurricular Activities:
LEO Club: member (9-12), secretary (11) - community service club, lots of hours done

HOSA: member (10-12), chairperson of competitive events (12) - Health Occupations Students of America - competed (10-12) - 1st place in Area & 3rd place in State for Medical Spelling (11) - State Finalist in Kaiser Permanente Health Care Issues Exam (10-11) - will continue to compete in those 2 areas this year - spend lots of time working on organizing competition study groups etc this year - lots of community service

National Honor Society: member (11-12)

National Spanish Honor Society: member (12)

UIL Spelling: 10th grade, somehow disappeared the next year

Piano: 9th-11th grade, started playing since end of 5th grade, parents took me out of lessons this year because of stress of senior year

Community Service:
Hospital: 282 hours as of last Friday, worked 1 yr at information desk, just moved up to the 4th floor with patient rooms, 11th-12th grade, plan to volunteer there until I move to college, routine thing every Friday night 5-9pm

Blue Santa: gift wrapping (10)
Special Olympics: 9th grade, help out in ball throw
Pet Clinic: 11th grade, helping for NHS

Planning on scheduling an interview with a local Rice alum. Hoping to get into Baylor med school program.

Other schools of interest: Baylor, UT Austin, A&M

smartone92

Can someone please answer?

r-crispie

Looks like good general application potential, but the joint Baylor program is probably extraordinarily competitive. I would suggest that you try to find 1-2 more good schools outside Texas, closer to Rice's selectivity and personal attention characteristics (LACs, small uni). Might try to soften preprofessional emphasis and better detail volunteer work. It is too crazy out there to predict admissions' yeas or nays.

Private schools financial aid might be better than expected, FAFSA is your key (more optimistic on merit aid). If your sisters' future college years overlap, it will improve the later years' FA calculation. I've heard Financial Aid officers say that they have parents in FA that make almost 1/2 million (presumably lots of kids in private schools). Schools with academic merit scholarships may be useful.

One daughter had a 1-2 month bidding war that went on until the mail delivery on the May 1 acceptance day, three out of four 2nd tier schools. Also this daughter was later interested in MD-PhD until she actually looked/sat in at med schools (some Ivys, Duke, Baylor, SW) after soph summer research - totally lost interest in MD, drew 100k NIH grant for first 2 yrs in PhD program. Bear in mind your interests may change.

Might recheck 4.0 unweighted GPA with "low-As and some high B's".

dixiesilverjojo

awesome, I'm applying to Rice too...it's also my dream school.
Let's hope we both get in!
I'm insanely nervous though...the average stats of the students who are accepted are unbelievable!...

jums89

You look fine in the applicant pool so I wouldn't stress too much! R-Crispie is right though; you need to find a few more schools to apply to. I'd say if you're comfortable in Texas, you don't need to apply elsewhere but if you're up to the challenge of moving out of state, then go for it! Do note, the Rice-Baylor program is insanely difficult to get in to but I wish you all the best and hope to see you at Rice!

smartone92

Thanks for all of your input!