I don’t want to be too confident, but based on what I’ve seen from people getting in, I think I have an at least decent chance. Also, my major is non-competitive. The main thing with this school is that the seats fill up fast. So with a less competitive major, it shouldn’t be as bad. I’ll check out Pitt and Minnesota, thanks for the recommendation!
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Not many jobs available for public health, and the ones that are, may be extremely low paying and unsustainable.
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Thank you, I’ll definitely check it out!
Yes, for the most part that is true. You will need an MPH.
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Many people also consider Vanderbilt as another option.
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If this is the case, why apply - and how are they any different from Rice in perceived perception. Well, that’s the thing with perceived perception - it’s subjective.
We all view a school’s “ranking” differently.
To me, these are three identical schools - yes, Rice has the residential colleges and is by NASA - but they’re actually quite similar - and U MIami and Wake Forest aren’t far off either.
U Miami has this program if interested.
Health Professions Mentoring Program | Undergraduate Admissions | University of Miami
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Beautiful - love those who love you.
Let us know how Rice goes, etc. And yes, please talk to your counselor - because your HS and situation are unique and we won’t necessarily understand it. Sometimes a 3.7 isn’t a 3.7 
Good luck.
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Where did you hear this? What are easy classes?
This assumes that one will get an A in all of their science classes as well as all of their other classes, while also sleeping, being social, taking advantage of campus opportunities etc. Some do, many do not.
While it is true that some 4.0 students find the work to be “easier” than others might, there is no “easy” path to a 4.0.
If you like Rice you might also apply to Pitt (I believe you can take honors classes even if not invited to honors), Rochester (both schools were noted above), W & M, and the U of Vermont honors.
Good luck!
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I find it interesting that one that doesn’t have a 4.0 in hs just assumes a 4.0 in college.
And this is medicine, not working at Target, not that that is easy.
If it were easy there’d be a lot more doctors.
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I teach high school in Texas, and my own child graduated from Rice. Most of the students I know who want to attend medical school would choose UT over Rice, mainly because of the cost. The best route I’ve seen some kids take is dual credit courses in high school + 1 year community college + 2 years UTxx (not Austin). Low cost, low stress, high GPA, plenty of opportunities to shadow, and time to study for MCAT.
By the way, Rice now is not the same as it used to be. It’s getting bigger, more crowded. You may want to talk to more current owls to get their feedback.
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At 4800 students, Rice’s enrollment is still under 5000. Their recent increase has been modest. And they’ve added an undergraduate business school during this period, thereby expanding their academic offerings rather than simply adding students to their existing departments. They’ve also added new facilities with a new building for the business school and two new residential colleges to house the additional students. So, where’s the overcrowding?
Crowded??? Their currently reported student:faculty ratio is 5.8:1. Where are you going to find anything comparable to that? Certainly not at a research university. Only 15% of their classes have ore than 40 students while 64% have fewer than 20.
I have a GS currently at Rice and a GD who graduated a year ago. Neither of them have had any complaints.
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Please make sure you have one sure thing for admission that you would be happy to attend. If you have that, then apply to these other top schools, and 
you get accepted to one or more. It’s very hard to chance even top students for elite schools with very low acceptance rates.
If medical school is potentially in your future, will your family help fund that also…it will likely be $100,000 a year…or more. Federally funded loan limit is $200,000.
I’m going to link a thread here. Like you, this student in the thread was a very strong student. He was a NMF, class val, high GPA, excellent LOR and ECs. Some awards. No one expected he would be rejected from every college to which he applied his senior year of high school. But that’s what happened. He really didn’t have any sure things on his list.
He did land well on his feet after a well crafted gap year, but his senior year in high school was not a happy one. You don’t want to be in this position!
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I think that you should apply for the major that you want, not the major that you think will help you get admitted. There are a LOT of very good universities. If you want a very good relatively small school such as Rice, then again there are a LOT of them.
A premed student needs to take the required premed classes before applying to medical schools. These classes are not going to be easy for anyone. I know of only two students who were able to maintain a 4.0 (or better with A+’s) through tough premed classes. One is currently an MD (I think he might still be in his residency). The other decided to take a different path and is getting a PhD. I do understand that some premed students might avoid tough majors such as engineering, but you can’t avoid taking quite a few tough classes if you are premed.
Why not biology or chemistry for a major?
I do not think that anyone knows for sure when they are still in high school. We each do what is right for us, and hope that it works out. There are lots of opportunities to pivot to a different major if you want to do that. At some universities you need to apply to change majors, but it is still relatively common to do so.
And if you don’t get into Rice, then many other excellent schools will still be there for medical school (not Rice since it does not have a medical school) or if you decide on a different path then Rice and many other excellent schools will still be available for graduate school.
Again best wishes. To me you sound like a dedicated and serious student who is likely to do well wherever you attend university and whatever path you choose in life.
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The UC’s will not look at your ACT score. They will look at your coursework and especially that GPA. If your school hasn’t had students, who have been accepted to our top UCs, that may be a problem for you.
If your parents are willing to spend $90,000 a year, go for it. We, California residents, love your nonresident fees.
Visit the campuses, but don’t be surprised if some of the conditions, at some of our anchor schools, aren’t up to snuff.
Some out-of-state students are floored that the UC facilities don’t match the prices of top private school facilities. The Berkeley area, in particular, is surprising at times. You have to visit. If your parents can afford these fees, then your parents can afford to fly you out to visit.
These are public schools funded by stingy taxpayers. The students, professors/ RESEARCH, and staff, are the top priorities (as noted by the Nobel accolades). Physicalness and “beauty” of the buildings may have upkeep waiting times.
Also the UC application is incredibly time-consuming, especially for non-residents who are applying to multitudes of schools. Our kids, here in California, have been prepping for the UC application for, at least two years. They practice their PIQ skills in their English classes.
Also because most UC’s are on a quarter system, the high schools are also on similar calendar systems. You hit the ground running because you only have 10 weeks to prove yourself. (Berkeley is on a semester system but because that system is so competitive, with some of the best students in the State, you hit the syllabus at rapid speed.) Being California residents, they know the speed of the coursework and have priority of getting into the UCs.
You’ve listed, under the Visual and Performing Arts requirement, Orchestra. Did you actually take a course at your high school in orchestra? Is it on your transcript as a graded course? I noticed that there’s a self-created Orchestra and there’s a varsity Orchestra listing. That’s why I was confused.
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Pardon my French, but I wouldn’t want to have a physician who wants to take the “easy way out” and tries to slide by. With a less competitive major, you may not get to take certain required courses for med school. At some UC’s, your student login wont let you add those science courses to your schedule if you do not have the expected prerequisites. Also, almost every other student, at the UC’s, starts out as a “premed” student. Look at the posts here. The competition is fierce.
When I went to school decades ago, I took a number of courses with “premed” students who really challenged themselves, taking grueling courses. I noticed that they would complain about the toughness of the coursework. When I asked why they were killing themselves to just get a “B” in a tough required course; they would often indicate that if they didn’t take the tough courses now, it wouldn’t help them later during testing and “real” Med school courses.
Our daughter went to med school and she was advised by the undergrad PreMed advisors, to take the challenging courses and to push herself because these would help her to see if she could maintain this level of instruction. It only became more difficult later and it did but she was able to keep up with the pace.
My niece was a public health major and was not employable until she finished her Masters degree. She couldn’t get into some of the prerequisite science courses because they were either full, or unavailable. Even then, her jobs have been low-paying and in various parts of the country.
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I would definitely not describe Rice as crowded. You can pretty much get on campus housing 3 of your 4 years there. The wildcard is always junior year but with the new dorm, that may not be an issue.
D24’s friend is an honors student at Northeastern and they have 3 kids in one dorm room.
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So, you’ve gotten all kinds of good advice here. But I have a kid at Rice currently (a senior), so I’ll share what I think helped her get in. 
Rice really wants to admit students who want to be at Rice specifically. You MUST find all the weird niche things that interest you about Rice and write about them in your supplemental essays. My kid wrote about an art installation we saw during the campus tour that she loved – and how it related to what she wanted to study. She wrote about an obscure theatre production that Rice puts on every four years (she saw a mention on Reddit and found some old YouTube videos) – and said how much she wanted to be part of it. She talked about how the tour guide leading her group was playing some game with the other tour guides, and it was pretty funny to witness.
Learn about O-week and Beer Bike and whatever traditions you can find. Learn about the Culture of Care. On the first day of classes each semester, Rice president Reginald DesRoches gives students rides to class in a golf cart, with a sign that says “Rides with Reggie.” It’s a cute and funny tradition. Follow all the social media accounts, so you can learn the quirks. A couple years ago on April Fool’s Day, Rice changed their website heading to read “Quinoa” – in the same font. 
If this isn’t at least a little funny to you, you may not be a Rice student, lol.
Read the school newspaper (heads up, the Backpage of the Rice Thresher is all satire, and it’s hilarious) – maybe you can find some topics of interest to research further and talk about.
OH, learn about the residential colleges – and about the new one they’re adding next fall. That’s pretty huge news on campus.
My daughter has been following a Pokemon YouTuber since she was 11 or 12 that graduated from Rice – that’s where she first heard of the school. On the application, it asks if you know anyone associated with Rice. She wrote down his full name, LOL. (She actually got to meet him and spend a full day with him this year and learn all about his YouTube business, which is another whole story, but she was so thrilled!)
Anyhow. Rice knows how excellent their academics are. But it’s a quirky niche school, and they want to know how you’ll fit in. Also, what will you contribute? For my kid, it was theatre and chorus. You’ll need to consider what you might want to do on campus, and then research that thing and find out how you’ll go about pursuing it.
Don’t overthink the “Rice box” (is this still on the application?). Every year they get funny pictures of…rice. The AOs are amused by this. They just want to see your personality, and anything that is not obviously egregious is fine. My kid submitted a picture of herself holding a turtle at a petting zoo with a giant grin on her face. (She likes turtles.) But it happened to be from a homecoming theme day at her school, so she was dressed in 90s attire with black tights, jeans shorts and Docs – with a Foo Fighters T-shirt. For all we know, some AO was a Foo Fighters fan.
I don’t know if you’ve ever heard the advice that when you write a novel, you must know so much more backstory than ever makes it into the book? Think of your supplemental essays in the same way – make it your goal to learn everything you can about the school, and then paint a picture of where your place might be.
Okay I’ve rambled on for a bit, but I think you get the idea!
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“Easy” classes - Psychology, environmental science, public health. Many pre-meds take these classes and avoid taking Ochem, biochemistry, etc., or limit it to one per semester. Biology and chemistry are obviously required, and some other science classes as well. But those most students have a very solid foundation in so they don’t struggle as much. Of course you have to work hard for a 4.0. It’s never easy. But you can certainly make it easier depending on how you manage your schedule and which classes you take.
I’m not assuming. And my high school has an average SAT of 1450. Majority of people don’t end with a 4.0 despite it being selective. Having a 4.0 doesn’t indicate anything without context. I’m already taking classes at an actual college. I know it’s not easy.