<p>I would take everything said with a grain of salt, myself included. I’m just going to speak from my own experiences. Nothing is a sure thing when holistic review and Top 20 schools are involved. GPA, Class Rank, Standardized Test scores, and EC hours are just numbers, and trust me that in the admission office there will be plenty of other applicants with numbers that match or exceed your own. Also, the admissions committee will only view your application if two separate readers within the admissions office give your application the green light. In order to make yourself stand out within the sea of numbers, it all comes down to how you present yourself. I would recommend scheduling an interview with Rice in addition to devoting a majority of your time to writing your essays. Those are the areas in which you can rise above the sea of numbers and give the admissions team a reason to WANT you at Rice.</p>
<p>Edit: After you’ve finished your essays and scheduled you interview, I’d recommend just avoiding chance threads altogether, they only lead to stress or overconfidence. None of us really have a true idea of your “chances” because none of us are admissions personnel.</p>