<p>Sigh. Please don’t confuse admission processes with the school experience. And certainly don’t mistake decisions coming out on time (as per scheduled) as “arrogance.”</p>
<p>A long time ago I posted the account of DD’s admissions saga… now 7 years past, I don’t remember all the details, but suffice to say, we were not happy with the reception from the admissions department and the non-returned phone calls, and interview snafus. DD also ended up with offers in hand from Bowdoin, Carleton, Grinnell, Oberlin, etc… IF she had equated that actions of the admissions department at Rice with the school itself, she would not have chosen it. Luckily, she went to Owl Weekend and called home all excited about how great it was. She had a terrific 4 years at Rice and is now employed overseas. Rice was very, very good to/for her - and even gave her a scholarship AFTER she graduated to pay for a year of self-study abroad. DS is now at Rice, loving it just as much, heavily involved with his club sport team, being mentored by a terrific prof and getting paid to do his own research and work with the research team.
I’d hate to see all your enthusiasm go down the tube because the admissions decisions come out on time, instead of early, and because you don’t receive lots of perky emails. If you are accepted (or if you are not) please email the admissions department and provide some of these suggestions to the staff. And now, good luck to you all, whereever you end up - and may your applications to Rice be “approved.” :)</p>
<p>anxiousmom, I hate feeling negatively toward this school we’ve loved for so long, but I really do think they’ve misplayed their hand. Like I said, the experience I’m sure isn’t enough to have turned ds off on Rice completely, but the timing of their decision certainly hasn’t worked in their favor. Ds is imagining how fun it will be to play broomball at Carleton or Nerf at Grinnell, and there are no images of bonding with his new family at his residential college, whichever one it may be, because he doesn’t even know if it’s a possibility at this point.</p>
<p>I’m just hoping someone at Rice reads this and sees how it’s playing out among the masses. That’s all.</p>
<p>Crossposted with the always-helpful anxiousmom. And would love to hear why dd decided on Rice rather than Carleton and Grinnell! ;)</p>
<p>Rice isn’t doing anything wrong by releasing their decisions on April 1. You say they rank “among the Ivies”…well, I guess they think to rank among the Ivies you release your decisions with them too.</p>
<p>Relax guys, a few days isn’t going to kill you.</p>
<p>I remember your issues with the admissions office, anxiousmom!! Aned we had a few challenges back then too. But I totally agree with you- the admissions process is a separate issue from college life. And if they said acceptances are released Apr 1, then it isn’t Rice who is playing wrong, it is the other schools, all trying to get one up on the other. </p>
<p>Rice isnt the only school who is releasing at the traditional time. Personally, I don’t criticize them for following protocol. Its just become a different game, and everyone is playing by different rules. I fully expect that those waiting for the Apr 1 release will be just as anxiously waiting by their computers when the scores are to be released as they were this Friday. And as for the psychology-- Sometimes if you get too many christmas presents at once, some look inconsequential or forgotten. Those gotten singly may, on the contrary, stand out.</p>
<p>Older s got into his safe school a day before he heard ED from Rice. The safety was nice to have, and yes he was excited to be in somewhere, but he was still anxiously awaiting the Rice decision, which quickly overshadowed the safety acceptance.</p>
<p>Good luck to everyone!</p>
<p>The clear truth is that they are not on time – they are late. When your competitors all get the product to market before you do, even when they all face exactly the same issues (such as increased applications) nobody cares if your answer is “well we said we’d have our product to market by such and such a date, and by golly, we did.” The market has moved on. </p>
<p>Further, except for the Ivies the April 1 date is actually just a target – one that Rice’s competitors AND Rice have easily beaten repeatedly. What’s the problem this year, and why hasn’t Rice communicated more (or at all) about it?</p>
<p>You live in Texas, anxiousmom. It could not have been too difficult for your daughter to make quick plans to get to Owl Days. For those of us elsewhere the window even to consider it is closing very, very rapidly. Inevitably that means that many acceptees will not go to Rice because they simply won’t have been able to size it up with a visit. What do you think the chances are for Rice for cross-acceptees at WUSTL, or anywhere else, who have made plans to visit there instead?</p>
<p>You don’t need to convince us about the quality of Rice University as an institution. We are all here because we have already bought into that. If we hadn’t, we wouldn’t care when these decisions were released. We’re frustrated because Rice’s tardiness in making ITS decisions is consequently significantly affecting OUR decisions.</p>
<p>And by the way, to student applicants and their parents, right now the Admissions office IS Rice University.</p>
<p>Exactly, raelah. IMO, the anger should not be directed at a school that is following by the rules. It is hard to wait, and emotions run high… but anger or annoyance shouldnt be one of them just because people want to hear sooner than they will. Patience…</p>
<p>I dont think the analogy to “rushing to market” is an appropriate one. The market isnt moving on. One could just as easiy say that products rushed to market also often have design flaws and recalls.</p>
<p>People tend to get cranky when they cant have what they want. If you want Rice, or want to compare packages, there will be time. There is still time to visit schools (and Texas is a BIG state, milwdad-- not necessarily any easier for ppl, say, in W Tx to get to E Tx than for those in other states). IMO, visiting should be done before one applies, not after acceptance. But then thats just me.</p>
<p>I think MilwDad and I are looking at it from a pure business model. Rice certainly didn’t guarantee that its decisions would be out before April 1. Rice hasn’t broken any laws or committed any crimes. I’m looking at this from the practical standpoint of how would-be students and their parents are perceiving the process. And perceptions are realities.</p>
<p>Whenever Rice comes through, if it does, trust me, it will be totally in the mix. I’m just saying that, even 10 days ago, when people would ask where ds was looking I would say “Rice is still his no. 1.” And now, I don’t say that; it’s “Rice has always been his favorite and we’re still waiting on that decision, but he already has some great offers from some great schools in hand.” I just noticed, for myself, a shift in perception that a yes from Rice didn’t make it inevitable that he would go there.</p>
<p>Lets see what you say/how you feel when the Rice decision comes out…</p>
<p>
Exactly. And I’m trying to point out to you that that is a mistake.
Food at Carleton was not so good, and thought the school calendar would not work so well as Rice calendar in terms of summer employment (Rice ended in very early may, started mid-Aug- Carlton much later), liked the Rice area and being in diverse and happening city - thought Carleton town too small, liked student size of Rice better (now 3270 undergrad, almost 5600 total w/ grad students), thought Grinnell and Carleton a tad too small and Carleton not diverse enough. More faculty in her area at Rice due to better faculty/student ratio and larger size. Never visited Grinnell - but liked quirkiness of Grinnell and loved campus of Carleton. Weather. Found her peeps at Rice. 
Oh yes, and did I mention scholarship w/ no loan FA package from Rice.</p>
<p>I think this year’s admissions release dates might be a bit of a fluke because many schools are on spring break this week or next week, with Passover and Easter forthcoming and people taking holiday time as well. Has anyone looked at whether the schools releasing early are on vacation next week?</p>
<p>Trust me, if it’s a yes, we will be thrilled!!! But now it just feels like an option (a very good one!) instead of an inevitability. </p>
<p>Right now, Rice feels like the safe choice because it’s in-state and wouldn’t feel like a big stretch emotionally. Going to some faraway LAC sounds like an adventure (ds thinks he’d like to learn hockey, lol). Part of me just wishes that he’d gotten the yes from Rice a week ago so that when these other suitors come waltzing by they would have to compare favorably to Rice, instead of the other way around.</p>
<p>I think probably would have felt the same way if the financial aid packages (including Rices) all came on the same day.</p>
<p>Its like getting a lot of great food all at once. Now you are waiting for dessert!</p>
<p>Thanks for the details, anxiousmom. I haven’t been to either Carleton or Grinnell so I have to just rely on ds’s instincts. He went to Carleton once over the summer and Grinnell twice, once over the summer and once in the fall for a two-night visit. And he’s been to Rice twice – two summers ago and then again this last fall for an overnight. If he decides on Rice or Grinnell, no repeat visit is necessary, but if he leans toward Carleton, then I’d like him to go back during the term. However, he plays a spring sport so scheduling all this is difficult, which, I think, if part of MilwDad’s frustration.</p>
<p>It is what it is.</p>
<p>DS and I are at an accepted students day right now (I’m using the school’s computer!). Since several people thought that Rice might release decisions yesterday, I called DH last night to check (I didn’t have a computer myself). I THOUGHT he said, “He got into Amherst and Rice!” So I gave DS the good news. Later when we talked, he said, “I didn’t say that! I said, ‘Amherst and RHODES!’” Rhodes?!? We knew about that two weeks ago! Sigh. So I had to tell DS this morning. He was disappointed. He is still very interested in Rice, and it’s hard to wait! Dartmouth is the only other school out of 11 total that he’s waiting on. I know, I know, we should be more patient!</p>
<p>I will get off now in case someone else wants to post about colleges, lol.</p>
<p>Enjoy your accepted students day wherever you are, Mainelonghorn! Understood and agreed-- it is HARD to wait. We all want it when we want it, and especially in this day and age I find myself impatient when the pages don’t load fast enough on the computer, LOL. It is HARD to wait, but don’t take it out on the school. Rice didnt do anything wrong. You just want closure. Understood. But in a few days that excitement and anticipation will mount again. Have fun with the visits, and good luck with the decisions!</p>
<p>How can it be a “mistake” for applicants to see the Admissions office as Rice right now? Isn’t that a primary function of such offices? One only needs to look at how other fine schools are doing it to recognize that they fully appreciate how important the Admissions office is as their emissary and as the front door, parlor and waiting room for applicants.</p>
<p>Nor has anyone answered the concerns that some of us have expressed about our students’ ability to participate in Rice’s Owl Days because of this delay. As noted by others above the delay has already made visiting an impossibility for some, and you can be sure that each day that passes will make it impossible for more students. How can that be in Rice’s interest? Time is truly of the essence in this respect. </p>
<p>And please, let me be clear. Speaking for myself I’m not angry – I’m frustrated, and frankly a little sad. Is it still possible my son will choose to go to Rice? Of course; as parents, we thought Rice was a wonderful school. If he is accepted and we can afford it AND he decides that’s where he wants to be, that’s where he’ll be. But that last part is the issue that I’m trying to address here. On the whole, it becomes less likely for Rice’s applicants with each passing day that this is where they will want to be, because, again, Rice is out of sight and out of mind while other very fine schools that have already issued decisions are very much IN mind. Just as Youdon’tsay is experiencing. (Surely her son, like mine, is receiving regular calls from student volunteers at the other schools he has been accepted to extolling their virtues.) And I suspect that this issue is even more likely for students from other regions like my son, who already must face the daunting question of choosing to go very far away to college, in a very different climate and culture, if they go to Rice. I would think Rice would want to make things easier, not more difficult, for students from other regions if it wants to diversify its heavily Texan student population, but this abbreviated timeline does the opposite. That is not just unfortunate, but in my view, unnecessary.</p>
<p>Let’s all hope Rice issues its decisions absolutely no later than Monday, and at least mitigates the frustration. And as a last point, could someone please confirm that financial aid/scholarship information comes concurrently with the decision? If that is yet another delay…</p>
<p>P.S. jym626 – I could not disagree more strongly with your characterization, which strikes me as unfairly belittling sincere concerns, expressed in good faith. You are telling us we just “want” the decision. I am telling you many of us NEED the decision – asap. The reality of the situation is certainly not Rice’s “fault,” but Rice lives in the same world as the other schools who have made things easier for us, and Rice either needs to recognize that reality and respond to it or simply risk ceding a lot of good applicants to other schools. That’s all we’re saying.</p>
<p>MilwDad, financial aid information comes concurrently with the admissions decision, or at least it did for all the Early Decision applicants. I’m not sure for scholarships decisions- it makes sense that it would come a little later as it does with other schools, although it might come along with the decision.</p>
<p>Let’s pray they release their decisions on Monday. Traditionally, they release decisions on Monday so it would be a good time for them to do it. Best of luck with the whole process!</p>
<p>I checked esther and it says that Rice has not recieved my FAFSA or IDOC!</p>
<p>Thing is, I sent my FAFSA out months ago. </p>
<p>The thing that is worrying me though is that Rice hasn’t even contacted me about the missing forms. Are they not bothering contact b/c the admissions office has denied me?</p>
<p>Esplin - financial aid dates are prefered dates; if you are accepted you will not be denied financial aid, or receive less financial aid, because your forms were not there on time. Relax. </p>
<p>Scholarships come w/ decisions in the mail. </p>
<p>MilW - I hear your concerns,
yeah, maybe, but rest assured, for the last couple of years Rice has not gone to its waitlist, (except for less than 10 or so, if I remember correctly), so some of the kids had a long enough memory. And if your kid can’t go to Owl weekend - well, there really isn’t room for all the accepted kids to go, so that’s okay, too.
Rice does stuff a little differently. It’s more student-run than a lot of colleges and the Rice kids have more involvement in organizing student orientation and admissions, and in running their residential colleges - and right now THEY ARE BUSY! Too busy doing stuff to call your kid. Other colleges pay their students to make those recruiting calls. At Rice, the Rice students actually PAY (in the form of R&B) for the privilege of shepherding and guiding new student through the orientation week - they lay it on the line for their colleges. My son is still mentoring students from his O-week group. I guess what I’m trying to say is… well, I just don’t understand this anger, frustration, and negative energy I’m hearing from some of you. They said they would release before April 1 - they are going to release before April 1!</p>