<p>So this weekend I am going to be drafting letters to both Rice U and Columbia U (SEAS) as I was waitlisted to both of those this year. However, I have a few questions.</p>
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<li><p>Rice is my first choice right now but if I got into Columbia and not Rice, then Columbia would be my first choice. In my letter to Rice, I am letting them know that Rice is absolutely my first choice (provided I can afford it) but is it bad for me to say the same thing to Columbia? I don’t want to just say “Columbia is one of my top choices.”</p></li>
<li><p>What kinds of things should I be writing about in my letter/essay? First priority is to let them know more about how I would fit into the campus since I kind of screwed that up in my essays. But what I else should I be including? I honestly haven;'t done anything special since apps were finished but it’s not like I stopped doing my ECs altogether. Just no new awards and such.</p></li>
<li><p>Should I mention acceptances to peer institutions? This is mostly aimed toward Rice. Is Tulane a peer insitution to Rice? I tried googling and searching Rice’s website but I couldn’t find any info for the life of me. I know it usually sounds bad to flaunt other acceptances to the colleges you were waitlisted at but I’ve also heard that it would be OK to mention acceptances if they were from peer schools. </p></li>
<li><p>Am I worse off in terms of fin aid if I get accepted off the waitlist. I’ve heard that waitlisted students cannot get merit aid. My parent’s income is somewhere around $120k but with a brother going to college in two years, we’ve got to start saving up again. I got into Tulane, WPI, and RPI; the first two offered me around $33k/year whereas RPI offered me $22k/year. Needless to say, we were very pleased. My concern is that if I get in off the waitlist and don’t get any merit aid, I don’t think I’m going to get much need-based aid considering I only got around $7/8k of need aid from my other schools.</p></li>
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<p>Thank you guys so much for any replies</p>