In past years, there was a link in the acceptance email to click on if the applicant received a merit scholarship. No link meant no scholarship. In past years, the need based financial aid package came a few days later via regular US mail. However, with the campus shut down and the coronavirus restrictions, things may be very different this year. If anyone was accepted for Class of 2024 with a scholarship, please let us know how you learned about it and if any need based financial aid was included in the information providedā¦
Accepted!
White female, Arkansas
4.29W/3.96UW, 16/635
National Merit Finalist
Good leadership and awards for French
Applied for Linguistics
Did a skype interview that I feel went well and emailed the alumni a few times after!
Accepted: Rice, Northeastern, Macalaster, University of Tulsa, University of Arkansas
Waitlisted: UChicago
Rejected: Northwestern, Swarthmore, Washington University in St. Louis
@Houston1021 @BaobeiDad On my portal, below the acceptance letter, there were links to both a merit letter and a financial aid letter
Does anyone know whether The Rice Investment is categorized under need-based aid? I received no need-based aid so I want a better picture of how much Iām going to have to pay.
I GOT IN!!!
Civil engineering major with an interest in English
4.0 UW GPA
12 APs including senior year
36 ACT
Hispanic female, Texas resident
ECs were mainly lots of leadership in clubs, some long-term volunteering, and a NASA program
Multiple visits + off-campus interview
@Houston1021 I second what mathhappy said - below my general acceptance letters were separate links to a scholarship letter and my aid estimates
accepted - shepherd school
Son waitlisted.
Applied for Physics with interest in philosophy.
Texas, Hispanic Male
4.0 UW, 4.2 W, 1560 SAT (790 M, 770 E)
National Hispanic Scholar, National Merit Commended, multiple ECs with state level awards/leadership.
Alumni interview off campus, one visit
Waitlisted: Yale
Rejected: Princeton (deferred SCEA, then rejected)
Accepted: Emory, W&L (with Johnson), Miami of Ohio(Honors) , SMU (Honors) Baylor (Honors), U of SC Honors, Trinity (TX)
Congrats to all! Great school.
Accepted!
SAT: 1530 superscore (770 math, 760 reading)
No SAT II or ACT
Rank: 1/510
6.5/6.5 weighted GPA
Solid, original essays
Internship my senior year relating strongly to intended major
200+ hours of volunteer service
NHS, Student Council, VP of NTHS & Internship Program, etc.
3x All-Region Musician, Texas Music Scholar, many art awards & participation in auctions, etc.
Texas Resident
Hispanic Female
National Hispanic Scholar/National Merit Commended
Rejected: Carnegie Mellon, Cornell, Stanford
Accepted: UMHB, UHouston, TAMU, UTexas, WashU, Notre Dame, Columbia
Congrats & good luck to everyone!!
My son was accepted to Shepherd School of Music!
@Flipps Rice Investment is need-based.
@ylva62 My son as well! What discipline are you in?
Hi, does anyone have any data/opinion on grade inflation/deflation at Rice? Also, how difficult to get/maintain a high GPA?
Accepted!
White female; Austin, TX; definitely didnāt expect to get in because so many people from my school applyā¦I literally screamed
GPA: 3.7/4 (UW), 4.6/5 (W)
Rank: 13/540
SAT: 1520 (770 M, 750 R), didnāt take subject tests (didnāt align with my major and website said recommended unless financially unfeasibleā¦couldāve done them but AOs at multiple schools told me that need-blind means they wouldnāt know the reason why someone didnāt do them when evaluating apps aka theyāre not a big deal so I decided to avoid the stress)
Applied for Social Policy Analysis
Applied for Financial Aid
Visited once for a tour and another time for an on-campus interview in August 2019; my interviewer seemed to like me but it was definitely more robotic on my end when compared to my other interviews because it was my first one
Accepted: Rice, UC Berkeley, Northeastern (Honors), UT Dallas (auto admit)
Waitlisted: UC San Diego, Middlebury, Yale-NUS (Singapore)
Rejected: Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Stanford
I hope this helps people for next year!
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Accepted!!
ACT: 35 superscore (36E 36M 33R 33S)
SAT II: Math2 800, Physics 800
No Ranking at my school but prob top 10 percent
3.86 uw GPA
13 APs including Senior Year: one 3, two 4s, and five 5s so far.
Decent Essays, expert chess player, up-and-coming soundcloud rapper, ping-pong, lots of volunteering, Scioly 2nd in state, Student Gov, work, invited to Notre Dame physics camp sophomore summer, Johns Hopkins CTY student.
Midwestern upper-class Asian Male who goes to private school
Prospective math major
Rejected: Williams, Yale, Cornell, UChicago
Waitlisted: Case Western Reserve, WashU, Northeastern, Pomona, Brown, Dartmouth, Northwestern (I know, a lotā¦ Rice was my last decision to open so I was realllllly nervous)
Accepted: UNC, UMiami Honors, SLU Honors (and now Rice!)
Wow, weird weekā¦ Waitlisted more than rejected. Just glad I could get into a school I really love 
. I am so excited to meet my new friends! 
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I donāt think Rice has a reputation for either inflating or deflating grades. As for the GPA, it probably depends on the major and classes taken. Are you asking because your child is thinking of med school? If so, he/she would probably not want to be an engineering or CS major as those are typically the hardest classes to earn good grades. Some pre-med kids want to major in Bioengineering and while some handle it OK, I heard the head of the BioE Department speak at something and she said they donāt recommend it.
viola @delynnel
Iām still too scared to even open it!
Some stats:
Applied for Neuroscience
Asian Male from Southern California
SAT: 1530
GPA: 3.81/4.57
Subject Tests: 800 Math 2, 800 Physics, 800 Chem, 800 Chinese, 760 World
APs: 5ās on Calc BC, Physics C Mech, Chem, US History, World History, Chinese
Average and very Asian EC
Average LORs
Essay took me 2 days so I guess I tried my best on them!
Rejected (14): Vanderbilt, Duke, Dartmouth, Johns Hopkins, Northwestern, Notre Dame, WashU, Amherst, Williams, Cornell, Georgia Tech, Virginia, UCLA, UCI
Waitlisted (3): Northeastern, North Carolina, Emory (both campuses)
Accepted (11): USF, Baylor, SMU honors, UCD Engineering, Colorado College, UCSB, UCSD Engineering, Case Western Reserve, Carnegie Mellon, Colby, Berkeley College of Chemistry
Iām opening my decision sometime this weekend. Have always wanted to be a cowboy. Finger Crossed!
If you got a merit scholarship, you would have a letter stating the scholarship. Otherwise, it would just be the admission decision letter and a financial aid award letter.
Accepted!!
SAT: 1380 super-score (680 math, 700 reading)
No SAT II
AP Scores: one 3 (US History), two 4s (AP Lang, AP Human Geo), one 5 (AP Psychology)
Percentile: Top 8%
3.98uw/5.02w GPA
Current Course-load: 3 APs (Physics C: Mechanics, Calculus AB, English Literature and Composition), Honors Government/Economy, Womenās Studies/Philosophy, Personal Life Skills
Essays written to catch the eye, yet still relay my interest
100+ hours of volunteer service
National English Honor Society (President), Women of Tomorrow (President), National Honor Society, mentioned my interest in language studies (Korean)
Florida Resident
African American Female
Academic Interests Included on App (in order): Mechanical Engineering, Korean, Linguistics
Ron Brown Semi-Finalist
Accepted: Northwestern, Ohio State, FSU, UF, UCF
Waitlisted: Yale, Duke
Rejected: Princeton, Cornell, Columbia, Harvard, Stanford, Brown
Congrats to everyone who was accepted! Those who are still waiting for other decisions, I wish you the best of luck; remember, you will end up where the universe wants you to be 
Accepted!
Prospective math and (maybe) philosophy major
Stats:
ACT: 36
SAT Subject Tests: Math Level II 800, Physics 800, Chemistry 790
National and international academic awards
A Levels: Maths, Further Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, English Literature
Asian male from the Indian subcontinent
Extracurriculars:
National math team
Independent original research in math
Head of environmental society with 100+ members
Head of math and astronomy society
Teaching program for the underprivileged
Winner of math, science and chess competitions
Taught advanced math and problem-solving classes
Editor and founder of environmental section in the school magazine
among other things
Iām an international student who needs full aid to attend, and Iām not sure about how to feel about my decision. While Iād absolutely love to attend Rice and itās my top choice, apparently my financial aid application was incomplete (even though I checked very long ago on the portal and it was shown as complete) and I did not receive a financial aid decision at the time of acceptance. This is what my financial aid letter said:
āCongratulations on your admission to Rice! Thank you for also applying for need-based financial aid. Based upon the information provided on your financial aid application, we are unable to determine your eligibility for assistance. We are committed to determining your financial aid eligibility when your remaining requirements are completed.
Completing your financial aid requirements: Use the Rice Admission Student Portal to complete remaining financial aid requirements. Be sure to include your student ID number and name on any documents submitted by fax or email. After committing to Rice, you will receive access instructions for ESTHER, the student portal.ā
Iāve sent in the required foreign tax return documents (which I did send in before too, well before the priority deadline, to the best of my memory), and Iām anxiously waiting for a reply from the financial aid office. I donāt know how to proceed further and I donāt know when Iāll receive my final financial aid award letter (hopefully well before May 1) so that I can make an informed choice and make an enrolment deposit. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
@AnxietyBoy Hi! I got the same message and I emailed the financial aid office because I was worried about having to commit before seeing my financial package. They said to go to the financial aid tab in the admissions portal and it tells you exactly what is missing. You can upload it right then and there. The financial aid office told me that new financial offers will be out in about a week. Hope this helps!