<p>If you showed little interest in Rice, you would not even be waitlisted. You would be rejected. If you are waitlisted, it means you are qualified to go to Rice, they believed you were interested, but someone else stood out a little more than you did, and therefore was offered admission, while you were waitlisted. If that person doesn’t come, then you will get a chance to come. Those who were offered admission stood out a little more, whether it was because of the essays they wrote, or perhaps the recommendations that were written about them. Their teacher may have said, “One of the top 1% that I have taught in my career,” whereas your recommendations may have said, “One of the top 5% that I have seen in my career.” Or perhaps, they had national and international recognition for some area they were passionate about, e.g., science, ballet, writing, track, debate, whereas you only had local or regional recognition. There are hundreds of variables that go into these decisions to make up a wonderfully interesting and diverse class. If you wrote lackluster essays because you weren’t that interested, then the reviewers saw that, and they weren’t that interested in you. With 12,000 applicants, they can be “choosey” about the 900+ slots and don’t need to offer admission or a spot on the waitlist to those who have demonstrated that they are not that interested. Or, they may have 3 applicants that look remarkably like you, so one is given admission, and 2 are waitlisted. Your logic does not follow ib612. Rice wins a lot of cross-admits with Stanford and MIT. The students who come to Rice who were admitted to all three come because they realize that Rice has an unparalleled undergraduate education, whereas Stanford is known more for its graduate education, and Rice offers a broad curriculum, whereas MIT focuses on few select areas. Rice would never not admit someone because he or she was applying to those schools, too.</p>