Why not TRY for an Ivy League school? The trick is to apply early decision like I did (albeit 9 years ago). They generally let more dumbasses slip through during that time, which worked out perfectly for me.
There is nothing wrong with having a dream school, but like others have said...(and this goes for all of life, not just where you go to college) make the best of every situation you find yourself in. There is always something to learn from it. There are a lot of amazing schools out there and you should explore those to see if that's what you want-UT, Mich, other Ivy Leagues, Berkely, etc. I had a bunch of friends that went to Rice and by junior year, they wish they had gone to UT with me. All of them went their for the name and the pride for their parents (yes, they were all Asian). What do you want to major in? Do you like big or small schools? Is cost a factor for you? Do you want to go to grad school? Good luck to you and don't fret. One day you'll look back and won't believe you pondered this!!!
You appear to be in the ballpark. Did you do early acceptance? It is easier to get in if you do. There are other worthy schools btw. The honor program at UT Austin does not suck. Also if science and engineering are not your thing, Rice may not be best place for you wrt cost benefit matrix. The best advice I can give you is that you want to be on the right side of the bell curve at any university you plan on attending. Barely getting into Rice and then competing against people who are on the other side of the bell curve (who drink more and study less) would suck. WRC 1982.
Texas State has better looking women, and believe me, THAT makes a big difference in the whole college experience. No one has asked me where I went to college in over 15 years in any job interview, it seemed to be only relevant right out of college. DD
Well, they don't do it by raw score, but rather have an A worth so many points and etc. There's extra points for AP classes. Now the thing is, these days college are so competetive that everyone maxes out the honor classes. It not only sux that you have bunch of kids that have the same grade at the top, it puts so much stress on kids that maybe aren't ready for that kind of workload to do it also, and struggle miserably.
This is so true on so many levels. Even though I've been out of school for only a short while now, I've realized that it really doesnt matter where you studied, but rather what you know. In my profession of high finance, its all about results not degrees. My firm has hired several high school grads, who work along side with Ivy league grads. Who's better. They're both about the same, but I can see more drive in the high school grads. I have several friends who went to Ivy league schools( Yale, Cornell...) who aren't doing jack, since they graduated college. One of them is working as CSR for EA Sports. The other is sitting at home, calling me throughout the day, when I'm at work.
I wouldn't say that university reputation doesn't matter, because it does. However, I absolutely agree that it matters most coming out of college. Once you start working or start going somewhere else for grad school, people are more interested in what and how you did at the last place you were at. Of course I'm a young 'un, so what do I know?
sourav004, I think you might get in but you really need to get your post count up. They're real big on GPA and class rank but they are most interested in your Clutch BBS post count.
True. Of all those who do get into Rice, half of them are going to be in the bottom 50% when they get there. It's inevitable. You will have lots of perfectly capable students who are still at the bottom of their classes because... that's all there is. This could cause problems getting into something like med school. Otherwise, things may be OK once you get out, but it will mess with your mind while you're there. -wrong side of the bell curve, WRC 1996
When I was applying to colleges, I had my heart set on Rice. I went to a good private school, had a nice international angle to play, decent SAT scores, etc, but no extracurricular stuff. They like well-rounded types at Rice. Anyway, they turned me down, and it was probably best that they did. I went to University of Chicago instead, which is Rice's academic peer (being generous to Rice here) and was glad that I did. Saw a new city, became my own man away from the family, etc. It might be good for you. I think you have a shot at getting into Rice, but you should apply to similar schools elsewhere too. University of Chicago, btw, doubled it's undergraduate class size a while back and they've always have had trouble attracting applicants, so I'd say they're probably an easy mark. I won't vouch for the school now because it's changed so much since I left. It used to be the last of a dying breed; now it's like everyone else.
I was accepted to Rice in 1991 with a 1310 SAT, top 5 % and an assload of extracurricular stuff. I didn't go because on my visit there were no hot chicks. I am dead serious. I am disgusted at how shallow I was. I went to UT in Plan II and failed out miserably. Finished up at SFA. Barely. Axe Em Jacks and Hook 'Em. those are still my three fav schools.
When I interview people I am more interested in their social skills and background thant what they did at school. I would rather have a 3.5 student from Sam than a 4.0 kid from Duke any day of the week. 4.0's require too much nerd, usually.
