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Hey all! The Questbridge program is a program that provides for an application round pre-early decision to compete for full scholarships to Duke, Rice, Amherst, Williams, Bowdoin, or Trinity. It is meant to help low-income students get into- and pay for- excellent schools. I've recently been admitted, and I think I'm going to list Rice as my first choice from the list. However, before I do this, I need to know... do I even have a shot? Otherwise, I'll list more options to increase my chances. I filled out my app. during Junior year, so it does not include some of the indiscrepancies of 11th grade. However, I'm sure I'll have to include them soon. I love Rice, and I want this intensely. Please let me know- do I have a chance?

SATs: 1420, 750 V/670 M
SATII: Am taking them in October, but am scoring around the 700's for US History, Lit, and Writing. Will be studying for the rest of summer to get my scores up.

GPA Freshman yr: 3.825
GPA Sophomore yr: 3.71
GPA Junior yr: Herein lies my biggest problem. Someone very close to me died, and I switched schools. I already explained this in my app. My new school had blocked scheduling...

for 1st semester I got:
Debate: A
Span. III Hon.: C
AP English: A
Algebra II Hon.: C
P.E: B

and for second semester (after I switched again):
Span. III Hon.: B
AP English: B
HS Leadership: A
Algebra II Hon: C
Sports Med Hon.: B
Debate: A
Art: A

for my senior year Im taking:
AP Biology
AP Amer. Govt
AP Statistics
AP English Lit
Hon. Econ.

I am in a much better place this year, however. I am going to push for all A's, and will settle for no less.

- awarded full 4 year scholarship to prestigious private school
- questscholar
- winner of the spanish medallion (top honors)
- excellence in service and citizenship award (2 yrs in a row: a big honor in my school)
- student council award
- upper school community service coordinator
- Serve on youth event planning committee of boca raton's promise; selected to represent gr. 9-12. Teen Talent Troupe.
- President of Big Brothers, Big Sisters
- Vice President of International Club
- Founder/Co-President of the Fountains Initiative
- Drama Club/ Local Playhouse for 5 yrs.
- flute for 7 yrs
- Dance Club/Classes/Etc. for cum. 9 yrs
- organized/ served as team captain of team for American Cancer Soceity's Relay For Life
- Teacher at National Breakthrough Collaborative- Writing gr. 7, drama gr. 5-9, 3 yr.(Youngest teacher ever, teacher excellence)
- Very politically active. Junior Statesmen of America/Young Politicians of America (Summer Symposia 2003, "Most Ardent Liberal"
- wrote regularly for the Sun-Sentinel (South Florida's biggest newspaper)

... there is quite a bit else I cannot think of just now...

Essays are very good, reccommendations should be good as well...

Please be fair in your evaluation... thank you.

By Clacro18 (Clacro18) on Sunday, August 15, 2004 - 05:32 pm: Edit

Anybody?

By Jcm525 (Jcm525) on Wednesday, August 18, 2004 - 11:38 pm: Edit

Obviously, you need to do a very strong job of explaining your junior year gpa. If you do so, I think you stand a pretty decent chance of getting into Rice, especially ED. However, I don't think you stand a superb chance of gaining a full merit scholarship. Your test scores, gpa for fresh and soph years and your EC's are all essentially average for Rice acceptees. Bottom line: I think you'll get in, but if you really need a full scholarship, you might want to look elsewhere. Then again, if you truly want Rice, go for it and let the admissions officers know that.

By Clacro18 (Clacro18) on Friday, August 20, 2004 - 11:37 am: Edit

Thank you so much, I really appreciate that. I did explain the junior year drop... they haven't yet seen my junior year transcript though. (I applied before the end of first semester, my transcript only included fresh and soph. years. However, I should be turning jr. year in soon.) A little more info, the scholarship is based more on financial need: my mother is single and unemployed, and I have a brother just two years younger than I.