How to Boost Your College Admissions Odds with Rice University AO

Webinar Transcription

2025-07-17 – How to Boost Your College Admissions Odds with Rice University AO

Anna: Here we go.

Brandon: All righty.

Anna: Hello everyone. Good evening or afternoon or morning, whatever time it is from wherever you’re joining us. We’re so happy you’re here for our webinar on, “How to Boost Your College Admissions Odds with a former Rice admin, Rice University Admissions officer.” My name is Anna Vande Velde. She her, hers. I’ll be your moderator today.

I’m a Senior advisor at CollegeAdvisor. I’ve been with the company for about four years. Uh, to give you a bit of my background for undergrad, I studied psychology at Carnegie Mellon. Thought I wanted to be a clinical psychologist, but a few years later after working, I ended up at Harvard Law School where I graduated a few years back.

So in addition to my work with CollegeAdvisor, I’m a nonprofit defense attorney. More than you need to know about me, but they asked me to share my background to orient everyone with the webinar timing. We’re gonna start off with a presentation, then answer your questions in a live q and a on the sidebar.

You can download our slides to follow along and to have with you after the presentation. And look back at the presentation is being recorded. That will be made available to everyone, um, afterwards. And you can start submitting questions in the q and a tab anytime. Please note we have a lot of folks joining us tonight, so we’re going to need to stick to questions that we think could help other students too.

So if it’s really, really specific to your situation, um, save that for maybe a one-on-one with us and tonight ask questions that you think would help other students as well. All right. Without further ado, it is my great pleasure to introduce our presenter for tonight, Brandon Mack. Brandon, can you share a bit about your background?

Brandon: Yes. Thank you so much, Anna. And once again, good morning, good afternoon, and good evening to everyone. My name is Brandon Mack Pronouns, he am his, I’m a very proud Rice alum. Graduated from Rice in 2006 with a Bachelor’s degree in political science and sociology, and I was a Rice University Associate Director of Admission and a coordinator for Transfer admission, director of International Admission and Recruitment, and did a lot of other amazing things during my time as a former member of the Rice Admission staff.

And I was there for over 13 years and now I’ve been with CollegeAdvisor now for the past three years as an admission officer. So very proud and happy to talk to you about my alma mater and the amazing Rice University admission process.

Anna: Well, you’re the perfect person for the job, Brandon. We’re so glad you’re here.

Before we get started, I thought I’d take a poll, help us get a sense of who’s joining us. Um, so please, folks, go ahead and answer this if answer, what grade you’ll be going into. ’cause we know it’s summer break right now. If you’re here as a parent educator, et cetera, select other. And while we wait for your responses to come in, uh, Brandon, I was wondering, I know you’re gonna talk about a whole bunch of great things about rice.

Mm-hmm. I wonder, before we get in there, could you just give us a sense for students who ha haven’t had a chance to visit, what it’s like walking. Through the campus.

Brandon: Sure. The, so we are situated in Houston, Texas, which is the fourth largest city in the United States. But you would actually forget that if you’re walking through campus, it is a wonderfully lush, beautiful campus.

It’s actually an arboretum, and so you’re surrounded by trees and greenery in an amazing community. So when you are on campus, you can forget that you’re literally situated in the fourth largest city in the United States because you’re just surrounded by this natural beauty on the campus.

Anna: Sounds amazing.

I, I hope to visit someday.

Brandon: Definitely. I just,

Anna: so, just so you know, Brandon, joining us, we have about 50% going into 12th grade. That makes sense. It’s a big time right now looking at your college list. Then about a quarter are going into 11th grade. About 20% said others. So parents, educators, guardians, and then less than 10% are in eighth, ninth, and 10th grade getting a head start.

Brandon: Awesome. Awesome. Well, very glad that all of you are here to learn more about rice and learn more about the admission process, and especially a shout out to all of you seniors who are getting ready to start up the application process and apply to Rice University.

Anna: Absolutely. I’m gonna hand it over to you now, Brandon.

Brandon: All right. Awesome. So, uh, gonna talk to y’all a lot about some of the unique elements of rice and our admission process. And so one of the first questions that is being asked is, what are the top qualities of characteristics that Rice University values and applicants? And it’s very simple. These are the values of the university, and they literally spell out rice.

So responsibility, do you feel a sense of responsibility to the community? Do you feel a sense of responsibility to the world? And are you a responsible person who takes responsibility for your own life and the lives of other people? Integrity. Are you someone who has a high level of individual integrity?

And do you inspire integrity of in other people community? Rice is a deeply community-centric institution. It starts with our overall community. It’s also indicative of our residential college system, the community of and culture of care that you’ll hear a little bit about. And then also a commitment to excellence.

So all of these are qualities that make up the rice values, but they’re also gonna be the qualities that we’re looking for in our applicants. So how are you demonstrating those particular, um, qualities is important, and you can demonstrate that in a variety of different ways between your letters of recommendation.

Between your extracurriculars and the roles you take on between how you even talk about why you wanna go to rice, and the ways in which you have interacted within your communities and within your various different roles in your essays. So just though, these are some of the key values that will be looking for in applicants.

So what do, how does Rice approach holistic admission and what does that mean for applicants? So holistic admission truly does mean that we’re looking and considering every single element of the application. Many people often ask, do we weed out applications? And we do not. We literally read every single application in the admission process, and so therefore, everything in the file is literally considered.

So we don’t do any sort of prescreen. We don’t screen out because of test score. We don’t screen out because of grades. We look, literally look to see everything that is in the file. Now, of course. You wanna have excellent academics because that is gonna be the thing that everyone has in common. First and foremost is that generally students who are gonna be competitive for the right admission process, they’re gonna be top students.

They’re going to have great grades, but once again, there isn’t a required GPA or a class rank. It’s a very contextual process. So we’re looking and considering how well are you performing within the way your school grades, as well as what is offered to you in terms of your academic rigor. So no one aspect is way more so than the other.

So we don’t say that the letters of recommendation way more than the activities or that the essays weigh more than the S-A-T-A-C-T score. It is literally everything is equally considered in the process. And so what you wanna do is to make sure that you put that time and attention into every single aspect of the application.

’cause it literally is gonna be all of those, um, all of those aspects that are going to, uh, make up the emission decision. For those of you who can’t hear the presentation, please make sure that you are checking your particular settings to make sure that you’re able to, uh, hear the presentation. Um, one other thing that I do wanna point out is that Rice University is test recommended.

So we do recommend that students submit testing as part of their admission process. The university used to move, used to be test optional. It has moved to being test recommended, so we make it very clear that it is recommended that for you to be the most competitive applicant for the admission process, you will want to submit standardized testing.

So do keep that in mind. That would either be the SAT or the ACT. Now, I know with the ACT science is now considered to be optional. I will say that if you are applying for natural science or engineering, I would definitely recommend that you make sure that you include the science test in your testing.

Writing for the ACT is not required. So are there any common themes or topics that resonate well in essays for rice, for rice applicants? So on the rice supplement, there’s going to be three main essays that you’re going to write for that particular supplement. One is, uh, the why major or, um, the particular, um, the why major or the particular academic interest, uh, statement.

The other is why Rice And the third is a rice essay where you get to choose between two different essay topics. First, we’ll deal with the why major. In the why major statement you really wanna demonstrate, why do you want to go into that particular major? Because when you apply, you do indicate which academic school fits your interest the best among the academic schools offered at Rice University, those academic schools include humanities, social sciences, natural science, engineering, architecture, music, and business.

So you will select one of those schools as being the primary school that you’re going to be evaluated under. So your application will be evaluated through the lens of that particular school. One of the statements you’ll make is why do you want a major in that particular major? Rice is looking to see, are you going to be a good fit for that particular major?

So talking about why you wanna study that particular subject, the origin story, kind of, of what makes you wanna go into that story, into that particular, uh, major or that particular interest is gonna be helpful. Now, if you are someone who is undecided, I prefer to say that you’re actually multi-sided, meaning that you have multiple things that you’re truly interested in, you just haven’t settled on that one specific thing that you’re interested in.

If you are a multi-sided person, be honest about it and just once again, let us know why are you interested in those particular subjects. Another thing that can be very helpful is to talk about why do you specifically wanna study that particular subject at Rice University. The university has wonderful and amazing professors who are at the top of their fields, and so the opportunity to study with that particular unique professor who specializes in the subject that you hope to specialize in could be a great way of demonstrating why you wanna study that particular subject specifically at Rice University.

Talking about some of the amazing and unique programs such as the Baker Institute for Public POS Policy, or the Oshman Engineering Design Kitchen, or, um, the Leadership Institute that we have. Those could be other great reasons to really connect what it is that the university specifically has to offer that goes along with your academic interests.

So one common theme that you’re definitely gonna see among students when it comes to this particular statement is that they’re able to really articulate their love and passion for that particular subject and the experiences that those, that that love and passion is based in and connected to, why it is that they would wanna study that subject academically at Rice University.

The second essay would be the why Rice essay. So we should really see a uniqueness in that statement. We should be able to do what I like to call the Cheesecake Factory Test. If I can put the Cheesecake Factory into your statement and it still makes sense, it definitely got a problem because we should be able to see the uniqueness of Rice University.

So follow me here. I want to go to Rice University because there’s variety of options and it’s great location. I wanna go to the Cheesecake Factory because it’s variety of options and it’s great location. See how both uh, statements made sense? You don’t want that. Instead, what you really wanna demonstrate is what is the unique thing about rice that connects to you and what you hope to get out of your overall college experience.

So once again, you can use the why major academic interest essay section, which is about 150 words. You can use that to maybe talk about the unique academic elements of rice that would then free up and create space for, in the second part where you talk about why Rice, where you’re talking about more specifically, some of the more community aspects that make you decide that you want to go to rice.

One element that I talk AB that I think students could talk about is the academic freedom and flexibility that the university gives you. The fact that we don’t have a traditional core curriculum and have flexible distribution requirements, meaning that you decide what classes you wanna take to satisfy those academic requirements, could be a reason for why you wanna go to rice, because you know you’re someone who wants to really have more control and say so in the subjects that you wanna study.

Me, for example, I hate math. I hate math with a fire of a thousand sons. So that was one of the main reasons for why I wanted to go to Rice, was because Rice said. We’re not gonna force you to take this math class, but we’re definitely gonna help and facilitate you getting an excellent STEM-based education, but you can do it in the way that fits you.

So having that sense of academic freedom and flexibility was something that I was wanting out of my academic experience. So to be able to talk about that and connect that to what I personally wanted helped to make a standout rice state A-A-A-A-A standout why rice statement. Another unique element of rice is our residential college system.

I often like to say that we are the closest thing to Hogwarts here in the United States. Every single student who is a Rice undergrad is randomly assigned to one of the 11 residential colleges on the campus. It’s where you live when you live on campus, and even if you don’t live on campus, you’re still affiliated with that, with that college.

So many of us, uh, as alums, we very much brag about our college because that was the community within the community that we belong to at Rice. So for me, Weis College, my college will always be the best college at Rice University, and no one can tell me any different. But talking about that unique element of being randomly assigned to a college where you automatically have a community and you don’t have to pledge or join a fraternity sorority.

In fact, we don’t have fraternities and sororities on a campus was a unique element of the university that made me wanna go there. So talking about that traditions, other things that make you connect with that culture that Rice University has would be some of those great things to write to, uh, write about in that why rice?

So that way they can see how you connect, but also maybe talking about how you specifically would contribute to the university community. You maybe could talk about some of the organizations that you enjoyed or how you would get involved, but another place where you could do that is in the third part, the rice essay.

The rice essay is right now, there are two different, um, prompts that you can use for the rice essay. One is geared toward what unique particular perspective would you bring to the residential college, and then the second one is about how would you bring your particular identity or aspects of yourself to being a change agent?

Because Rice is definitely, commu, is definitely committed to being a community of change agents. So how would you bring that uniqueness of your perspective into that community for change? Once again, the basis for either one of those essay topics is about what is your unique perspective. So I often tell students to take a step back and look at their entire application.

So once again, you’re gonna know what your common app is. That’s gonna be another unique perspective that you bring. You’ll know, you’ll say what you wanna study, that’ll be a part of your why major, your why Rice, why you specifically wanna go to Rice. What is another perspective that is important to you that hasn’t been stated in any of those other parts that make you you, that is what you would wanna make your why Rice about?

And then also, what ways would you be able to contribute that particular unique perspective on the campus? So let’s say, for example, one of the things that’s unique to you is a love of nature. Talking about how you’ve always been committed to the environment, or that you’ve always felt a connection to nature, well then how would you be able to operationalize that particular loving connection to nature on campus?

Maybe that’s through being a Ecolo ecology rep in one of the residential colleges. Maybe it’s contributing to the trees that are on campus. ’cause as I mentioned, we’re an arboretum. So thinking about the ways in which your unique perspective is going to enhance or enliven the environment of rice would be a great way of approaching that particular essay.

So once again, think about that aspect of yourself that is unique to you, and how would you be able to bring that to campus, is the approach you would wanna take for that essay. Because we’re a community, we’re all about, uh, being and being very extremely proud that we are one of the most diverse universities in the country, in the most diverse city in the United States.

So talking about how you’re gonna contribute that unique perspective is gonna be helpful in that particular essay.

So what do Rices admission officers look for in students’ extracurricular involvement and leadership experiences? So when we are looking for in extracurriculars is these three main aspects, alignment with your intended area of study, the impact of your activities and actions, and the commitment to your community, school, organization, family, your overall commitment to what you do.

So first in talking about with alignment with your intended area of study, as I mentioned, when you apply to rice, you are applying to the overall university, but we are looking at you within that particular context of what you intend to study based off of the school that you selected and the particular majors and academic interest that you selected.

So when we look at your activities, then we’re also looking to see are you gonna be a good fit for what it is that you say that you wanna study? So for example, if you’re a student who intends to major in health sciences, are you engaging in activities that are related to that to show you’re gonna be a good fit?

So would you, are you involved in HOSA? Are you doing hospital volunteering? Are you shadowing doctors? Those type of things are an indication that you would be a good fit for what you wanna study. Let’s say you wanna go into engineering. Are you someone who has engaged in Science Olympiad? Have you done internships related to engineering?

Have you done, um, an independent project that has demonstrated your engineering interest in acumen? Those would be the things that, once again, uh, show that alignment for what it is that you wanna study and would be something that an admission officer is looking into. But we also wanna see, are you gonna be an impactful person?

So the way in which you would wanna demonstrate that impact is through how you describe your activities. So talking about how many people you have served, talking about how many uh dollars you’ve raised, talking about how many people have been impacted by the work that you’ve done is gonna be a way that we’re looking for that in your extracurricular involvement and leadership experiences.

Also your letters of recommendation from your counselors and your teachers also help to validate that impact. Because if you are doing something that’s truly impactful in your particular space, someone is probably gonna talk about it. So also thinking about that in terms of your letters of recommendation is gonna be helpful in terms of thinking about what is that particular counselor gonna say about me?

What is that teacher gonna say about me? And if they don’t know what I’m doing, I need to make sure that they do know what I’m doing, so that way it’s put into their letters. One other thing I wanna make known is leadership does not have to be about a position. You can be a leader without being president, vice president, secretary, or treasurer.

The way you demonstrate your leadership is through your initiative to get something that you want done. So if you’re able to demonstrate that, that also demonstrates that you’ll bring that initiative, that passion, and that impact to the campus. So those would be some additional things that we look for.

And then finally, your commitment to community school and organization. This could be demonstrated through how much time you’re giving to that particular activity, how long you’ve done it, and also how do you describe what it is that you do. So are you doing it because it truly is a issue that you care about?

Is this a community that you care about? And we’re able to see that through once again, the way that you describe it and the way that it’s described about you, it may be your letters of recommendation. So demonstrate that commitment because we’re once again, a very community driven, uh, university. And so we want those individuals who have demonstrated a commitment to a community to bring that commitment to Rice University.

So how does Rice View demonstrated interest and what are effective ways to show it? So the number one way to be able to demonstrate interest in the university is to use and use the y right statement to really show that you have effectively researched the university and establish what is your connection to the university.

So talking about how you would utilize the Oshman engineering design kitchen, how you would utilize being in the residential college system, how you would participate in the various other programs and elements of the university, and why they personally connect, connect to you and the experience you’re hoping to have while in college.

That would be a great way of demonstrating that interest because it will show that you’ve done the deep knowledge and research and also the self-evaluation, uh, work of yourself to make that connection to what the university has to offer and how it connects to you. But there’ll also be other ways for you to be able to demonstrate that strong interest.

Uh, they do offer virtual information sessions and campus tours, so I highly recommend that you, uh, take advantage of that because those are available to everyone around the world as long as you have access to a computer. They also offer academic information sessions that’ll be unique to the specific academic schools.

So that’s another way of you getting excellent information related to that particular area study, and using that information in your y major or academic interest statement. Physically visiting the campus is also an excellent way of demonstrating, uh, interest because it’ll, um, it, the university, uh, will be able to see that you have visited and therefore, um, it will show that you’ve made that investment to physically come to campus.

But also, as I mentioned before, the campus is one of the most beautiful campuses in the country. If you go there and you feel an amazing connection and sense that you belong there, you can talk about that in your Y Rice essay. Um, rice Admission Officers also visit, uh, various cities and various places all around the world.

So going to those locations where we visit is gonna be helpful. Um, signing up for the virtual information sessions and campus tours is a great way to make sure that you’re on our mailing lists, so that if we’re in your particular area, you’ll get a notification that they’re gonna be in a particular place and that’s a great way to go and visit them.

And then also applying early Decision One or Early Decision two will definitely be an effective way to demonstrate interest because it’ll show you’re making that commitment to Rice University. And so I highly recommend if we are your first choice to apply early Decision. One, if we are your second choice and you don’t happen to get into that uh, early Decision One School, then definitely make that commitment and apply for Early Decision two.

So what unique attributes of rice should applicants highlight to show their fit with the university? Once again, here are some of the things that we definitely deeply care about. Uh, the culture of care. The culture of care is a high, is a value, but it’s also an ethos at Rice University in that it really does manifest itself in every single aspect of the university.

That the community is truly committed to each other. Professors are committed to students performing and doing well, both in and out of the classroom. Um, the college community that you feel in your residential college is students committed to one another, but overall owls look out for each other. And so how do you share that care of co of community with other people?

So demonstrate that may be in your essays about how you really do show care and concern for other people. Demonstrating that through your extracurriculars by showing, uh, the ways in which you have cared for other people in your community through either community service or even in your leadership, could be a di a, a great demonstration that you also bring that ethos of the culture of care to the community, uh, the major in academic interest.

So once again, what makes you a good fit for that particular area study And does that interest go beyond just preparing for a career? This is especially true for our pre-med students. I. Remember, you do not have to be a STEM major in order to go into medicine. You could easily be an ancient Mediterranean civilizations major and go into medicine.

You could be a history major and go into medicine, so it shouldn’t be, I want to study biology for the purposes of becoming a doctor. Once again, in that sense, you’re studying the subject as a means to an end to prepare for a career. It should be. I wanna study biology because I truly love this subject and I truly want to study elements of this subject that I truly am interested in.

So that’s one of the things that’ll show, once again, that fit to the area of study is because you genuinely are interested in that study because it’s something that you’re really interested in learning more about and not just as a means to an end to a career, especially once again for pre-meds, because rice is a pre-med destination, given the fact that we have a very high acceptance rate in the medical school commitment to diversity.

Now I know we live in an era where, uh, we’re concerned about DEI and things of that nature. First and foremost, I wanna say that DEI is not a dirty word. It’s not a dirty term. But, and Rice University still remains committed to diversity in all of its forms. There isn’t a quota system or anything of that nature, but Rice is situated in Houston, Texas, which is currently the most diverse city in the entire United States.

And so therefore, we want people to bring their unique perspective. We want them to not be afraid to share that unique perspective. So if you have a unique voice, if you have unique experiences that have really informed who you are and you’re not gonna be afraid to share it, we wanna know just that. So talking about that unique perspective and being open and willing to demonstrate that vulnerability to demonstrate that.

Uniqueness of yourself coming across in your essays would be a way of showing that commitment to diversity because you’re demonstrating that you are committed to showing up as your full, authentic self and being around other individuals who are also gonna show up as their full, authentic selves.

Are there any current trends, uh, in admissions at RICE that prospective students should be aware of? You definitely should be aware of these by following the rice, uh, university news, so that’ll always be a great way of learning more about what some of the potential trends in institutional priorities of the university.

So recently it was announced that Rice University has actually opened up an entire new undergraduate school of business. So therefore it’s definitely gonna be an institutional priority of the university to ensure that we have great students to start off the legacy of that new undergraduate business school.

Once again, when you apply, you indicate the school that fits your interest the best. But once again, you’re not actually bowed to that school if admitted. That’s with the exception of music and architecture. So for example, you could indicate engineering and also indicate what your first major that you would indicate would be an engineering related major.

But then you also get to then indicate up to two additional interests. So you can then do something maybe in natural sciences and maybe in humanities and be considered for all three. Because we’re basically trying to see can you find an intellectual home at Rice University based off of the interest that you list.

But if you’re going for the School of Music, you’ll only be considered for the School of Music. And then for the School of Architecture, you would only be considered for the school of architecture. Also, rice is increasing in size. So as such, that means that there’ll be some more spots in the class as we’re increasing in that enrollment size.

And so that’s another thing to just be mindful of.

So what are some thoughtful questions applicants can ask during interviews or information sessions? So keep in mind that the interviews are optional, but interviews are also another great way of being able to demonstrate interests. The interviews are primarily conducted via online, so therefore you don’t have to be in an area where there are rice, uh, alumni interviewers.

It can be done anywhere as well as being conducted on campus. Some great questions, and this is great for any university, but I would definitely say for Rice as well, is that you should ask questions that are not gonna be easily found. The answers are gonna be easily found on the website. ’cause then that shows a sign of laziness and not a commitment to researching and looking into the university.

Instead, ask your interviewer about their experience because they’re gonna be someone with a connection to the university, either as an alum or as a member of the staff. So asking them about their experience at Rice, why they decided to go there. Even asking them about what they would change about rice.

’cause then that gives them an opportunity to be really honest about the experience and give a sense of what it is that they liked. But what are some of the things that maybe they didn’t like as much and what the university is improving on. And then of course, always asking your interviewer or presenter about the residential college system and why they feel their particular college is the best.

Because the residential college system is a unique element of rice and one that we’re extremely proud of. So once again, I would always say when it comes to the interviews and information sessions, asking about that unique experience is a great way of getting a sense of that culture of care and that unique culture, and then being able to use those responses in your responses in the application.

So my advice to you when it comes to applying to rice, and for those of you who are thinking about applying to rice. Rice is truly an excellent university in everything that we do. If Rice puts it out there, they’re gonna be good at it. So oftentimes, I think Rice gets known of as just being a great STEM university.

I mean, we are literally across the street from the world’s largest medical center. We are, uh, in the space capital of the world. We have a direct connection with nasa, so we’re definitely known for STEM opportunities, but don’t sleep on rice when it comes to visual and dramatic arts, when it comes to architecture, when it comes to business, when it comes to social sciences, and when it comes to humanities, because we truly are excellent at everything that we do.

Rice is an exceptionally kind community. Um. A survey was done amongst, uh, high school guidance counselors, and the number one word that was used to describe rice students was kind amongst our guidance counselors as a commonality of what they could see amongst all of our students. And it really is true.

The university environment is definitely more communal than competitive. Uh, we’re more internally competitive and internally driven individuals, but we don’t feel the need to one up each other or that we have to be hyper competitive with other people. So knowing that you’re going to enter into a very communal environment and if that’s what you’re seeking, that’s definitely a reason to look into rice and a reason to go to rice.

I can’t emphasize enough. Doing your research and doing the self-analysis work to understand why rice would be a good fit for you is gonna benefit you so much because then you’re able to articulate that very well in all of your statements and essays on that supplement. Um, thinking about once again, what is your unique voice, your unique perspective, how are you sharing that unique perspective in your academics, your extracurriculars, your letters of recommendation, so that way it once again comes across?

What are you gonna bring to the table? Gonna be very important in this process and above all, cannot stress this enough. As a very proud rice alum and also a former member of that staff, rice is absolutely worth it. They invest in you. They invest in you from the time you get onto that campus to the rest of your life.

Orientation week. Still without a doubt, one of the best weeks I’ve ever had in my life where I immediately felt welcomed by that community, where I immediately felt a sense that this was the right place for me. And I have been supported by that institution, the alumni, the amazing community ever since.

So once again, I’m very, very proud of my alum, of my alumni and my uh, and my home institution, and hope that you definitely continue to look into rights because it is absolutely worth it. But the best thing you can do for yourself is put that time and attention into each aspect of the application. So with that, I welcome Anna to come back and let’s get into some questions and answers.

Anna: Thanks so much, Brandon. That was really informative. As you just said, that’s the end of the presentation, part of the webinar. We hope you found it helpful. Remember, you can download the slides from the link in the handouts tab so you can look back at them. The recording of this will also be shared with you, so you can access everything that way as well.

Time for the q and a section. I’m, I’ve been re All right. I’ve been reading through the questions y’all submitted in the q and a tab. Also some that you submitted when you registered for the webinar. As we get to each one, I will paste it into the public chat so you can see it and I will read it out loud so we can all hear it.

Then Brandon will give us his answer. As a heads up, if your q and a tab isn’t letting you submit, let’s double check that you join the webinar through the custom link in your email and not from the webinar landing page. You might need to close out, go to your email, click back in that way. But remember, it’s being recorded so you won’t miss anything if you have to do that.

All right, Brandon, we have a handful of questions about testing, so I thought I would start there.

Brandon: Sure.

Anna: Do you have a sense of why Rice is moving away from test optional?

Brandon: Sure. The reason why is because, um, the university definitely has done research in terms of determining that testing is a really good indicator as to first year success.

And so in order to really ensure that students are going to be really successful at the university, that’s the reason for why they are moving back towards having testing, being a part of the admission process, just one once again as one of those indicators of potential success at the university. So that’s the reason for why you’re seeing them move more towards having that as another indicator of potential success at the university.

Environ.

Anna: And then thank you for that. Sticking with the testing, when students submit their test scores, if, let’s say they take both SAT and the a CT, do they have to submit both or can they choose which one?

Brandon: You can choose which one? Um, usually I would always say choose which one that is, of course, higher in the score.

Definitely make sure that you’re using those concordance tables so that way you can see how they would match up at whichever one is the highest score. Then submit that. The other thing though also to consider is, once again, how are you applying? So once again, because we look at you within the context of the school that you’re, uh, thinking of going into, if you’re thinking about going into, um, especially the STEM subjects, so science, I mean, uh, natural science or engineering, it may benefit you submitting the ACT because you’ll have that science and that math score.

Whereas with, uh, the SAT, you would only have the math score that kind of corresponds with that.

Anna: Thank you. I’m gonna group some questions together next, um, folks are asking about super scoring, I think, just so we can make sure everyone in the room knows what that is. If you don’t mind starting with explaining what super score means.

Sure. And the, and then the question is, um. If they’ve taken it multiple times. Mm-hmm. Should they send their super score, their singular score? Will it be held against students if they submit scores from different dates? So that’s a, a big umbrella of questions.

Brandon: So first and foremost, let’s start off with what super scoring is.

So, what super scoring is, is that if you have taken a test multiple times, what a university will do is that they’ll take whatever highest individual sub score you have made to make up your highest composite. So for example, on the SAT whatev, let’s say you’ve taken it three times, the SAT and you made a 600 the first time on your evidence-based reading and writing a six 50 the second time and a 700, the score that the university’s going to use is that 700, let’s say, on that corresponding three tests from, um.

The, for the math you actually did in reverse. So the first time you made a 700, the second time you made a six 50 and the third time you made a 600. They’re gonna take that 700 from the fir, uh, from the first time. So that 700 from the first time on math, plus that 700 from the third time in your evidence-based reading and writing will make up a 1400 and that is your super score.

Same thing happens with the A CT, where if you take it at multiple times, they’ll make up, they’ll use your highest individual sub scores to make up your highest composite score. Rice University is a university that does super score. So generally I recommend for students to submit all of their scoring and the university’s only gonna look and consider your highest, um, your highest scores to make up your highest, uh, composite, and it doesn’t hurt you in the admission process.

Anna: Sorry, I forgot to unmute. Thank you, Brandon. You have been going strong for 45 minutes. I’m gonna give you a little break now. Appreciate, uh, so yeah, so I could talk about CollegeAdvisor. For those in the room who are not already working with us, we know how overwhelming the admissions process can be. Our team of over 300 former admissions officers, like Brandon and admissions experts are ready to help you and your family navigate the college admissions process in one-on-one advising sessions.

We’ve already helped over 8,000 families in their college journeys. And after analyzing our data from 2021 to 2024, we found that CollegeAdvisor students, when compared to similarly situated students who weren’t working with us, were 2.4 times more likely to get into Harvard. Almost three times more likely to get into Stanford.

Almost two times more likely to get into Princeton. I should have pulled the stats for rice. Uh, I saw. I’m sorry. I don’t have those. Um, but increase your odds. Take the next step in your college admissions journey. By signing up for a free 60 minute strategy session with an admission specialist on our team, you can do that by scanning the QR code on the screen.

Remember, you can also download the slides and this webinar is being recorded. So there uh, will be ways for you to access this QR code in the future. If you can’t scan it right now. But please, however you do, make sure you are able to scan it and sign up for that meeting. ’cause in that free meeting you’ll receive a preliminary assessment of your academic profile along with some initial recommendations on what we think you can do to stand out in your college applications.

At the end, you’ll also learn more about the premium packages we offer that pair you with an expert who can support you in building your college list, editing your essays, and so much more. We are really here for the whole process, start to finish even after students get offers. We are here to help them, um, figure it out, figure out which one’s best for them.

So. That’s CollegeAdvisor. I’m gonna leave that QR code on the screen while we go back to some more questions. Um, let’s see. Brandon, you were talking about demonstrated interest. Mm-hmm. Do students need to do anything to notify the school? Like say you go to a virtual session and you visit the campus.

How can you be sure that the admissions office knows about that?

Brandon: So, a couple of things. One is you can definitely make sure, especially if you physically go onto campus, make sure that you do check in. For your visit. ’cause that’s another way to make sure that the university has captured that. But also on the actual supplement itself, you get to indicate how you have demonstrated interest.

So if you’ve gone to an information session, make sure you click that particular box to show that you have got, that you have done it, and also include the date. Um, if you happen to remember the date. Same thing of if you’ve done, uh, if you’ve visited the university through a college fair or another outside program, you still get the ability to be able to indicate that on the application itself through the supplement.

So that’s a way of being able to make sure that they know that you have done those e those elements of demonstrated interest.

Anna: Thank you. I’m sure this is a question a lot of folks have thought about. How affordable can Rice be?

Brandon: Rice can be extremely affordable. So I’m very glad that y’all mentioned this. One piece of advice that I often tell students is to not let the sticker price of a university scare you off from applying because the only way you’re ever gonna know if a university is a option for you is to apply.

And many times the universities that have the highest sticker prices are the actual universities that offer you the most financial aid because they have the most financial resources to do so. Rice University happens to be one of those universities. So RICE actually has something called the rice investment.

It’s a way of making sure that students from all socioeconomic backgrounds really have an opportunity and ability to be able to afford rice. So. If your family’s income is between 140 to $200,000, if you’re admitted, you’re gonna get a half tuition scholarship. If your family’s income is between 75,000 to 140,000, then you’re gonna get a full tuition scholarship.

And then if your family’s income is $75,000 or less, you’ll get tuition fees and living expenses covered. So rice is extremely affordable.

Anna: That is really good to know. Um, Brandon, what are some common mistakes you see applicants

Brandon: make? Common mistakes that I’ve seen applicants make. One, you’re not gonna believe this, but not spelling rice correctly.

Anna: No,

Brandon: I have seen that. Um, also in the Y rice section. They copy and paste other institutions names because they’re using the same statement over again, and then they don’t change it. So I’ve definitely seen Rice compared to Brown, and I’m like, no. Even though Brown Rice, I know, I get it. Uh, um, another big one is in the, ’cause there’s a big Im, and I’m surprised no one has asked it just yet, but one unique element of the right submission process is something called the Box.

So it dates back to when the application was on paper, where literally you would get to the end of the application and there’s just this box and it would say, draw something or put something in the box and you literally could put anything and everything in the box. Well, now of course that we are online, you can upload any image and it needs to be an image that appeals to you.

Honestly, a common mistake is people uploading images of rice. And I mean, rice, the grain, rice, the food. Please don’t do that.

Anna: Uh, that’s, that’s funny. And now you have the inside scoop. Don’t do that. Please don’t. Do you have any advice for student athletes who want to be college athletes and, uh, would you say that their admission is driven more by the admissions office or the sports department?

Or is it equal?

Brandon: It is equal. It is definitely an equal process where the admission office is working in tandem with the various athletic teams and departments on the admission process. The best thing to do if you are a athlete is to go. Through the recruitment process, make sure that you’re in contact with that particular sport and they will guide you through the process.

’cause they’re also gonna be in communication with the admission office to help you through that process as well.

Anna: And just like you, you shared folks should not upload a photo of rice. Are there any essay topics that you recommend students avoid?

Brandon: Okay, so these are personal pet peeves of mine. One, do not write the essay about how you went to either another culture or another community or another place and how you saw poor people.

Please don’t do that. It is grossly exploitative and it doesn’t really say anything about you. Um, the culture through food essay. Also is one that I would say avoid talking about how you’ve engaged with other people and their cultures through sharing food and things of that nature. That’s not really demonstrating a deepness in understanding yourself or understanding culture.

The sports essay, meaning that you didn’t make the tryouts for one sport came back, made it the second time, and then now you were successful once again done to death, really doesn’t tell us much about you. Um, essays, honestly, I think people think that they have to be these big made for TV movie or big epic things in order for it to be appealing.

It really doesn’t. This is our way of getting to know you. So just really being honest about yourself and honest about the experiences that are important to you and what has informed you is honestly what we’re looking for. One of my favorite essays, literally a student wrote, I am. That’s how they started it out.

You would think that is not the best way of describing yourself, but what the essay became about was the fact that they grew up in an environment that was very homogenous and they wanted to go somewhere where they were different, where everything was as different as possible. And so that was an amazing essay because I really got a sense of what the student wanted.

And also it de, it de um, demonstrated amazing, um, self-awareness about yourself. So once again, keep those things in mind. But yeah, the things that have been done to death and also that don’t necessarily show a lot about you are things you would wanna avoid.

Anna: Yeah, I, I describe it to my students sometimes as the essay is a way for admissions officers to get a sense for, is this someone who I would.

Want on my campus who I want to get a cup of coffee with. Right? Like should they be in our community? So they really want to know you.

Brandon: Mm-hmm. Exactly.

Anna: Brandon, is it easy for students to transfer into the school of engineering at Rice?

Brandon: Yes. So you have to remember once again that, um, when you apply, you’re, um, unless you’re applying architecture or music.

You, the rest of the schools, you have the ability to be able to switch and you’re not applying directly into, so literally, when you become a student at Rice, you don’t have to declare a major until the second semester of your sophomore year. And you have the ability to declare a major in any of the academic schools outside of architecture, music.

And it’s only because those schools have the audition requirement for musicians and the portfolio requirement for architecture students. Even if you then decided that you wanted to, let’s say, go into music or architecture, all you would have to do is to do the audition to become a music student and the, uh, portfolio to become an architecture student.

And if you meet those requirements and the the school wants you, then you can go in. But for the others, once again, once you’re a Rice University student, you’re a Rice University student, you can then major in any of those other schools by declaring your major the second semester of your sophomore year.

And then if you wanted to switch is as easy as literally getting a form filled out.

Anna: That is good to know. And a good question. ’cause that varies, uh Yep. At different colleges.

Brandon: It does.

Anna: Do you think it’s advisable Brandon to submit all of your AP scores, even if maybe they’re not a four or a five?

Brandon: So when it comes to AP scores, remember you do not need to submit them officially to get them considered.

Save your money. To be honest, you should. If you want to have your scores considered self-report them on the application itself. Uh, typically I recommend students only submit or indicate AP scores of three or above.

Anna: Good to know. We have a few questions asking, is senior year too late for. So is it too late for improving your GPA? Is it too late for doing more volunteer work, increasing your extracurriculars? What? What do you think? Is it too late?

Brandon: So, first and foremost, senior year definitely counts. So when it comes to grade performance, especially senior year definitely counts.

You want to have the highest grade still when you’re a senior, so it’s definitely not too late to increase your grades and to show that you’re still performing very well. And if you weren’t necessarily performing well, making sure that you performing well that senior year. So that’s not too late when it comes to volunteering.

You should only be volunteering because you actually want to volunteer and that because you feel like you’re giving your service because you genuinely want to give your service. Do not, do not do it for the purposes of college admissions, because it will read as such. Because the way you describe it is not gonna come across as you’re doing it because you really wanna be in service.

It’s coming across as I feel like I need, I, I need hours. Therefore, I’m just doing it. Same thing when it comes to your extracurriculars. Remember, and this is for all of you, it is July. It is mid-July. The first application you genuinely are going to submit is gonna be October 15th. How many months do you have?

Let’s harness what’s in our control. What’s in our control is making sure that we have great grades. What’s in our control is making sure we have excellent essays that demonstrates who we are. Does really adding one more extracurricular change that dynamic and also how impactful do you think you’re really gonna be within this short amount of period of time for something that you just added.

So I say use that time more wisely in the things that are in your more immediate control rather than trying to add something for the purposes of an admission process.

Anna: Good. And advice. For example, my students right now who are rising seniors, I have starting writing their personal statements.

Brandon: Yep, exactly.

So you

Anna: could be doing that. Um, we, I think we have time for maybe one or two more questions. Brandon, do you have any advice for international students?

Brandon: Yes. So for international students, I definitely encourage you to apply to Rice University because Rice University actually does meet a hundred percent of demonstrated need for international students who are admitted to the university.

So definitely make sure that you apply. Um, the other thing is, is we’re once again, remember, we look at everything in context. So know that we’re gonna look in the context of the, um, country that you’re coming from. So we would understand that extracurriculars may function differently. Also, that curriculums and things of that nature are also gonna function differently.

So my biggest thing for international students apply.

Anna: Great, great information to have. Um, okay. Last question. Do you think a lot of what you said tonight, Brandon, is applicable to applications to other colleges as well?

Brandon: A good bit of what I have said is also gonna be applicable to my fellow counterparts, especially other highly selective universities.

We want students to deeply know why they wanna go to our institution. So talking about what that connection is to that university is gonna be helpful to you. And a lot of the other things I’ve said tonight will also be helpful to you.

Anna: Yes. Don’t forget the Cheesecake Factory rule. I’m gonna use that with my students, with your permission, Brandon.

I love that. Please

Brandon: feel free.

Anna: Well, thank you so much everyone. Thank you Brandon, for your expertise. Thanks everyone for your questions and for joining us. Um, best of luck with your applications.

Brandon: Yes, good luck to everyone and thank you for joining us.

Anna: Bye.