William Marsh Rice University, better known simply as Rice, is a private research institution in Houston, Texas. Rice boasts eleven residential colleges and eight schools of academic study. TLDR: they have a lot of programs. Rice sits right next to Houston’s Museum District and Hermann Park. Their acceptance rate hovers around 10% for regular decision, but jumps up to 20% for early decision candidates.
Rice asks students to answer two questions (and one photo submission? More on that later) on their supplement. They say of these questions, “The Admission Committee is interested in getting to know each student as well as possible through the application process.” These two questions are the two sides of the popular, “why do you want to go here?” essay. The first prompt asks students about academics and the second about time outside of the classroom.
The first prompt asks:
Please explain why you wish to study in the academic areas you selected above. (150 words)
This essay is short, so don’t worry too much about flowery language. It’s more important that you state what you are going to study at Rice and have done the research to back it up. We usually like students to start this type of essay with a story about when they first fell in love with their intended study. Since the word count is so low in this essay, you will have to do this pretty quickly. For example, if you want to study engineering. You could say, “Ever since my first robotics tournament in middle school, I knew I wanted to be a mechanical engineer.”
Even if you aren’t 100% sure what you want to study, you should write this essay like you are. Choose a major that you would most likely want to study. No one is going to force you to stick to what you said in your admissions essay once you are on campus.
The next step is to write about some classes that you want to take. This is going to take some research. Look through the course catalogue. You will need to look for two upper-level classes in your intended major. You should be looking for classes that are marked in the 300 and 400s range. These classes are far more unique to Rice than the 101s and 201s. Find ones that call to you and mention them specifically as classes you plan to take at Rice. For example, classes like MECH 444 FLUID MECHANICS OF COMPUTING and MECH 456 LEGAL THEMES IN ENGI PRACTICES could be good choices for a mechanical engineering major to talk about.
You can also research professors and name one who you would like to be a research assistant of and what drew you to their work. If you have any space, wrap it up with something along the lines of “and that’s why Rice is the only place for me!” but in your own, non-cheesy words.
Based upon your exploration of Rice University, what elements of the Rice experience appeal to you? (150 words)
This question asks students to speak to Rice’s opportunities outside the classroom. Start by researching specific clubs, traditions, and opportunities at Rice. The best examples build on what you already do in high school as they give you an opportunity to also talk about your interests. Let’s say you were in your high school’s glee club, you could write about joining Nocturnal A Cappella. Take some time to find organizations and opportunities that make sense for you.
You can also speak to the culture at Rice, but make it above board. They are proud of their residential system, so speaking to that would be appropriate. Certain cultural centers or places like the Moody Center for the Arts could also work. This isn’t the time to mention “how sick the frats are.”
Every school has a lovely campus, you don’t need to add filler like that in this essay. It’s more important to dig deep and be specific here.
The last part of Rice’s supplement gets a little weird. They ask, “The Rice Box: In keeping with Rice’s long-standing tradition, please share an image of something that appeals to you.”
There are no real rules for this. It is honestly a weird question, so just add something that truly appeals to you. We bet they get some truly wild submissions for this. Be smart. Don’t send nudes. Or anything elicit. Probably safe to say no mirror selfies with your tongue out. But we would hope you would have already guessed that. Don’t overthink this and keep it PG!
Rice’s application isn’t very long so you should be able to devote most of your time to researching the school and their opportunities and academics. Having a solid list of specifics will make these essays much easier to write, so don’t skimp on it!
Still need help? Contact us here!