I am considering applying to Rice University as an "early decision" school but still want to apply for aid at NC State. Answered
I am applying as an undergraduate engineering major at Rice University as well as NC State University. Rice University definitely edges out NC State as my top school, but NC State also has some large scholarships that could change that based on the affordability of both schools. I am wondering if it would be worth applying early decision to Rice University to increase my chances of admission while risking missing out on a full ride to a school with a comparable Engineering program. Rice is my dream school, but possibly missing out on free collage seams like a poor choice even if there is only a chance of me being selected for the scholarship.
The other complicating factor is that Rice's binding agreement has an "out" depending on the financial aid you receive.
"If you are accepted under an Early Decision plan, you must promptly withdraw the applications submitted to other colleges and universities and make no additional applications to any other university in any country. If you are an Early Decision candidate and are seeking financial aid, you need not withdraw other applications until you have received notification about financial aid from the admitting Early Decision institution."
All of this is a little much for me right now and any advice from people who understand the process better than me would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
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3 answers
I recommend applying RD to Rice to avoid potentially missing out on NC State's scholarships. Since financial aid is important to you, applying ED to any school could lock you into an aid package which is not ideal for you.
Applying RD will give you the added benefit of being able to negotiate your financial aid package with Rice. Many colleges will be willing to match an aid package that another institution offers you in order to entice you to attend their school. If an NC State acceptance with a scholarship came in at the same time as a Rice acceptance, you might be able to convince Rice to increase your aid package to be more in line with NC State's offer. In any case, you will have more colleges and competing aid packages to choose from. Hope this helps!
Since Rice give admits full tuition scholarships if family income is between 75-140,000, I don't see how NC state would be a better deal since the Rice deal is 100% guaranteed if you get in. Also, you get 1/2 tuition from 141-200,000.
I would shoot my shot at Rice if your chancing % is above 20%. Plus applying to Rice ED doesn't mean you can't apply EA to another public college like NC STATE EA so I don't understand the problem.
Copied from RICE website:
True or False: You can’t apply to more than one school for Early Decision.
True: Because Early Decision is a binding decision plan, you can’t apply to more than one. However, you can apply to as many schools as you’d like for decision plans that aren’t binding such as Regular Decision and Early Action. If admitted, you can then withdraw your application for the other schools and let everyone know you’re a Rice Owl.
To answer your question, applying ED to one school doesn't mean you can't apply for aid at another one while filling out applications. A caveat arises when you're attending two institutions and trying to get aid at both.
A full ride is a great thing if finance is the biggest factor in your college choice, but if that's not the case, apply ED to Rice. Rice has a great financial aid program, so it won't be as expensive as you think.
It's obvious from the acceptance rates that there's a much higher chance of getting accepted into NC State with a scholarship than getting into Rice without any financial aid, especially if you're from NC.
The below statistics for Rice's Class of 2025 show that not all of those admitted under ED actually enrolled, although the yield rate was much greater than that of RD applicants. For unknown reasons, they haven't updated the stats for Class of 2026 yet.
https://admission.rice.edu/apply/class-profile
Hope this helps!
Your chance of acceptance
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@Anonymous123 So what chancing % do you think is a good chancing percentage for RICE ED since the ED rate is 18%?