What My Sophomore Year at Rice University Looked Like

[@GeraldWang]

That wraps up my second year at Rice! Hope everyone has a safe and fun summer break!

[@armendebate6752]

Just committed to Rice! Looking forward to seeing you on campus soon!

[@GeraldWang]

That's great, congrats!

[@KeiraRachel]

Another great video, Gerald!

[@GeraldWang]

Thanks so much Kelvin!

[@thatrandomdude3764]

Hey Gerald I hope you’re having a good summer break so far. I recently got accepted to Rice and I hope to be able to experience the campus myself eventually. I hope you’re staying safe

[@GeraldWang]

Congrats! Hope to see you next year!

[@maxbinary]

Great video as always! Ty and keep up the great work!

[@GeraldWang]

Thanks Max!

[@maxbinary]

I live by Rice and my bro is a ChemE from brown. Roomie is also a Cid grad. U caught urself at the end for going on a little long. I dont think ppl have the best attention spans today. You have great content and I love the professor shoutouts but I caught myself looking at the timer. lol. #ConstructiveCritism Bro! lol

[@GeraldWang]

@@maxbinary Thanks, I'll keep that in mind for the future!

[@swoardofthelegends]

Love the vid! Have a great summer man!

[@GeraldWang]

Thanks, you too!

[@Gamerhero45]

Hey Gerald, heading to rice in the fall! I was wondering how you got an internship with openstax as a freshman? Is that a really rare, difficult thing or can I also get that internship if I put in the effort? I have no CS experience by the way. Thanks a lot!

[@GeraldWang]

I got the internship the same way you get most internships! Just applied for it, did a couple of interviews (technical and behavioral) and received an offer. While I wouldn't say it's rare to get an internship as a freshman, it's definitely something that'll require a lot of work on your part. You'll have to give employers a reason to interview you (which may be difficult if you have no cs experience) and do well in the interviews. But I had no prior cs experience (I also know some friends who had no cs experience either) and was able to land one so it's definitely doable!

[@Gamerhero45]

@@GeraldWang thanks so much for the reply! I don't really have any previous CS stuff even on my resume going into college. How were you able to land the position even though you were just starting out? Did you have something on your resume that probably stood out to them about your CS ability? I feel as though they'll just see that I'm just starting to learn CS and they'll trash my resume.

[@GeraldWang]

@@Gamerhero45 While I didn't have any CS stuff coming into college, during my freshman year I tried to do a lot of things. So by the time I applied for internships, I had stuff like winning a datathon and being a developer for the rice cs club. Basically by the time I applied for internships I had some cs related activities to show them. In all honesty, it doesn't take too much to land an interview. The hard part comes during the interview itself which you should prepare for.

[@zibilji]

Hi Gerald, great channel. Just curious, for comp 330, comp 215 is a prerequisite, but you took them concurrently. Did you need to get a special permission or is that generally acceptable? Thanks for all the info.

[@GeraldWang]

Yea so for that class the prof allows you to take 215 concurrently! You just give him a special registration form to sign.

[@ahmetasimaykanat528]

Hey Gerald, it's me, Ahmet. Do you think an SAT of 1340 is enough for Rice?

[@GeraldWang]

While I wouldn't say that it'll prevent you from getting into Rice, I would try to aim for a higher score. Rice has some admissions statistics that they publish every year and the 25th percentile for the sat is around 1470 so I'd aim for at least that score.

[@Anonymous-vd4kd]

Hi Gerald! Do you think CS is a generally strong major at Rice? Another question, have you heard of an event called RiceHack? I remember seeing it somewhere but don't know if it truely exists. lol. Also, are LPAP courses compulsory? ('cause I'm not so much into sports[sad].) Thanks so much for making this video and hope you have a great summer experience!

[@sarahpreston4558]

HackRice is a pretty big event! And LPAPs are mandatory, but there's a HUGE range of courses offered--I took dance!

[@Anonymous-vd4kd]

@@sarahpreston4558 that sounds very interesting->_

[@Anonymous-vd4kd]

@@sarahpreston4558 thanks for your response!

[@GeraldWang]

Yup, HackRice is rice's major hacking competition and a lot of people compete in it. I would definitely say that Rice has a strong cs department and is well known (not really among the general populace but definitely among companies and people who hire) to be a top tier school for cs students. And yes, you do have to take 1 lpap course to graduate. In the video I made it seem like you have to take one every year, but that's just because I'm interested in multiple lpaps that are offered. You're only required to take 1.

[@joannae2694]

hi gerald! i am wondering if my ACT score is high enough to get into Rice? I’m a junior this year and plan on applying early action/decision in July. I’ve only taken it once so far and got a 33! The Rice website says this is in their range, but I wanted to hear from you! Thanks :)

[@GeraldWang]

Hey Joanna! Yea, a 33 is definitely high enough to be competitive. As long as you're in the range on the Rice website then from there they look more at your ec's instead of your test scores.

[@riccardogeraci5129]

Hi Gerald I'm an international student and I was wondering if Rice offered full scholarships or assistantships. Could you give me some information ? And how did you get in Rice, did you get a sholarship?

[@GeraldWang]

Hey Riccardo! Yes, Rice does offer full scholarships for people that are eligible. As for information about them, I only know to the extent that Rice provides from these two websites: publicaffairs.rice.edu/multicultural-community-relations/scholarships and financialaid.rice.edu/merit-scholarships I didn't receive any merit scholarships from Rice themselves but I did get some from other places.