Shina Laris

I have two questions:

1. I did not join any extracurricular activities at all during 9th and 10th grade due to family circumstances. I have 3 little brothers and sister and a young cousin, and I had to come home right after school because they were too young to be left home alone (they were all in elementary school) and my parents don't come home from work until late in the afternoon/night. Only this past year, my junior year, was one of my brothers deemed 'old enough' (he just entered middle school) to take care of 3 elementary kids for a few hours before I get home.

Also, because of this, I had to drop marching band upon entering high school, because that would also require staying after.

Would this be counted heavily against me if I can explain my circumstance to the admissions officer somehow? I did join 3 clubs this past year, but would not having any ECs my freshmen and sophomore years look really bad to an admissions officer? I do have a decent amount of volunteer works (not as much as many other distinguished applicants, but enough, I suppose), but I'm not sure that would help assuage my lack of ECs.

2. On Rice's application, the essay question is

The quality of Rice's academic, cultural, and social life is heavily influenced by the unique life experiences and cultural traditions each student brings. What perspective do you feel that you will contribute to life at Rice?

How loosely can this question be interpreted? In other words, do I have to come out and explicitly say that this perspective I have will contribute to this quality at Rice? Or can I just write an essay about something I experienced or something I learned that contributed to who I am and hope at the admissions officer will infer and decide whether I'll contribute anything with what I've experienced/learned or not?

I was thinking about writing an essay on the transition of coming to the US in middle school and not knowing any English and how that have taught me and have helped shape who I am. Would this be all right?

Thank you for any and all replies! =)

m1817

Why don't you write about being a surrogate parent to your siblings and your cousin?

You may not realize it but you are more mature compared to your high school peers (and many college students) as a result of that experience. As for the leadership aspect, you had to manage a household.

While it may seem to you that you were merely babysitting, your took on role of great responsibility. There a lot of adults that have not been able to manage a household, much less be responsible parents.

That would be a much more impressive subject for an essay than moving to the U.S., learning English, and assimilating into your environment.

raindrop1019

I actually wrote about what I learned from spending time with my younger brothers. My ECs were also impacted due to two working parents and three young siblings.

daaaaad

Shina, I can't think of a more powerful story to tell than your "real life" experience. That is who you are and frankly, it tells a far better story about the strengths you offer than any EC ever could. If Rice doesn't appreciate your potential contribution to their school, I'm sure there are several other top schools who would welcome you enthusiastically.

me.duh

I agree with everyone who have commented before me. Taking care of children is difficult, and I can't stand to do it. I find it amazing that you had the maturity and good will to put ahead the need of others before those of yourself. That is an amazing quality that would definitely contribute to Rice's student body.

jakpot

I hesitate to give advice because it might interfere with your writing process. With that caveat, you can interpret the prompt as broadly or narrowly as you wish. The essay demonstrates your skill with words, personal history, and then interpretation of that history.

What works well is focusing in on something small (it's so hard to do how could Kerouac ever do it?) and not on something big. When I wrote my essays, I first took the grandiose approach of trying to distinguish myself from other people. It worked ok, but I wasn't confident with my writings. My later essays were narrow portraits of scenes from my grocer, kitchen, deskmates, skyscapes, and then the ways I thought of them.

Essentially, you can do what you want. I'm not saying that you couldn't use your current essay idea to write a moving piece, but I'm not sure how you would use it to qualify your identity. If you feel convicted about a topic, write about it.

By the way, your question was meticulously worded and formatted.

KrazyKow

Generally, essays are a good place to explain anything odd about your life circumstances, and I agree that talking about taking care of your siblings and cousin would apply to the prompt. Just make sure you connect your story about them with the prompt in the conclusion, which is fairly easy to do with Rice's essays since they don't have a strict length limit (or at least they used to not have one).