<p>@gibby thanks for the info! But is the mere mention of the service trip a problem? I don’t plan to write about the trip itself, what we did, or the trip’s impact on me. I was going to write about a somewhat racial slur/offensive remark I was called in the country, which I was also called in my home country (although in a different language). I was going to make the essay personal and mostly about my daily life, not about the trip itself. Would that still be considered “lame” and stinking of privilege? And won’t colleges see I’m a low income student anyway?</p>