Undergraduate / Rice University: cultural/unique life experiences essay [5]

Question:The quality of Rice's academic life and the Residential College System are 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?

Ok this is a reallly rough draft, so i know it still needs a lot of work and its really choppy but i was just wondering if the content is good for the essay question. Is the topic of religion too intense? Also, i'm going to add a paragraph or two at the end about how this experience specifically will contribute to life at rice, so here it is:

We are all lining up outside the door, waiting to get a peek at what is inside. The heat is intense, my knee length skirt being burdensome and sticking to my legs. But, I can feel the mounting excitement and expectation. To any of my friends at home, what I was about to do, and hear, they think would be a hoax, staged, set up. But I know, if I am to hear anything, than it's real. The past three weeks that I've spent fasting, praying, singing hymns, and loving God were enough of a dedication for me to feel more in touch with my Orthodox religion than ever before. Finally, I cross the threshold and see the marble tomb lying in the center. They quietly instruct us what to do: put your ear up against the cold marble, knock, and wait for Saint Nectarios to come knocking back. There's three of us surrounding the tomb, all expecting to hear absolutely nothing, but hoping, and praying, that we will hear even the faintest sounds. I put my ear to the tomb, I knock, and I wait. I hear nothing, figuring that it is all a myth anyway and telling myself that that's what I expected all along. But, I put my ear to the tomb again, knowing that I will probably never again be at this quaint monastery in the hills of the Greek island of Aegina. And this time I hear a scratching, first faint, and then much louder. The three of us quickly jerk our heads up, and at once ask each other "was that you?". But, no, it wasn't any of us, the only thing that made that sound was St. Nectarios himself, dead for the last ninety years, but still very much alive. Never before has my belief in my faith been as strong as it was in the moment that I walked away from that tomb, fully confident that I would never question my religion again. As I walk into the gift shop I had bypassed earlier, thinking that I had already bought enough icons on this trip, I buy one of St. Nectarios so I can always remember what I heard, and what I felt on a small island in the Aegean sea off the coast of Greece.

Undergraduate / "to change my mindset" - Tufts University supplement essays [3]

Here are 2 supplement short answers for Tufts University. Any comments on grammar or content are much appreciated!!!

Why Tufts? (50 words)
When I first visited the Tufts campus, I remember that the admissions officer stressed three things about Tufts: study abroad, volunteer work, and the study of languages. If I attend Tufts I would like to study abroad in Australia, volunteer for Engineers without Borders, and study the Greek language.

Self-identity and personal expression take many forms. For example, music, clothing, politics, extracurricular interests, and ethnicity can each be a defining attribute. Do you surf or tinker? Are you a vegetarian poet who loves Ayn Rand? Do you prefer YouTube or test tubes? Are you preppie or Goth? Use the richness of your life to give us insight: what voice will you add to the Class of 2014?

I'm not one of those people who listen to only one genre of music, and proclaim, with a sense of heightened superiority, that all other music is undeserving. I am more of an accepting listener, able to quickly change views and perspectives just by clicking shuffle on my iPod. Instead of choosing one band that I'm completely loyal to, I go through phases, phases in which I become absolutely obsessed with a certain genre/artist. All day long, on the ride to school, while doing homework, and while on the computer, I listen to these few songs and get to know them. Throughout these phases I always learn all the intricacies of each song: every word, every beat, and every instrumental ornament. My most recent phase has been the songs of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Listening to their music gives me the image of cruising down a highway off the coast of California, with the sun high in the sky, aviators on, and palm trees lining the street. I know every word to "Can't Stop" and every chord of the guitar solo in "Dani California" My previous phase had been country music, in which I imitated the accent to the best of my ability while listening to the banjo riffs in "Red Neck Yacht Club" or the bass in "She's Country." And the phase before that was one of Turkish music, even though I'm not even Turkish. With this phase I learned all the foreign words, and memorized all the mystical Middle Eastern beats of Murat Boz's "Püf" and Tarkan's "Vay Anam Vay." Yes, I can say when it comes to music, I don't mind being open to all its possibilities. To the Class of 2014, I will add the voice of acceptance and changing perspective, able to change my mindset from Istanbul, Turkey, to Nashville, Tennessee in a heartbeat.

Undergraduate / I have been raised very traditionally; Tufts: Let your life Speak essay [3]

I feel like this essay is really redundant and I'm just rambling. Also, I'm not sure if I should have put this essay in story form to illustrate the traditional values of my family. Anywy, any comments much appreciated!!

There is a Quaker saying: ''Let your life speak.'' Describe the environment in which you were raised--your family, home, neighborhood or community--and how it influenced the person you are today. (200 words)

My mother's parents and brother were born in rural Greece, and their intense traditional ways and mindsets were passed down to my mother. The same goes for my father. From a strict Irish Catholic upbringing, he learned that the worst offense was to disobey. Because of my parent's intense upbringings, my sister and I have been raised very traditionally, with values of education, hard work, determination, frugalness, and obedience. We were taught to live within our means, the importance of a good education, and that failure was never an option. Because of such a traditional upbringing, in which church was attended every Sunday, I see myself as much more conservative than many of my peers. Living in the suburbs of New York City, traditionally liberal in its political and social views, my views of life are at times radically different from many of my fellow students. Nevertheless, I have many friends with both liberal and conservative views and have found that diversity of opinion is a positive experience. Sometimes it's difficult to have parent's that are pushing you every step of the way, but if I could change them, I wouldn't do a thing.

Undergraduate / 'comfortable expressing one's opinion' - Haverford: Honor Code Essay [3]

I'm not sure if this essay is too redundant. also not sure if it's a good idea to put examples of teachers i had in the past who don't live up to the values that i think should be in the honor code. Thanks in advance

Question: The Honor Code at Haverford creates an environment of deep trust, respect, and collegiality between professors and students which, in turn, fosters open dialogue and free intellectual exchange. Talk about the conditions you think are essential to allowing this type of dialogue and exchange in both academic and non-academic settings.

An environment conducive to learning and the sharing of opinions is necessary in any learning institution in order to encourage free thinking between students and teachers. In order to create this environment, I think it is necessary for students and teachers to be open to all opinions and points of view while still being able to assert their opinion in a respectful manner, to treat all students and all teachers equally and with respect, and to have a passion for what they're teaching/learning.

Teachers, and students, need to be open to their peers' opinions in order to generate an environment where everyone will feel comfortable expressing their genuine opinion. In my junior year, I had a history teacher who was very liberal, and his rants about his own personal views made me very uncomfortable in his class because they conflicted with my more traditional, and conservative views. I respected his opinion and what he had to say, but I felt that he wasn't open to hearing the differing thoughts of others. Because of this, I tended not to participate in that class as much as I normally would have because of the fear of my opinions being outwardly rejected. In order to create an environment where teachers and students will want to share their opinions, there has to be an open mindedness for differences on both sides.

Teachers also need to treat all students equally in order to command respect from their students. My math research teacher, Dr. Gerver, who I had all throughout high school, genuinely cared for and respected the work of each of his students. By seeing his true dedication and ability to treat every student with equal care and attention, he showed that he was authentically concerned with each student's work. Because of this, each student, in turn, respected him and what he had to say.

A necessary component for having an environment conducive to learning is a passion for what is being studied/taught. This goes both ways. For a student, passion is necessary in order to perform to the best of their ability. A student truly has to care about the subject material in order for them to grow and succeed. My favorite subjects, math, science, and Spanish, were the ones where I succeeded the most. Because of my desire to learn, my teachers knew that I was serious about my work and about the class. The same goes for the teachers. I had a physics teacher who was retiring the following year and didn't care about how much we learned, or what we did during class. He never bothered to learn the student's names, so that, on the last day of school, he only knew the names of a couple of students in a 15 person class. Very often he would give us a sheet to work on and then spend the rest of the period at his computer answering e-mails or searching YouTube. Knowing that my teacher had lost his passion for physics and for teaching, it became very hard for me to care about the subject. Because of this, I did poorly on a few tests, and developed a strong dislike for this teacher so that I didn't want to talk to him about physics, or anything else for that matter. I think passion is the most essential element to creating an effective learning environment, and with it, most students would agree that they will be engaged and truly interested in their work and the subject matter.