Undergraduate / "multiple functions" - Why Brown Essay [2]

Please tell us more about your interest in Brown: why does Brown appeal to you as a college option? Who or what has influenced your decision to apply?

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College is a place that has multiple functions. First and foremost, it provides the educational ground for a student's future career. The beautiful Brown University boasts an excellent academic experience with over 2,000 unique courses in a multitude of fields. Not only does Brown have genius professors, the school is also home to curious, intelligent peers who also have a plethora of knowledge to offer. As an aspiring art history student, Brown can offer me an interdisciplinary education studying art across a range of cultures and time periods. Uniquely, Brown provides special opportunities due to its relationship with the Museum of the Rhode Island School of Design. College is also the time to experience everything you possibly can and Brown University is the ideal place to do this with diverse student organizations that range from Alzheimer's Activists to the Amira Belly Dance Company. Utilizing Brown University's vast resources, I hope to fully experience all college has to offer.

I don't know how to make this more personal for me!

Undergraduate / "Cross-stitch embroidery" project, experience, class - Brown Supplement [5]

A) Tell us about an intellectual experience, project, class, or book that has influenced or inspired you.

Tears gathered in the corners of my eyes as I watched the blood pool on my finger. I had poked my finger with the needle. Again. I mechanically stowed all my supplies away in a plastic box dedicated to my embroidery and headed for the medicine cabinet to seek comfort from a Hello Kitty band-aid. After a short recovery, I was slightly damaged but ready to continue onwards toward my goal.

Cross-stitch embroidery may at first seem like a mindless process. Needle in, needle out. The complexity of the art, however, reveals itself when you perform the task. What begins as skeins of tangled threads and a white canvas of cloth almost miraculously transforms into a beautiful picture. You fill one square with an x of color and then move on to the next square. As each distinct color takes its spot, slowly but steadily, the final picture begins to emerge. The ability to see this bigger picture while it's still in pieces is something that applies to real life, a lesson embodied when caught in the throes of an argument or under a mound of ceaseless work. As with all things in life, mistakes are easily made, but when caught early, can be just as readily mended. Cross stitching also trains the eye to see the graduations and shadows created by color. Because it's also a mathematical art in the counting of squares, cross stitching represents a combination of the logical and creative, a balance worth striving for.

The most intellectually engrossing part, however, is striving to keep the back of the embroidery tangle free. It is frustratingly easy to knot threads in the back and end up with an extensive mat of colorful threads. To avoid this, I've learned to double check the neatness of my every stitch and to always move forward. If the problem becomes unsolvable, I have learned to cut my losses and simply begin anew in a different spot with a different perspective. Through blood, sweat, and tears, the resulting masterpiece is more than the sum of its parts.

Undergraduate / "Everything was white; medical testing and surgery" - Rice perspective essay [3]

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? (Most applicants are able to respond successfully in two to three double-spaced pages.)

Everything was white.

The fear pounding in my heart was not diminished in the least by the fact that I had anticipated this moment for ten of the seventeen years of my life. My apprehension must have been apparent on some monitor because the anesthesiologist soon told me "You'll feel a slight pinch" as he injected my IV with some foreign substance meant to calm me. The difference between the slight pinch promised and the sharp jab that followed only served to heighten my anxiety. This was it.

Orthodontists are every child's nightmare. As a third grader, I was taken into Dr. Goldreich's office to be assessed for any hint of a need for braces. The results of that visit would serve to mold my high school years. Some teenagers have nightmares of awkward braces or even more disastrous headgear. I, on the other hand, had maxillofacial surgery to plague my nighttime escapades. How could my genes have betrayed me with a malformed jaw? As Dr. Goldreich calmly explained in his unidentifiable accent that I would need major jaw surgery to correct my bone growth, my young mind couldn't quite grasp the gravity of the situation.

After years of expensive medical testing, the time was ripe for surgery. I was sure that I was ready for the change. After all, had I not seen numerous surgeries from six seasons of Grey's Anatomy? Surely, there would be a moment of life changing wonder afterwards to enjoy. Oh how wrong I was. After eight hours in the operating room, I awoke in the ICU with a gigantic tube stuck down my throat and pain throbbing in my jaw. The nurse wrapped my hand around a button and explained that if I was "uncomfortable", morphine would be available at the touch of the button. The ICU was just a precursor to the suffering to come.

Despite years spent with the knowledge of surgery, the impacts of the actual act were unanticipated. Being a teenager means learning to love yourself for who you are. Through years of torturous acne and awkward social gatherings, I had finally learned to do so. In just one day, my appearance had changed drastically and as a result, I wasn't sure if the person in the mirror was the same as the person who entered the operating room. As dire as the situation seemed in the week after surgery, I learned to deal with the problems recovery entailed. I rekindled my love for cooking by creating new soups to satisfy my liquid diet. I found creative, hand-free ways to continuously have ice on my face to placate my swollen jaw. I took up cross-stitch embroidery to cure my boredom on those endless bedridden days. Other problems, such as my perpetually mucus-filled sinuses, simply had no solution. Instead of letting it bother me, I learned to work through the discomfort. The surgery pushed me past my comfort zone, but through this arduous process, I gained new found strength. To Rice, I bring the perspective of someone with intelligent and creative solutions for any problem confronted. I bring the perspective of someone affiliated with suffering but is willing to work through and past any and all hardships. I bring the perspective of an able student who is open to change and all that Rice has to offer.

Not quite sure about the last sentence. Need help conforming the essay to the prompt!