Undergraduate / Macalester Supp #1 - the factors [5]

This is the first question in the supplement:

"What factors have led you to consider Macalester College? Why do you believe it may be a good match, and what do you believe you can add to the Mac community, academically and personally?

Feel free to draw on past experiences, and use concrete examples to support your perspective."

Main Concerns: Is it too long? It's 934 words..Also is this too direct of an approach to answering the question? As a result, does it flow well?

Thanks! I'm hoping to submit tonight or at least as early before the deadline as possible.
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I've taken all your comments into account and I've arrived at what I think is going to be my final copy.

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"Take a look at this", read my father's email - it was a link to Macalester's website. My father was a graduate of a small, Minnesota liberal arts college himself, and he was the first person who recommended Macalester to me. He discovered the unique three-plus-three architecture program at Macalester, but what caught his attention was the abundance of financial aid available for international students. In my opinion, there is much more to a college than the money. I became intrigued by the prospect of completing two degrees in six years in the joint program with Washington University at St. Louis. This would allow for much more breadth than the four-plus-two program at other universities, where both degrees would be architectural in focus. At Macalester, I would be able to pursue my ambitions of becoming an architect, yet also gain a broader knowledge base with my first Bachelor's degree - which does not necessarily have to be directly related to architecture - and a second Master's degree in architecture.

As a student in the Gifted Program and also having taken many accelerated courses, there is a constant desire within me to learn. To me, learning is a daily activity, even outside of school, whether you like it or not. Every single day there is something new to learn; small or big, useful or not. Whether it is learning how to cook without setting off the smoke alarm or learning how to spell onomatopoeia, it's something you didn't know the day before. My niche in this lies with technology.

When teenagers are not using the Internet for homework or research purposes, many of them find themselves aimlessly browsing YouTube. The Internet has quickly risen up the ranks to become ultimate source of procrastination for students these days. However, I believe that it is a little known fact that YouTube can be a great educational tool as well. Almost two years ago, I purchased an acoustic guitar with one mission: to learn to play it without taking a single lesson. My only problem was that I had absolutely no idea where to begin. That is where YouTube comes into play. Believe it or not, everything I have learned about the acoustic guitar is thanks to YouTube. When I mean everything, I literally mean everything - from how to hold a pick to how to play simple four-chorded songs like 'Wonderwall'. I will admit that my skills are no match to legends like Jimi Hendrix, but I am learning at my own pace that suits my schedule and most importantly, my motivation. After all, no matter how much we wish it were, motivation is not omnipresent, and success and progress are maximized when we possess the right amount of motivation.

Besides academics, the extreme diversity of the Macalester student body is bound to broaden my perspective on the world. Having spent a crucial seven years of my adolescence in Hong Kong, I have developed a tremendous appreciation for the international world and its many cultures through both personal and indirect acquaintances. I believe that my diverse background and openness to multiculturalism is a perfect fit for Macalester as I look forward to learning more about foreign cultures through other students. The travel bug has recently captured me as its victim, and in my lifetime I want to visit as many countries as possible. With Macalester's wide array of study abroad opportunities to distant countries like South Africa and Chile, I will be able to satisfy some of my travel aspirations, work towards my degree as well as learn about the local culture simultaneously.

When I am not overseas, back at Macalester I will be able to meet fellow students from distant countries willing to share their own personal experiences. Personally, I think that the experience of living in a foreign country is a privilege, as most people grow up living in their home country and even in the same house for the first eighteen years of their lives. As a future member of the Mac community, I foresee a distinct trade off with mutual benefits between myself and my fellow classmates. Given my own unique experiences, philosophies and interests there will be plenty for me to share with the community. My ultimate goal is to share my wealth of unique characteristic with a large group of people with the desire to share the same with me. In my eyes, Macalester College is the right place to go to find this group of people.

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Most changes were made to the first and last paragraphs but I did add a couple sentences to one of the middle paragraphs. I couldn't be very specific on profs or courses because the architecture program is unique in its own right. What it is, is a 6 year joint program with Wash. U at St Louis where you do your Bachelor's at Macalester in almost any field you like but you take various required art/architecture related electives in order to qualify for transfer to the Master's Arch program at Wash U. So you spend 3 yrs at Mac, 3 yrs at Wash U and you get 2 degrees at the end of it.

3 hours left! Thanks for all the comments guys :)

Undergraduate / Macalester Supplement (experience in Kota Kinabalu) [14]

Describe a situation where you had to work or closely associate with someone from a culture very different from your own. What challenges did you face and how did you resolve them?

Righty for Six Days

If you were an airplane passenger, the thought of thirty teenagers occupying four rows of seats would probably be your worst nightmare. Luckily, we were seated at the very back of the plane where our disturbance would be minimal. We were en-route to Kota Kinabalu, the capital city of the Sabah province in Malaysian Borneo, because we had opted to delve into the lives of a Malaysian family for six days.

Our host families lived in a village in the outskirts of Kota Kinabalu. Weeks before departure, our teachers constantly reiterated the many rules that we should be aware of since Malaysia is a predominantly Muslim country and the Sabah province was no exception. There were so many restrictions imposed by Islamic culture, especially for females, that we were each give a list of do's and don'ts. We were visitors to their homes and their country so showing respect was very important. There was no doubt in anyone's mind that their lifestyles would be drastically different from ours. As my eyes quickly skimmed the list, I felt bullet points literally jump out of the page at me, most noticeably: "It is considered rude to use your left hand when eating or greeting someone with a handshake. Please use your right hand on such occasions and as often as possible".

Left-handers make up approximately 10% of the human population, and considered to a certain extent as a non-conformist, I am very proud to be part of this minority. Just like the majority of situations, my left handedness was not going to work to my advantage in Malaysia. We had a small, home cooked buffet as a welcoming meal, and my struggles to achieve a balance between personal comfort and respect immediately surfaced. I realized that eating was not going to be an easy task as I stabbed at vegetables multiple times and pushed mushrooms to every edge of the plate until their path probably covered every inch of the green plastic plate. It had been almost eight hours since our last meal so when I thought no one was looking; I quickly switched hands and gobbled down chunks of food. "Don't be disrespectful, Pri!" my friends teased, but I was starving! However, as a representative of our school and in some ways also the city of Hong Kong, it was my duty to be respectful so I did not maintain my left-handed eating ways for long. Throughout the meal my friends watched in amusement long after they finished eating as I switched from left to right and vice versa multiple times. This was only the beginning of the epic saga of our experiences with Malaysian and Islam culture.

Growing up in a Chinese family, healthy eating was preached constantly at the dinner table - "Don't eat so many fried things!", "Eat your vegetables!" my mother would always demand. Her reasons went far beyond the usual of zits and the food pyramid; they delved into the realms of Chinese superstitions that I do not (and never will) understand. Apparently, these arguments hold no merit in Malaysia where, one night, we helped prepare an unusual dish - deep fried cauliflower. Wasn't the whole point of eating vegetables to be healthy? So doesn't deep frying them completely negate this purpose? As guests it was not our place to be critical. It was an unusual dish and I was surprisingly reluctant to try it; I suppose my mother reinforced her rules well.

Throughout the trip, everyone had to take extra precaution with their actions. Handshakes and greetings were only considered polite if done with the right hand and a gesture as simple as pointing had to be done with the right thumb instead of a forefinger. The left hand is considered "dirty" due to its connections with the bathroom. It was obvious that life in rural Malaysia was very different from the hustle and bustle of Hong Kong, but we were open to the many adaptations and adjustments we had to make. After all, nobody was asking for us to live there forever. The village folk happily welcomed us into their lives and all we could give them in return was our respect. This was their lives and they weren't going to change it just so that we could continue to live our city lifestyles. That also defied the purpose of a home stay program. It was up to us to adapt to their culture and lifestyle as much as possible because as guests it was our responsibility to show the utmost respect to these generous strangers. Most of the time they were extremely understanding, knowing that we were not accustomed to pointing with our thumbs and that I could barely hold a fork with my right hand (there were numerous occasions where I used my left hand first), and soon enough following their cultural practices was unimportant as we realized that it was our differences that brought us so close together.

I'm not sure if I answer the prompt well enough because it wasn't that big of a challenge after all. And there wasn't really a clear resolution...

I wanted to be honest and I really suck at fabricating something realistic so...I went with a true story.

Tell me what you think, thanks!

Undergraduate / USC short answer - "my sister played with Barbie" [5]

Describe your academic interests and how you plan to pursue them at USC.

When my sister played with Barbie dolls and held tea parties, I sat on the same carpet playing with Lego. Lego fostered my fascination for building things, which led me to almost instantly fall in love with my design technology course.

Architecture certainly doesn't mimic middle or high school design technology classes, nor is it the same as Lego, but through it I will be able to pursue my fascination for building things in an academic context. I may not be the best at everything required of an architecture student, but the whole point of education is to learn, to develop and to expand your horizons.

In my opinion, you learn something new every day; small or big, useful or not. Whether it is learning how to cook without setting off the smoke alarm, learning how to spell onomatopoeia or simply coming across a strange fact about Brad Pitt, it's something you didn't know the day before. I strongly believe that the wealth of resources that will be available to me at USC can only cultivate my eagerness to learn. Through the 21 libraries with millions of books and other media or through the large variety of classes conducted by an enormous faculty, related to architecture or not; there will never be a dull day for me at USC. The wide array of courses available in the architecture department alone is astonishing, and I look forward to improving my design skills in ARCH 102, whilst also learning about how technology has impacted architecture in courses like ARCH207 Computer Applications in Architecture and ARCH 213 Building Structure and Seismic Design. The sheer breadth and diversity at USC is truly one of a kind, couple that with an infamous alumni network and, to me, the end result is the perfect environment for an eager learner like me.

1. Do you think I answer the prompt well enough? Do I need to be more specific? :S
2. Is it too long? It's supposed to be a short answer but they don't have a word limit or anything..I'm sitting at around 300 words right now.

Thanks! Any comments appreciated!

Undergraduate / USC essay #3, "our 24-hour journey" [5]

The deadline is tomorrow but I've had so much work this week I haven't had much time to improve my essays off the Common App.

Here's what I used for the Common App's "significant experience" prompt, USC's is slightly different:
Newton's First Law of Motion states that an object in motion tends to stay in motion in the same direction unless acted upon by an external force. Tell us about an external influence (a person, an event, etc.) that affected you and how it caused you to change direction.

It's a little on the long side but I'm not sure what to cut out. I'm thinking I don't need the 1st prgh but it's my favorite prgh of the whole essay, lol.

Any suggestions?

Hundreds of seat belts were buckled simultaneously as the engines revved loudly outside. Slowly we lurched forward, waiting our turn to depart and before I could even say "I love Hong Kong" I felt my back being pressed hard against the seat as a result of the airplane's steep incline. Several thousand feet below me was the urban canvas I had called home for seven years; its characteristic hills, beaming skyscrapers and roads conquered by little red taxi ants. Who knew when I would next bear witness to this canvas?

When I was nine years old, my family made the trip of a lifetime by moving halfway around the world. I was extremely reluctant to move but what did my opinion matter; I was the baby of the family. Throughout our 24-hour journey I ensured my voice was heard loud and clear - "But it's hot in Hong Kong and it doesn't snow! And they don't have hockey on TV..." I would whine. But looking back, I wonder if I had thought any deeper than white powdery precipitation and that national sport all Canadians have come to love - I probably should have.

As a naïve young child, I settled into life in Hong Kong with many prejudices, stereotypes and assumptions. I was extremely judgmental reassured myself that I would come and go with the same feeling of loathing and dislike, all before I set foot in the city with the 852 area code. In my mind, Hong Kong was constantly shrouded with pollution and there were too many people crammed into one tiny area. For some reason, I also thought that Hong Kong consisted purely of black-haired Chinese people who could not speak a word of English. Funnily enough, I had black hair and my Chinese skills matched those of a tourist reading a phrasebook. The language barrier was going to make life somewhat difficult as I realized I couldn't order a McNuggets meal without pointing at three different pictures on the menu and speaking to two cashiers. The humid climate skyrocketed its way to the top of my 'Cities with the World's Worst Weather' list as I continually wondered: "how on Earth could I end up liking this place?" But as things turned out, I was wrong.

Living in Hong Kong has been my giant portal to the world. It has opened my eyes to the world's mosaic and allowed me to experience the true meaning of internationalism. Initially, I was completely unaware that there were - what I now know are called expatriates - in Hong Kong and I was amazed to see that there were people with blonde hair and blue eyes walking on the streets. I attended an international school at which the definition of "international" was seen through the student body. In any class I could be in the same room as people from up to ten different countries like Germany, Holland, India, Scotland, and the Philippines. At the same school I met a Welsh teacher and Indian students who could speak better Chinese than half the school's Chinese population and, slowly, I began to recognize how inaccurate my assumptions and stereotypes were.

Over the years, I also watched Hong Kong grow into its position as "Asia's World City", as the Hong Kong Tourism Board has coined it. Schemes were introduced to teach the workforce basic English and I noticed very slight decline in the number of people who stared at you on the train if English phrases spewed from your mouth instead of Cantonese ones. Whilst millions of people were learning my native language, English, I was mastering theirs. Cantonese was relatively easy to pick up since I was engulfed by it, and I learned Mandarin as a foreign language in school. Slowly but surely I was overcoming the language barrier I lived behind for several years. I could order a McDonalds meal without pointing at pictures and I even began translating simple phrases for my Caucasian friends. More than a year after completing my GCSE Mandarin course, I took on the challenge of the SAT Subject Test for Chinese. I didn't end up with a perfect 800, but my family and friends were proud of my 750 points considering how I started from scratch only a few years ago. Hong Kong was no longer a place where communication was impossible and it only led me to rethink my silly assumptions as a nine-year old.

Gliding through the air on board AC016, I reminisced on the many experiences and opportunities that have come my way in the last seven years - many of which would not have been possible had I stayed in Canada. I would not have picked up the Chinese language nearly as quickly and I definitely would not have met a Chinese-speaking Welsh woman. As a person, I came to realize how detrimental it is to be narrow-minded and judgmental. In a sense you're like a dog wearing an Elizabethan cone; the world you see is only a tiny fraction of the big picture, it is one pixel of the entire photograph. This was the greatest lesson I learned from my experience as well as realizing that stereotypes are a useless part of society. The world is not black and white; in between there are millions of shades of gray and not everyone fits into one specific category. Sometimes there's that one needle in a haystack that completely defies all stereotypes, but most other times, every other strand of hay looks similar on the surface, but has its own unique characteristics beneath it all.

Thanks!

Undergraduate / The Rice School of Architecture essay to present my reasons for choose this university [3]

This is for the Rice School of Architecture. Please comment & any feedback/critique is welcome. I'm not a huge fan of my ending/last paragraph but I can't think right now (huge migraine ><) so I'm completely open to all suggestions. Thanks!

With the understanding that the choice of academic school you indicated is not binding, explain why you are applying to that particular school of study.

Rice - "why this college?" essay

When my sister played with Barbie dolls and held tea parties, I sat on the same carpet playing with Lego. It's impossible to say that I'm an instant match for architecture simply because I grew up playing with Lego instead of dolls, but I hold Lego responsible for fostering my fascination for creating and building things. What can you do with Barbie dolls anyway? They stare you with the same facial expression and blonde hair every day. With Lego I was creating my own unique shapes each time I poured the pieces out of the box.

In my very first design technology class in middle school I clearly remember the excitement that bubbled inside me as I found out that we would be designing and making our own "products". My juvenile fascination was an academic subject! I thrived in my design and technology classes through middle and high school, mostly due to the nature of the class. It is one of those classes in school that lets your imagination run wild, but unlike English or Drama, it was the only class where the fruits of your imagination were concrete. It also happened to be the only class that did not involve consistent, feverish note taking; instead it was practical and hands-on. By managing our own unique design projects, everyone played an active role in their learning and any mistakes or setbacks were simply another lesson to be learnt. As a student, this brought me great success as I achieved the finest balance between enjoyment and motivation in design technology; I became living proof that one of the key factors to success is having a strong interest in the topic. Naturally, as human psychology dictates, an interest will indicate enjoyment which will then fuel motivation and we all know that success and motivation go hand in hand.

Architecture certainly does not mimic high school design technology classes but through it I will be able to pursue my fascination for building things in an academic context. Constructing models is only a small portion of architecture, but my keen interest will drive my motivation towards successfully acquiring all the skills necessary of a professional architect. Someday, I hope to eventually turn my childhood fascination for Lego into an immaculate structure which will serve as my microscopic mark on the world and Rice School of Architecture is where I see it all begin.

Undergraduate / Rice Architecture Supplement - enjoy most outside of academics [5]

Prompt: Outside of academics, what do you enjoy most or find most challenging?

Life is just one continuous lesson that spans eighty (or more, if you're lucky) years. You are born one day and in no time you learn to cry, talk, and then walk. Eventually you learn how to tie your shoelaces. Every single day there is something new to learn; small or big, useful or not. Be it how to finally cook without setting off the smoke alarm, how to spell onomatopoeia or a strange fact about Brad Pitt, it's something you didn't know the day before.

The human brain can be fed with a plethora of things so, technically speaking, it should never be hungry. However, just like 'Survivor' competitors who can't seem to catch any fish in the sea, my brain seems to always be hungry. It all began early in my childhood when I was bored by elementary school and needed something to occupy me after school. My mother was busy with her household duties and rarely had time to keep me entertained so I took matters into my own hands. What began with a pile of picture books eventually evolved into an almost detrimental fondness for music, technology and sports.

With technology constantly advancing, it is almost impossible to keep up with every evolution. I found myself reading about various brands and products in my spare time as I became caught in the eye of the storm of portable electronics like laptops, cell phones and mp3 players. The Internet has no limits and there is something new to discover every day. I progressed from teenager-friendly gadgets to computer software then to digital cameras and photography. At the dinner table I would ramble about gigabytes, mega pixels and Apple. In the blink of an eye, I established myself as the go-to tech guru within my family and circle of friends - I give advice on which computers, cameras and mp3 players to buy to ensure people got the best bang for their buck. One of the most important things I do though is to translate all the tech speak you see in a product's specifications into human speak so that it is comprehensible for an Average Joe. I was once an Average Joe myself so I understand how mind boggling it is when a salesperson answers a simple "What features does it have?" question by reciting a three minute verse about bytes, bits, mega this and giga that. Money was hard earned and I simply wanted to ensure that the people around me were spending it well.

One day, the YouTube storm struck. Generally speaking, amongst most parents and adults, YouTube generates an abundance of negative connotations. I won't deny that it is the ultimate source of procrastination for many teenagers including myself, but it is also a little known fact that YouTube can be a great educational tool as well. Not all of the millions of videos are utterly pointless and sometimes, believe it or not, there are even benefits to our procrastination. I purchased an acoustic guitar with a mission to learn to play it without taking proper lessons but my only problem was I had absolutely no idea where to begin. That is where YouTube fits into my picture of productive procrastination. Everything I have learned about the acoustic guitar was taken straight from YouTube videos and when I mean everything, I literally mean everything - from how to hold a pick to how to play simple songs like 'Wonderwall'.

The possibilities on YouTube are endless and soon enough I was sitting at home on weekends browsing the video sharing site for more than just online guitar lessons. I took the occasional skateboarding or beat boxing "lesson", but eventually found my niche with Photoshop tutorials. I may not be the best guitarist or artist or most knowledgeable tech guru, but if there is one thing I think I do better than most people it is my consisten motivation to find ways of learning new techniques to further expand my knowledge and improve my skills - even if it may bottle down to watching a low quality online video captured by a total stranger.

Do you think this portrays me in a negative light with my constant presence on Youtube? Also, should I somehow (I have no idea how I would do it) draw a tighter link with architecture?

Any feedback welcome, thanks!

Undergraduate / "Why architecture?" essay - Rice [3]

Please read and give any feedback - good or bad. All criticism is welcome but please be constructive and tell me why you think that way. Thanks!

One thing to bear in mind whilst reading - do you think I transition between my travel experiences and the home stay well?

What aspirations, experiences, or relationships have motivated you to pursue the study of architecture?

The 360 degree panorama I took in of Melbourne's Federation Square was the single most defining moment of my recently developed architectural craze. The unusual geometry of the sandstone and metal structure was captivating. From afar, Federation Square stuck out like a thorn amongst Victorian-style buildings in Downtown Melbourne. I pondered how rewarding it must be to have your own structure recognized as a tourist destination with people coming from afar just to snap a picture of it.

Eighteen months later, in Dubai, the same feeling resonated inside of me. People wonder why Dubai has become the world's most recent architecture spotlight, but once you are physically there you wonder no more. You have to see the incomplete Burj Dubai already towering over its neighbors in order to genuinely grasp how tall it will be once completed. Then you have to ride an abra (a traditional wooden boat) along Dubai Creek, admire the buildings lining the water and visit the door step of the famous 'sailboat' that is the Burj Al Arab Hotel. Lastly you take a look around you and see construction sites everywhere you turn. It is only then that you will come to believe that this is just the beginning of Dubai's reign as the world's architecture capital. My extensive travel experiences left me with an intense desire to be a part of something great; I wanted to be able to show all my family and friends with pride what I had accomplished.

But everything changed after spending a week with a local family in Malaysian Borneo. Myself and a small group of friends participated in a home stay program as part of a school trip. We were from the big bustling city of Hong Kong; wherever we travelled we stayed in hotels and resorts so the prospect of living in a complete stranger's house filled us with both excitement and anxiety. Thankfully, our host family was very friendly and welcoming. Throughout the week they treated us like their own family - they woke us up in the morning and told us to sleep at night so we wouldn't be tired the next day. I was in great admiration of their hospitality simply because their house was no mansion yet they still happily volunteered to accommodate five teenage city girls they did not know.

As the week progressed, I became increasingly aware of this family's poor living conditions compared to ours back in Hong Kong as well as the sacrifices they have made in order to continually accommodate strangers like us. Things like hot water to shower with and a four burner stove to cook on are staples in the city, but in Malaysia they are a luxury. No matter the season or time of day, this family took cold showers. Every single day of the year, the mother cooked dinner for four people on a single stove because the second one was broken and they couldn't find a repairman nearby. Each time our host family has guests, they give up three of their four rooms to accommodate them and all four members of their family must squeeze into their tiny master bedroom which was the size of my own bedroom. And at the end of it all, when their guests leave, they receive nothing in return besides a meager financial compensation from the organization in charge of the program.

This experience in Malaysian Borneo completely reversed my opinions of architecture as I realized that there is much more to architecture than what meets the eye. It's not all about the pride and fame of designing an innovative structure because after all, not every architect becomes rich and famous like Frank Gehry or I.M. Pei. Surely there is pride in constructing the world's next tallest building, but there is also pride in helping those whom you know deserve and need your help. Families like my host family deserve to be rewarded with more than just a wad of cash. Welcoming strangers into their home has been like a hobby for them yet they are contemplating quitting the program simply because their house isn't big enough for it. If only someone could rebuild a larger house with several guest rooms, a proper kitchen and hot water, this family could continue inspiring the lives of others with their generosity. And that is exactly what I have the ambition to achieve one day, as a token of my appreciation for their inspiration and continual selflessness. The world is a very big place but contributions to society don't have to be on a global scale but if I could just help out this one family, at least I've secured myself a pretty good stepping stone.