What is your favorite quote and why?
"Be a best friend, tell the truth, overuse I love you, go to work do your best, don't outsmart your common sense, never let your praying knees get lazy, and love like crazy." This is my favorite line from any song I have ever heard. To me, it really embodies everything I want to strive for in my life. When I hear these words I'm reminded of a new sense of hope for the person I want to be.
"Be a best friend". I have learned to be my own best friend first. I respect myself, learn my own boundaries, and try to set an example for those around me. You should grow from a friendship, not be held back. I've learned how to trust, listen, be loyal, and truly put other people before myself.
"Tell the truth." Losing credibility with the people around you is one of the worst things that can happen. Without the trust of my friends and family I wouldn't have any of the things I have today. My parents have trusted me with a car, going out with my friends, and making my own decisions. My friends trust me to know that I don't lie; when I make a promise to someone they know I'm keeping it. I never overshoot myself but I also never sell myself short. As a little girl I struggled with lying, whether it was telling my mom I'd finished my homework or telling my dad my sister ate the last cookie(with remnants clearly all over my dress). On that note, I wasn't the best liar. The older I got the more I realized you need trust to be happy, and trust takes so long to build up and is destroyed so quickly. I know now that lying doesn't help anyone and usually just makes the situation worse.
"Overuse I love you." To me, this means don't hold back. I can't be afraid to tell people what I think and how I feel. People are so reserved now that it's hard to tell how anyone really feels. If I like something you'll know, my opinion is very valuable to me and my dog, tiffany, greatly appreciates it so I know the rest of the world does too.
"Go to work, do your best." A strong work ethic can take anybody where they want to go. I have been at my job for 5 months now and if there is one thing I know now it is that my parents weren't lying when they said money doesn't grow on trees. I may not be a billionaire when I'm 25 but as long as I have a steady job doing something I like surrounded by a family I love I'm confident that's all I'll need. It's one thing to wake up in the morning and go through the motions, but if you really give it your all, that's all you can do. Hard work pays off.
"Don't outsmart your common sense". As a teenager, I've had my fair share of stupid decisions. If my instincts tell me something is wrong, I don't second guess myself. Bad decisions are usually made when kids try and reason with themselves, weighing the possible good and bad outcomes. The bottom line is if I know something isn't right, I'm not going to sit here and make a 5 point plan on how to not get caught doing it, I'm just going to avoid the situation completely. When my friends get in trouble and I'm the loser sitting at home that night, I don't exactly feel like the "loser" next week when I still have my phone, car, and freedom and they're sitting at home grounded.
"Never let your praying knees get lazy." I'm not going to sit here and preach my 10 years of biblical background to you, but at some point or another every person has prayed in their life. I've learned I can't always do everything on my own. I am extremely independent but whether your atheist, muslim, Baptist, ect., it never hurts to take a second to think about your problems and just ask for help. If not to anything or anyone else, ask yourself for help. I know now that sometimes the answers to my problems are already inside of me if I just take the time to sort things out and figure out how to solve them myself.
"Love like Crazy." This is my favorite expression. I am one of the most passionate people you will ever meet. If I want something, I will do whatever it takes to work as hard as I can towards it. I will love anyone and anything that is important to me. I have so much care and compassion for other people sometimes I don't even know what to do with it. I have such a hard time saying no to people I'm usually the go to girl when someone has a problem. This gets a little time consuming but the feeling of helping someone is priceless. People get so worried about life they forget to enjoy it. I love all the little things that most people overlook. I love the smell of new cookies, standing outside in the rain, going on a jog when the sun's coming up, playing catch with my two dogs, or just being around the people that I care about.
I could sit here and tell you I've saved countless families in Africa from disease on mission trips, or that I have 2 years to live and would like to go to Rice, or that my parents will beat me if I don't get accepted, or that I plan to become president and it would actually be a favor to you if I went to Rice, even that I can tell you the square root of 6572893 while solving a Rubik's cube...blindfolded. But the truth it, I'm a 16 year old girl that gets excited easily, isn't afraid of hard work, loves being around different types of people, and would absolutely LOVE to attend Rice University.
Hi Lauren, I changed your thread title so that it would be unique and meaningful. Please use descriptive, meaningful titles for future essays.
If you quote that song, it is important to cite the artist and name of song. Mention who sings it!
As a teenager, I've had made my fair share of stupid decisions.
Use a comma for the compound sentence:
I have been at my job for 5 months now, and if there is one...
Andy, I was thinking that maybe she has other essays to submit as part of this application and that maybe some other important ideas can be expressed in those essays. In this one, she does an analysis of some lyrics within the framework of her own life, which is cool. I think it works pretty well. Yet, it would be cool to go deep into one part of the quote and really focus on it. Still, I think it has a lot of potential this way. Lauren, what is the MAIN idea of the whole essay? Maybe it is this part:
"Love like Crazy." This is my favorite part of the expression. -- but I added "part of" because this is supposed to be all about one quote.
I am one of the most passionate people you will ever meet. If I want something, I will do whatever it takes to work as hard as I can towards it. I will love anyone and anything that is important to me. I have so much care and compassion for other people sometimes I don't ...---- I cross this out because it is meaningless as a claim. You can "show" instead of telling. Rather than making a claim about generalities, give a discussion of what you want to contribute to the school and to society (As Andy mentioned). By discussing your intentions to contribute, you will PROVE something by telling about the actual ideas you have come up with. Talk is cheap, but ideas prove how thoughtful you are. Mention briefly that you feel driven to care for others and that this is why you chose the field of expertise you want to enter.
:-)
