Rice University Perspective Essay - Being Too Young.

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 personal perspective would you contribute to life at Rice? (500 word limit)

You are invited to Lauren's birthday party! Hosted at Halloween Spirit, much horror and fun! (must be 13 years or older to participate without a parent.)

Being Too Young to Participate in many Events

I had only just turned twelve when I received the invitation. It was from my best friend who had just turned thirteen, and a feeling of embarrassment and disappoint shook me to my core. My mother, sitting beside me on the sofa, noticed and leaned over. After a minute, she asked, "Do you want to go?"

I looked down and shook my head.

She looked at me with a confused expression, and I pointed out the tiny disclaimer at the bottom of the page with a shameful finger. After reading the line of text, she looked back at me and hugged me. "It's alright, I'll sign the waiver and you can go alone."

We showed up at the venue, me as a twelve year old girl bounding with excitement and glee. Turned out, there wasn't a waiver and my mother ended up having to participate in the party games and attractions with the group. Although my friend insisted it was perfectly fine that my mother tagged along, I could feel the judgment from the others boring through me. I was still a baby, always needing my mother to babysit me everywhere I went, even to a friend's birthday party. When I went home, humiliation hung heavy around me.

It followed me around for a long time. I was almost always the youngest in my group-my grade, my friends, my summer camp. I too frequently saw signs that stated a minimum age to take certain classes, borrow certain library books, or even walk into a store without a parent. I, being a year younger than most of my peers, usually only observed and lived vicariously as they did the things I couldn't: watch PG-13 movies, drive, vote. I wanted so badly to grow up and do impactful 'adult' things; only being able to stand back and wait crushed me more times than it should have.

But being younger fueled my drive to succeed, to prove to myself and my peers that although I was younger and couldn't do all the things they were able to do, I could still find my place intellectually. I was driven to work harder and grasp any opportunities I could, and soon enough, I saw the end result: I became the youngest person at my school to be apart of a research program and received praise from teachers and students alike when they aligned my age and my marks.

I know that in college the pressures of age will most likely dissipate, but the emotions, the different view of the world, and my determination will never leave my side. At Rice, I'll regard the environment from the eyes of someone who's always been younger and on the 'outside', understand the depth of humiliation and shame, and put forth all of my strength and knowledge into everything I do.

Word Count: 500
Does it answer the prompt adequately?
I'm open to any suggestions, criticism, and changes. Thanks for the help in advance!

Lyssa, look, you have told too much of the bad side of being an underage person in your country and not enough of the personal insight or perspective that will tell the reviewer that despite the drawback, you always found something positive to help you better understand why you were held back regarding an activity because of your age. I think that will be a bit difficult for you to achieve in this instance because the age matter is not really something that has a perspective changing impact upon a person. If you aren't the right age for something, that is usually the end of the discussion. No silver lining behind it.

If I were you, I would try to relate a story that opened my mind to something important about life that I did not realize before. Something that could very well relate to the way you would adjust to college life at Rice. Or maybe, it could just be some experience that had a general impact upon you. Speaking of which, I think I have come across a way that you can just revise this essay to better suit your needs.

Pick an activity that you feel you were held back from but you really did not feel too bad about. Try to relate the story in such a manner that you end up saying "That was when I first came to understand why it was important that I be held back for one year from doing activities the other older kids could do." It can be any activity, as long as it left you thinking about the way that the situation helped you come to gain a better perspective of the matter.