Spunky, Scorching, Shimmering Summers Supplement Essay for Princeton University

Prompt: Please tell us how you have spent the last two summers, including any jobs you have held, if not already detailed in the common application.

Greetings. My writing tends to get convoluted, and so I would appreciate it if you guys can point out wherever the meaning gets confusing.

The weight of school lifted off our shoulders, my friends and I unreservedly babble on and on about random, wacky things long past midnight on sleepovers. No longer compelled to grudgingly put down engrossing novels like Stieg Larsson's The Girl Who Played with Fire on cliff-hanging moments, I can stay up as late as necessary, letting the stories transport me to strangely captivating and unexpected places without interruption.

Besides summer being a period of relaxation, it allows me to engage in a variety of activites that I cannot devote enough time to during the school year. For one thing, I have been able to dedicate a greater portion of my time to volunteering, wherein lies my passion. Though I help out at my local art museum and hospital all year round, I cannot help but feel dissatisfied since I can only give several hours out of my weekends for them due to schoolwork and other extracurricular activities. Consequently, in the summertime, I have spent more time on local community service works as well as lending my helping hand to even more impoverished areas within Texas. For the past three summers, I went on mission trips with my fellow youth group. As I was reaching out to seniors, single mothers, and individuals with HIV/AIDS - I found myself, in return, slowly growing and maturing from my experiences with them.

One particularly memorable experience in the summer of 2010 was my brief but delightful stay at Seattle in order to reunite with my longtime dear friend whom I had not seen for more than five wistful years. She has always been my confidante, and she is perhaps the only friend who, like me, truly enjoys playing the "boring" Monopoly. And although I have not been able to travel around the world or go on fancy cruises like many others have, I am nevertheless happy to share that I got a chance to see the vibrant Pike Place Market, everything from the cute bronze pig mascot and the 1st Starbucks Coffee house to the mind-boggling magic tricks and the ecletic musical performances.

Lastly, through a scholarship from the Welch Summer Scholar Program, I was privileged to receive one-on-one research training from a professor as well as engage in a hands-on, college-level chemistry research at the University of Houston for five weeks in the summer of 2011. I left the program with a greater appreciation and enthusiasm for chemistry, and this unforgettable experience has instilled within me a desire to further pursue science in college.

Thank you very much, guys!

I think you broke the character limit. Something like 800 characters (including spaces) are allowed for this portion of the application.

Under this Princeton Supplement Essay,
The maximum count is 2500 characters, and so what I wrote is not too long. I actually still have 6 characters available.

Thanks anyway, though.

In my opinion, it is a little too detailed and long. Maybe you should consider cutting it. You only need to convey that your summers were spent doing something productive.