My nose itched at the sensation of the scratchy carpet and the tears dripping down my face. There I was, lying on the floor of a ritzy athletic club in the middle of town following a dramatic slip off of a treadmill. Ah, the recurring sense of humiliation had come to greet me again in the most expensive way. Embarrassing was the fact that none of the black polo wearing athletic trainers who ran to my side would even register...

I’m applying to Rice because I am dedicated to challenging myself, but not at the expense of others and not for others to step on my toes on their way up. In the act of self-stimulation (which I haven’t been quite as eager to do while in high school), getting out of the comfort zone- or “The Box”, per se, but more about that in my attachment- that I have been trapped in is the goal. I pride...

I was raised in a city long enough to be fully aware of the overblown glitz and glamour. Even while residing in a Podunk of the North, I maintained my silence when my peers gasped over the glory of local cities. We were living on the metropolis of the Eastern Seaboard, for godsakes! So, while on a college visit to CU, I let the doubting intellectual side of me take hold. It’s just a school in the city, it�...