<p>Hopefully there's not too many of you out there, but I'm sure there are. If you waited until January 1st to meet the January 2nd deadline for Rice's app, feel free to ask us any last minute questions. I'll do my best to revist this thread several times during the day. </p>
<p>This thread is just in case you realize you have some big question you never thought of before, so fire away!</p>
<p>Yeah procrastinators! 1/2 means that it can be submitted tomorrow, correct? Also, does anyone want to read / comment on any of my three essays? :)</p>
<p>Just to be sure, the January 2nd deadline means I can submit it at the end of the day Wednesday (Jan. 2nd) correct?</p>
<p>No. when it turns wednesday EASTERN time, according to commonapp. so that is 11pm TODAY.</p>
<p>Actually I read on the commonapp help desk that they do account for Eastern/Central/Pacific time differences. And the application is due by midnight ON THE DAY of the deadline, so that makes it by midnight on WEDNESDAY.</p>
<p>To quote from the helpdesk:</p>
<p>
[quote]
All application deadlines are as of 11:59pm on the stated deadline day.</p>
<p>The Common Application records all dates (deadlines, form submission dates, payment dates) in eastern time. Schools not located in the eastern time zone may choose to extend their application deadlines to the end of a deadline day in their local time zone or may accept your documents up until the posted deadline in their local time zone (even though your submission time stamp will be recorded in Eastern Time). For example, a school located in California may accept your application until 2:59am eastern time, which is equivalent to 11:59pm pacific time. Since this is on a school-by-school basis and this is not information that is available to you, we recommend you submit based on the eastern time deadline.</p>
<p>Most colleges will accept the submission if it is within a reasonable time period around their deadline.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Thanks for the clarification Beef</p>
<p>Nevermind >.> I can't read.</p>
<p>ok so I completely screwed myself by using all my time to get the perfect common app essay, so now I don't have any time to get the rice supplement essay done. I thought it was going to be really short and easy, but I was wrong. I've been sitting at my computer for hours trying to think of a good topic, but nothing is coming to mind. I guess I just don't fully understand what they are asking (it's the "unique perspective" one). Could somebody just tell me what they wrote about? If I could just see some examples of what other people wrote that would really help me come up with a good topic and get it done quickly.</p>
<p>i dun know. my essay pretty much sucked. i start out with this weird little story about opening doors. like.. the choices you have to make everyday, you have to choose a door. and behind every door is a new experience. and then how you learn something from every decision you make. and then i went into talking about how that effects my perspective on life and how i try to take advantage of every moment and stuff like that. it wasn't very focused.. but it was acceptable i felt.</p>
<p>I got off easy on that one. :p That's one of the only up sides to living in an impoverished neighborhood and going to a horrible school, not to mention being URM.</p>
<p>Don't make the mistake of writing about being a URM, thinking that this fact alone means you will have something to contribute to Rice. I am a URM as well, immigrated to this country a few years ago and with a really diverse background.
But I didn't write about that. I wrote about how my parents have been setting examples of chairty and generosity for me since I was young, and I wrote about how their examples have inspired me to continue with charity work. I started the essay with a story of my dad inviting a homeless man to eat lunch with us, and developed this theme throughout the essay.</p>
<p>Everyone has a unique perspective. Even if you are a white middle class male, you have something unique about yourself. Don't be mistaken and think that they are asking for "diversity". It's basically "what is it about yourself that will enrich Rice's community?" type of thing. Being black/mexican/native american/other-URM is not a good answer, unless you can tie your ethnicity into some challenges you've faced and how you will contribute something that stems from that.</p>
<p>I just attended an info session yesterday with my younger son and the admissions officer mentioned that they like to hear what unique perspective (thought or experience) each applicant can offer. They want to build a class of individuals. Hope this helps. Good luck!</p>
<p>ya i'm a urm as well and didn't mention it in the perspective essay. because it was talking about culture and i don't really have any particular culture... i did write about being a urm in my common app essay. but about my racial identity crisis when i realized i wasn't white... and how i want to overcome stereotypes.</p>
<p>Oops, sorry about that.</p>
<p>I talked about (the challenges/struggles of) being gay in the perspective essay.</p>
<p>Question: When should the signature page be postmarked?
What did you put in the box?</p>
<p>Everything should be postmarked by tomorrow, January 2nd. So make sure you get it in the mail before they do the last postmarking round (in my town the post office does it at 3pm, I'm not sure about where you guys live. The earlier the better).</p>
<p>That's not to say that Rice won't take anything that's postmarked afterwards if there's a problem, if you call them and explain they are usually pretty understanding. But... I wouldn't take the chance unless I had a really good reason. Time to hustle!</p>
<p>And as far as my box, I made a drawing of engineering-related things. Pretty nerdy and not very creative, but it worked (it was a good drawing). </p>
<p>There are at least 4 threads about the Rice box though, just search for them. </p>
<p>Good luck everyone.</p>
<p>Well, it's not like I wrote about the fact that I'm URM as much as how that's affected me... you know... being the only person in the family that's fluent in English... </p>
<p>Actually... it was half that, and half how summer of 2007 was the first time I experienced anything out of my little world.</p>
<p>Ah sounds good then DeafeningHorn. I just wanted to make sure they didn't fall into the trap that says "Oh I am Black/Mexican/Whatever therefore I am diverse and you should accept me"</p>
<p>I come from Brunei, can I write about my lifestyle here? Is it considered a perspective?</p>
<p>Yes. (10 char)</p>