Rice Architecture Supplement - enjoy most outside of academics

Prompt: Outside of academics, what do you enjoy most or find most challenging?

Life is just one continuous lesson that spans eighty (or more, if you're lucky) years. You are born one day and in no time you learn to cry, talk, and then walk. Eventually you learn how to tie your shoelaces. Every single day there is something new to learn; small or big, useful or not. Be it how to finally cook without setting off the smoke alarm, how to spell onomatopoeia or a strange fact about Brad Pitt, it's something you didn't know the day before.

The human brain can be fed with a plethora of things so, technically speaking, it should never be hungry. However, just like 'Survivor' competitors who can't seem to catch any fish in the sea, my brain seems to always be hungry. It all began early in my childhood when I was bored by elementary school and needed something to occupy me after school. My mother was busy with her household duties and rarely had time to keep me entertained so I took matters into my own hands. What began with a pile of picture books eventually evolved into an almost detrimental fondness for music, technology and sports.

With technology constantly advancing, it is almost impossible to keep up with every evolution. I found myself reading about various brands and products in my spare time as I became caught in the eye of the storm of portable electronics like laptops, cell phones and mp3 players. The Internet has no limits and there is something new to discover every day. I progressed from teenager-friendly gadgets to computer software then to digital cameras and photography. At the dinner table I would ramble about gigabytes, mega pixels and Apple. In the blink of an eye, I established myself as the go-to tech guru within my family and circle of friends – I give advice on which computers, cameras and mp3 players to buy to ensure people got the best bang for their buck. One of the most important things I do though is to translate all the tech speak you see in a product's specifications into human speak so that it is comprehensible for an Average Joe. I was once an Average Joe myself so I understand how mind boggling it is when a salesperson answers a simple "What features does it have?" question by reciting a three minute verse about bytes, bits, mega this and giga that. Money was hard earned and I simply wanted to ensure that the people around me were spending it well.

One day, the YouTube storm struck. Generally speaking, amongst most parents and adults, YouTube generates an abundance of negative connotations. I won't deny that it is the ultimate source of procrastination for many teenagers including myself, but it is also a little known fact that YouTube can be a great educational tool as well. Not all of the millions of videos are utterly pointless and sometimes, believe it or not, there are even benefits to our procrastination. I purchased an acoustic guitar with a mission to learn to play it without taking proper lessons but my only problem was I had absolutely no idea where to begin. That is where YouTube fits into my picture of productive procrastination. Everything I have learned about the acoustic guitar was taken straight from YouTube videos and when I mean everything, I literally mean everything - from how to hold a pick to how to play simple songs like 'Wonderwall'.

The possibilities on YouTube are endless and soon enough I was sitting at home on weekends browsing the video sharing site for more than just online guitar lessons. I took the occasional skateboarding or beat boxing "lesson", but eventually found my niche with Photoshop tutorials. I may not be the best guitarist or artist or most knowledgeable tech guru, but if there is one thing I think I do better than most people it is my consisten motivation to find ways of learning new techniques to further expand my knowledge and improve my skills – even if it may bottle down to watching a low quality online video captured by a total stranger.


Do you think this portrays me in a negative light with my constant presence on Youtube? Also, should I somehow (I have no idea how I would do it) draw a tighter link with architecture?

Any feedback welcome, thanks!

"Be it how to finally cook without setting off the smoke alarm, how to spell onomatopoeia or a strange fact about Brad Pitt, it's something you didn't know the day before."

This sentence is really awkward.

This might be better: "Whether it is learning how to cook without setting off the smoke alarm or learning how to spell onomatopoeia, it's something you didn't know the day before".

"The human brain can be fed with a plethora of things knowledge so; thereforetechnically speaking, it should never be hungry."

"It all began early in my childhood when I was bored by elementary school and needed something to occupy me after school."

I'm not sure if being "bored" in elementary school is good. Perhaps you can say something about how easy elementary school was.

"What began with a pile of picture books eventually evolved into an almost detrimental fondness for music, technology and sports"

You should probably elaborate a tad bit more on this.

"Average Joe"
I don't think "average" should be capitalized.

Is this your main supplement essay? If yes, then I would try to write an essay that is related to architecture, but that is just me.

Every single day there is something new to learn; small or big, useful or not -- be it how to finally cook without setting off the smoke alarm, how to spell onomatopoeia or a strange fact about Brad Pitt, it's something you didn't know the day before.

The Internet has no limits, and there is something new to discover every day.

One of the most important things I do is to translate all the tech speak you see in a product's specifications into human speak so that it is comprehensible for an Average Joe. I was once an Average Joe myself, so I understand how mind boggling it is when a salesperson answers a simple "What features does it have?" question by reciting a three minute verse about bytes, bits, mega this and giga that.


I purchased an acoustic guitar with a mission to learn to play it without taking proper lessons, but my only problem was I had absolutely no idea where to begin.

I may not be the best guitarist or artist or most knowledgeable tech guru, but if there is one thing I think I do better than most people it is my consistent motivation to find ways of learning new techniques to further expand my knowledge and improve my skills – even if it may bottle down to watching a low quality online video captured by a total stranger.

:)

Kevin

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

@Linnus - There're 2 questions specifically for architecture students and this is the 2nd. The first one is "What aspirations, experiences, or relationships have motivated you to pursue the study of architecture?" so I'm not sure if this one (the 2nd question) should be directly related to architecture as well or if they're just trying to get to know you better...

Oh. Then I think they are just trying to know you better with the second question.

Anyhow, I think you need a better transition between the third and fourth paragraph.

Yea, that's something I'm trying to improve as well. Thanks for the feedback :)