There's a warm spot on the couch from where the ten year old boy sat while he was waiting for his father. He stared out the window. Cars passed by the house for hours but never the black Nissan Altima that he wanted so badly to see pull into the driveway. The text message said, “I'll be there at 6,” so why was the boy still sitting on the couch at nine o' clock? But like a puppy that gets kicked...

What first caught my attention at Rice University was not its top 20 national university, top 10 best value school, or top 20 computer science program. While these rankings are impressive, what encouraged me to apply was a completely different aspect of the college, one that I discovered when I had the fortune of visiting the university. Last March, my parents, having never been to college, surprised me on my birthday with a tour to the school of my dreams, Rice. In October,...

There’s a place in Dallas where in any direction you look you can see a mechanic shop. In this same place, you can find a taquería every few blocks. In this place, the community is dominated by Latinos. Many of them have low, if any, aspirations. This area is full of socioeconomically underrepresented people. In this place, cars on big rims booming rap songs over the sound of sirens are common… so are gunshots. This is the place...

In a dim room, lit by a computer screen, a group of people sit around with their eyes closed, heads nodding… listening. Each person has a pen and paper, and creativity flows like a river through the minds of each individual, envisioning new melodies and lyrics. Each phonic is made of simple frequency waves that can invoke complex emotion. Studio production is a blank canvas for a musician, like myself. The accessibility to a plethora of sounds, in conjunction with...

Transfering schools somethimes receives a bad reputation because it can come across as quitting or some other negaive connotation, but this isn't the case! If you feel that the school you are attending is not the best fit for you, transfer. This is supposed to be a time in your life where you thrive and grow as an individual. College is meant to figure out...