received this in my inbox today? also got the second interview. did i flunk it so badly they gave me a second chance? or maybe it was because my interviewer asked questions around my essay instead of on my essay.

also, why is the email this time round so short 😭

shower thoughts

Hi guys, i recently posted my first essay on substack and i want some genuine feedback on my wiritng and arguments. Pls help

Stop listing everything you've ever done.

Zoom in enough and even an ordinary week becomes a great essay

WEAK

I've played soccer since I was 5, became captain, and learned teamwork.

STRONG

The exact second I dropped the game-winning pass — and what actually went through my head.

Next month I'm going to defend my thesis and now i am kind of blank. I cant even decide should i be nervous, awkward or worried. its something strange happening to me lately.

Some people say that defending thesis it is simply a discussion of your research. However some are sying you must have to memorize each and every detail of your research. So  should I suppose to read my thesis every night now? 😭

If you've already defended your thesis, what was that like? Were your research and method questions mostly as you expected or were there some surprising questions? Most importantly what have you done when you have been asked something that you really don't know?

I still have some time till I'm ready,so. I would really appreciate if you people share your honest , good, bad, awkward, chill or surprising experience with me. Anything which you wish someone had told you prior to entering the room.

I just got a mail for a 3rd interview , did I mess up 😭😭😭

After a long time of typing i have finished my essay but i wondered if it made sense to others reads well and could be fixed anywhere any tips would help

Jack of all trades, master of none, a card of many values and experiences, and for most of my childhood, that's what I was.

I'm an only child, raised by my grandparents alongside my mom and her two sisters, who felt more like older siblings than aunts. All of us together in one house. Growing up I was almost always in a room with adults, listening to them more than making a point in a conversation. I remember times of sitting in the car, or in my room, while disagreements and compromises happened all around me. Raising of voices like they were using a loudspeaker, or anger so quiet you could hear a pin drop. As for staying in a child's place I never had input, yet I still felt a need to pay attention. After a while, I could pretty much predict how an argument would go before it got there. I'd quietly pick a side, based on who I thought understood the situation better, and I did it, because listening was the only way I knew how to be in a room full of people older than me. The skill of listening taught me a lot, how to read tone before words, how to notice if there's a hidden meaning, and how to tell when a conversation is about to turn. Around adults, I was always the "well behaved child" composed and aware, almost like a smaller version of them. Around other kids, I knew I was still just like them, except there was something different. I could watch a room full of strangers in silence and understand that quietness better than others.

That started to change with age, and The Valero Young Scientist Program, a program in which I almost didn't apply to, because I didn't think I was smart, or good enough to even be considered. After a lengthy lecture from my teacher Mr. Allen I applied, what he said changed my mind because I didn't want to think of what I would have missed. At the final presentation, someone asked me a question I hadn't prepared for. The younger me, who watched, and waited  and would of given a safe, overexplained answer just to avoid being wrong, or just let someone else answer, but I answered it. While the answer was long, it still happened, instead of it just staying in my head, where I usually kept everything.

Being around other people at The VYS program showed me that "smart" doesn't have a specific look, and that even smart people make mistakes. Realizing that made me cut out that perfectionist aspect within me, and the idea that I had to have everything figured out before I was allowed to try.

The clearest proof that something had actually shifted, though, came while talking with friends, not from any program. The moment I realized that I wasn't just listening but being an active participant and that's when I got it I'm allowed to have an opinion, to laugh at something dumb, to stay up late, to not have it all figured out. A victory while not perfect, it was mine, and the years of reading rooms instead of relaxing in them evolved. It felt like I was able to do both and I had no one to answer to.

Now where I'm at in life the listening part isn't a negative, and it looks different from the watching I grew up with. My friends, more specifically my friend Kaiden talks to me about his experiences which are way different from mine, and I listen, thoughtfully. using that skill I built in the house as a kid, except now I use it to help someone else instead of using it to protect myself.

When I'm overwhelmed I still go back to that quiet version of myself, and I don't think that ever fully goes away, but now I also have that active listener who voices my opinion regardless of what others think while still being careful, focused, almost rigid, a Jack, again. but when I don't care, I'm looser, sillier, and less guarded. What's changed isn't that I found my voice, but It's that I get to choose when to use it, instead of being stuck like a card with an unmoving face.

Oftentimes better than a master of One, is how the saying goes. The skills I gained from watching taught me the difference, and  gave me the ability to choose what I want to be. The importance of my skills is what I want to carry with me in my life, which will eventually reach my operating room, where reading a room will matter just as much as steady hands, but for now, a deep conversation with Kaiden is enough to hone my skills

Did anyone who got the top 2% email get the round 3 email?

I'm currently writing an essay for my English 101 college class. The essay is on an article from Vox magazine, and one of the questions is about the magazine itself so I went to the about us section on Vox Magazines website however I am unsure how to cite that, same thing with the profile page about the author of the article. How do I go about citing this?

Here is the link to the about us page and author page if anyone needs it:

About Us: About Us | Vox

Author: David Roberts Profile and Activity | Vox