Answers

Material

• Opening Dos Volcanes alone on Saturdays and the flavor-by-temperature Google Sheet (20% fewer mango paletas on cool days) A quick, concrete picture of who you are: someone who sets things up and notices patterns, and it gives her an easy follow-up.
• Backyard greywater system, version 1 flood to version 2, about 11% less water Your headline 'thing you built when nobody assigned it', which is exactly what this interviewer says she enjoys hearing.
• Family life: walking Mateo home, Tuesday/Thursday dinners, mariachi second violin Shows the whole person, not an 'academic robot', in one or two details.

The angle

She likely hasn't read your file, so give her a quick map with three hooks she can pull on: El Paso and water, building things, and the store and family that fill your week. Your theme is noticing the boring parts that keep things running. Let the details show that instead of announcing it.

Talking points

1. Start with El Paso: nine inches of rain a year, crossing into Juárez to see your grandmother
2. Mention the greywater system in one line only: laundry water to the fig and pomegranate trees, so she can ask about it
3. Saturday mornings opening Dos Volcanes, the freezer check, the flavor spreadsheet
4. Your week outside that: Mateo after school, second violin in Mariachi Los Halcones, Trail Keepers crew of 6
5. Land on Civil and Environmental Engineering and how cities move water

Avoid: Don't retell the whole flood story here. Save it for when she asks. Keep this to about a minute so it doesn't sound like a recited list of activities.

Material

• Your Rice essay: walking campus with cousin Valeria in 2024, then learning Houston floods while El Paso dries out It's your real starting point, and the flood/drought contrast is a reason specific to Rice, not any top school.
• NEWT and the Oshman Engineering Design Kitchen You named them yourself; they tie Rice to building things, which is how you learn best.
• Arguing with Ms. Duran after class about desalination Shows why small classes and the 6:1 ratio actually matter to you.

The angle

Your case for Rice is the water contrast: you come from a city that desalinates and pumps water uphill, and Rice sits in a city with too much of it. Add that you learn by building (greywater version 2 beat version 1), so the OEDK fits how you work. Lorena worked on water-treatment skids in Houston and was on call during the 2015 floods, so a specific, honest answer here will land.

Talking points

1. Start with the 2024 campus walk with Valeria, kept short
2. Turn to the contrast: El Paso's desalination plant vs. Houston flooding
3. Name NEWT and what you'd want to see there
4. Connect the OEDK to learning by building: the greywater rebuild
5. Mention small classes through the Ms. Duran after-class arguments

To think about

What have you learned about NEWT or the OEDK beyond their names? Can you name one project, lab or course you'd actually want to try?

Avoid: Reading your supplement back almost word for word, or listing features. Also avoid 'dream school', and don't lean on the oak trees as a reason.

Material

• Backyard greywater system: version 1 clogged, version 2 used six basins and a lint filter, 11% lower water bills It's your real proof that the interest is hands-on, including the failure.
• Coffee-can soil test: about half an inch an hour Shows you measured instead of guessing, which is how engineers think.
• Hueco Bolson groundwater unit in AP Environmental Science and Cadillac Desert Shows the interest goes beyond your backyard to city and regional water.

The angle

Your interest grew from your grandfather's stories of the Rio Grande to a working system in your yard, then to arguing about the aquifer. You found you liked the plumbing, soil and patience part, and that's the honest hook. Lorena enjoys hearing about what students build when nobody assigns it, which is exactly what your greywater project is.

Talking points

1. Open with your grandfather's Rio Grande and the desalination plant seen from the highway
2. Tell the coffee-can soil test as the moment it became engineering
3. Give the 11% and admit it was less than you bragged
4. Link to Hueco Bolson and Cadillac Desert: from yard to city scale
5. Close on wanting the math and fluid mechanics to back up your opinions

To think about

Which part of civil and environmental engineering pulls you most: treatment, groundwater, stormwater or infrastructure? Have you looked at Rice CEE courses?

Avoid: Retelling the flooded-backyard opening from your essay as a set piece. Talk through it naturally, and don't overclaim the savings.

Material

• AP Environmental Science, the Hueco Bolson aquifer unit and staying after class twice to argue with Ms. Duran about desalination Shows a class that made you argue, not just study, and ties to your water interest.
• Engineering Design (CTE) and student of the semester, fall 2025 A strong second choice if you want to talk about building rather than debating.
• Cadillac Desert for your Colorado River project Shows the class pushed you into reading on your own.

The angle

Your favorite class matters less than what it got you arguing about. The Hueco Bolson unit and your after-class debates with Ms. Duran show you want the math to back up your opinions, which is why you want Rice's small classes. The 'what would you change' part is a chance to show you think like a designer about your own learning.

Talking points

1. Name AP Environmental Science and the Hueco Bolson groundwater unit
2. Describe one of the two after-class arguments with Ms. Duran: which side you took on desalination and why
3. Say what you'd change: do you wish the class had more numbers or fieldwork, like your coffee-can soil test?
4. Link small classes at Rice to having time to argue with a teacher

To think about

What exactly did you argue about desalination, and did Ms. Duran change your mind on anything?

Avoid: Don't just repeat your 'why major' essay word for word. Give the details of the argument instead. If the change you'd suggest sounds like a complaint about the teacher, reframe it.

Material

• Paletería Dos Volcanes: opening alone on Saturdays and the Google Sheet tracking flavors by temperature Recent, concrete and has a number: 20% fewer mango paletas on cool days.
• Sun City Trail Keepers crew lead for 6 teens since spring 2026 Your newest leadership role, and it's water engineering on a trail.
• Science Olympiad co-captain, 4th in Water Quality at regionals 2026 Shows a team role and a result.

The angle

Your essays already cover the greywater system, so use this to show the rest: the paletería spreadsheet and the trail crew. Both show you notice systems: sales against temperature, water running down a trail. Lorena runs field visits and teams, so leading six teens and building a tool your boss actually uses will mean something to her.

Talking points

1. Start with Saturday mornings at Dos Volcanes: unlocking, freezer temperatures, the drawer
2. Explain the Google Sheet: what you tracked, what you noticed, the 20% fewer mango paletas
3. Switch to Trail Keepers: what a rock check dam and drainage dip do
4. Say what leading your crew of 6 teens has been like since spring 2026
5. Mention briefly that you also do Science Olympiad co-captain, mariachi and Mateo, and let her choose what to ask about

To think about

When you've led your trail crew, has there been a moment when something went wrong or someone needed help? What did you do?

Avoid: Don't list all eight activities. Pick two and go deep. Don't overstate the spreadsheet as saving the business; say what it changed.

Material

• Second violin in Mariachi Los Halcones: quinceañeras, Fiesta de las Flores Real fun with people, and Lorena played viola at Rice.
• Wanting to teach paleta-making in your residential college Shows you enjoy making things for others.
• Crossing into Juárez to see your grandmother Shows life beyond school, if you want to share it.

The angle

You might feel all your time is work, family and water, so the violin is your fun answer. Playing quinceañeras and being 'second violin, never first' says something about you being happy to support. That fits the person in your essay who opens the store.

Talking points

1. Talk about playing a quinceañera or Fiesta de las Flores: what that night feels like
2. Explain why second violin suits you, maybe in a funny way
3. Mention wanting to keep playing at Rice, as in your Rice essay
4. Ask yourself: do you do anything else just for fun with friends or Mateo?

To think about

What do you do when you're not working, caring for Mateo or building something, even if small?

Avoid: Don't turn fun into another accomplishment. You can bond over music with Lorena, but don't overdo it.

Material

• Residential college essay line: friends say you remember the charger and extension cord; teachers say you ask too many questions after the bell You already named both views in writing, so you can expand them with real examples instead of adjectives.
• Staying after class twice to argue with Ms. Duran about desalination A concrete teacher-side example of the 'too many questions' trait.
• Opening Paletería Dos Volcanes alone on Saturdays Shows the 'sets things up' side your friends see, in a place where someone trusts you.

The angle

This tests whether you know how you come across without bragging. You can let other people's words carry it: friends see the prepared one who brings the extension cord, and teachers see the one who argues about the Hueco Bolson after the bell. Giving one small true story for each keeps it modest.

Talking points

1. Start with the friends' view: the charger-and-extension-cord person, plus one real trip or event where it mattered
2. Switch to teachers: Ms. Duran and the two after-class desalination arguments
3. Tie both to Saturday mornings at Dos Volcanes: freezer temps, drawer, Doña Lupe's radio station
4. Add one less flattering thing a friend or Mateo might say about you

To think about

What would a friend tease you about? Which specific moment shows friends relying on you to be prepared?

Avoid: Your Rice essay already says the charger line. Don't recite it. Lorena may not have read it, but a fresh example will still sound more alive than a rehearsed one.

Material

• Co-captain of Science Olympiad, Water Quality and Mission Possible A team role where your absence will actually leave a gap.
• Second violin in Mariachi Los Halcones, playing quinceañeras and Fiesta de las Flores Shows you're happy in a supporting part, which says a lot about you as a community member.
• Engineering Design student of the semester (fall 2025) Hints at what your teachers there would lose.

The angle

Rice wants a sense of the classmate you'd be in a residential college. Your pattern is showing up for the unglamorous parts: second violin, never first, and co-captain who keeps a team running. Lorena played viola in a chamber group, so the second-violin point will make sense to her.

Talking points

1. Mariachi: say what second violin actually does at a quinceañera and why you never minded not being first
2. Science Olympiad co-captain: one thing you do that younger members will notice once you're gone
3. Engineering Design class: what that teacher would miss about you
4. Link it to wanting a Rice college kitchen or study-break crew

To think about

As co-captain, what did you actually do: coach freshmen, organize practice, build devices? Is there a specific younger teammate you helped?

Avoid: Don't list titles. Pick moments. Avoid sounding like you're saying the school will fall apart without you.

Material

• Personal essay line: the system failed at 'the boring part, the filter, not the clever part' and the Rice Box lint filter labeled 'the part I forgot' A class built around the dull parts that fail is your real curiosity, and it is something you could actually teach.
• Coffee-can-and-stopwatch soil infiltration test (about half an inch an hour) Gives you a hands-on activity for the class, which shows how you'd share an idea, not just name a topic.
• Paletería Google Sheet: 20% fewer mango paletas on cool days Shows you already teach through data people can use. Your boss Doña Lupe changed what she makes because of it.

The angle

Your strongest thread is noticing the unglamorous part, like the lint filter or the freezer, before it fails. A class on that idea, taught with the coffee-can test and your two greywater versions, shows both your curiosity and how you explain things. Lorena redesigned a cartridge housing and cares about well-designed instructions, so a class about the boring part that breaks will mean something to her.

Talking points

1. Name the class around the 'part I forgot' idea in a few words
2. Describe one class session: students measure soil with a coffee can and stopwatch, like you did
3. Use version 1 vs version 2 of the greywater system as the first case study
4. Add a non-water example from Dos Volcanes, the freezer nobody notices
5. Who would take it at Rice, and would you pair Houston flooding with El Paso drought?

To think about

Have you ever actually taught someone something, for example Mateo with homework or your 6-teen Trail Keepers crew, and what worked when you explained it?

Avoid: Don't just retell the flooded-backyard essay. Lorena hasn't read it, but keep the story to one line and spend your time on how the class would run.

Material

• Your residential college essay line about wanting older students to tell freshmen where the hard parts are, plus your nervousness about the first physics exam Turns a worry you already named into a real question only a Rice alum can answer.
• NEWT and the Oshman Engineering Design Kitchen from your 'Rice experience' answer Shows you researched specific places and want to know how first-years actually get in.
• Violin in Mariachi Los Halcones and your line about not choosing between engineering and the rest of life Lets you ask how engineers keep music going at Rice, something your interviewer may know firsthand.

The angle

Your strongest questions grow out of things you already wrote: you're nervous about being far from family and about physics, you want hands-on building at OEDK, and you want to keep playing violin. Asking about those shows you've thought about what your life at Rice would really look like. Your interviewer did engineering at Rice, came from Las Cruces not knowing anyone, and lived at Lovett, so ask her what she actually experienced, not facts you could look up.

Talking points

1. Ask which residential college she was in and how older students there helped freshmen through hard first-year classes like physics
2. Ask how a first-year Civil and Environmental Engineering student actually gets into OEDK or onto a NEWT-type water project, and how early
3. Ask how she kept music in her life while studying engineering, connecting it to your second violin in Mariachi Los Halcones
4. Ask what it felt like arriving at Rice from far West Texas without knowing anyone, and what made it feel like home
5. If time allows, ask whether her Houston flood work in industry connects to anything Rice teaches about city water

To think about

Which one or two questions do you honestly most want answered, the ones you'd still ask if no one were grading you?

Avoid: Don't ask things the Rice website answers, like class size or the 6:1 ratio, and don't read off a long list. Pick two or three, listen, and follow up on what she says. Skip personal questions about her job or salary.