I’m pretty good at writing. And before you go scrutinizing every single word I write from here on, just know that I’m good at academic writing— meaning that I actually enjoy writing essays for class (how wild). If I know enough about a topic, I find it almost intuitive to synthesize all the information into some sort of analysis that helps me answer a research question. Obviously, it takes a lot of time and effort to come to such an understanding of a subject, but once I feel like I have a good grasp on it writing the paper just comes naturally.
Many people think that being able to write well is something you’re born with. However, I strongly believe that it was my obsession with young adult fiction in my middle school and high school years that helped me develop my writing skills. I would read 5 to 8 books a month, and after consuming all those words I came to understand how authors manipulated them to communicate very specific messages. I discovered how important it is to find the right word even if it takes you hours, and how to make your voice stand out even when writing about something as objective and insipid as the history of concrete. To me, there’s nothing more pleasing than reading something I’ve written and being completely satisfied with it. It might take just about a million re-reads and maybe a couple hundred re-writes, but it is so worth it when the final product is exactly what I want it to be. I pride myself in my writing more than anything else, and I truly believe that my communication skills will be crucial to my success in any field I decide to dedicate myself to.












