Dear Michael Grove,

When I was a kid I used to go to the hospital a lot because I was in a condition that everything affected my health. Spending a lot of time in the hospital and seeing the nurses, and the doctors was what motivated me to become a doctor. Being in the hospital room every time I got sick motivated me to study medicine. I was so fascinated with how the doctors worked with patients, and how they treated their patients, that every time people asked me: “What do you want to be when you grow up?”  I always responded with the same answer: medicine. The first thing that people would tell me in response was that the career would take a lot of time, I won’t have a life, and it is very disgusting because doctors work with blood.

I am Maria Jimenez. This is my second semester as a freshman. I am from the Dominican Republic and I came to the United States six years ago. When I knew that I would be coming to this country I came with a positive and clear mind. I did not know that for me it was going to be a little difficult to learn English. I thought that I would learn the language in one year, but I didn’t. Maybe I did not learn so quickly because I did not have anyone to practice it with. My family did not know English, everything around me was in Spanish. I was so afraid, and I still am, to make mistakes when speaking English. Now that I am a young adult and I have a different mindset, I think very differently about my mistakes. My mistakes that I always do when speaking the language, I take those mistakes as lessons because I have realized that nobody is perfect.

One of my goals in college is to communicate fluently and confidently in English. Second, I want to network with different people. Third, I would like to apply to different internships related with the fields that I want to pursue. Fourth, I want to learn through the experience that I get from the internships in order to get involved and learn in the biology field and work on a minor in psychology.When I was in High School I did not know that I had to major in one of the sciences, but when they started asking me what major interested me, I said biology because for me it was easier for my Pre-Med plans. Biology is the study of life and how different organisms interact with one another. This would give me the opportunity to study human anatomy, behavior, morphology, and physiology.

When my college counselor told me I was required to take a Writing for the Science course I did not know that I would learn different concepts that will help me in my major. I see this class as a tool to gain writing knowledge to apply to my communication skills as a future doctor. This class can facilitate my goals because I would improve my writing skills needed for getting internships. Also, I will get the exact knowledge that I need when writing specific research papers. I would use all the skills that I will learn to apply it in my daily life and in my future career.

It is my pleasure to take this class and I look forward to working with you

Sincerely,

Maria Jimenez