Freelance Writing Anonymous

Sitting in Starbucks in Providence, I had one day to complete three "character sketches." A friend and I figured a coffee shop would be a good place to find unique individuals to describe, though we ended up taking different approaches - she focused on people sitting in the shop, whereas I stared out the window.

When I attended this four-week creative writing course in Brown University last summer, I received my first samplings of both life at an ivy league school and participation in an interactive workshop. As writing pupils, we received unique prompts and read passages in large group sessions to encourage us to explore new styles. On alternate days, we met for tight-knit, focus-group-style workshops where we'd share and discuss our work, citing strengths and suggesting improvements.

It is for instruction like this that I want to attend Cornell's College of Arts and Sciences. Writing, both satirical and serious, is important to me, as I feel I've both a capacity for unique ideas and a flair for expressing them innovatively. Either would be meaningless without the special refinement and cultivation that I could receive through writing instruction at Cornell.

Additionally, simply being a Cornell student...