Dear professor Malcolm,

Many of my friends would call me a nerd. I however do not take offense to such a
label; in fact, I take it as a compliment. Many students see school as a burden, but I love
it! I love learning, especially when it comes to the realms of medicine and science.
Biology and Chemistry are my favorite subjects and the ones in which I typically perform
the best. I will confess, however, there is one subject that I strongly dislike and that is
history. My disinterest to this topic developed a few years ago at my overly competitive
high school. History was never a course I was completely fond of but, by my nave
nature, I decided to take AP US History my junior year anyways. I stayed up many nights
to study the material, listened in class and took detailed notes, read all the materials ahead
of time, and completed all the homework and yet I still ended up with a 92.3 in the class.
To my misfortune, my school followed the seven point grading system and my history
teacher would not bump up my grade by a measly 0.2 points so that I could get an A.
Long story made short, despite all my efforts I got a B in that class. In fact, it happened to
be the only B in my entire high school career. To this day, I get a shiver down my spine
every time I hear the word history. Nonetheless, I was still able to do well on the college
board administered AP final and graduated top ten in my class. I am now currently a
freshman working on my biology major here at UNCC. As I have already mentioned, I
adore biology because it is the study of life. Biology is just one of those areas of study
that satisfies my curious nature and never ceases to fascinate me.
Another big part of my personality is my perfectionist nature. My mother always
told me that I must do better than my best in anything that I do in life. As a result, I have
developed into an obsessive overachiever. I am not known to give up but I do get easily
frustrated with myself when I do not meet my own expectations. This is why I was very
upset with getting that one B in high school. However, it is frustrations such as these that
push me to work harder. Since I was unable to maintain a perfect A average in high
school, I aim to do accomplish this short-term goal in college. Although it will be
difficult, I will do all I can to accomplish this task. This short-term goal will hopefully aid
in the fulfillment of my long-term goal. Ever since I was eight years old, I have wanted to
become a pediatric doctor. I love medicine as well as children and these two passions
have inspired me to pursue such a difficult career path. I want to make a difference in
peoples lives. Many physicians go to work for their paycheck but I truly want to make a
difference in the lives of sick young children. However, in order for me to be a good
doctor I must do my best to build the necessary knowledge I need to succeed. As a result,
I spend much of my time devoted to school and learning.
However, I do have a little free time now and then. When I am not engulfed in
schoolwork, I spend a lot of time at my church. I go to a nearby Baptist church that I am
greatly involved in. I teach at the AWANA (Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed) kids
ministry there every Friday evening and sing in the youth choir as well. My church is my
second family and has greatly shaped me into the person I am today. I also do some
volunteer work in my free time. Currently I am volunteering at Ortho Carolinas Hand
therapy center and on occasion, I volunteer at Calvarys soup kitchen on Saturday
mornings. In addition to all these pass times, my family loves to travel. Although we
rarely have such opportunities, we love to make spontaneous trips to the beach and the

mountains. Our latest adventure was to the Magic Kingdom in Disney, Orlando.

If you are ever debating on a great family vacation spot, I definitely recommend this
Disney Park. Especially during the Christmas times, this magical fantasyland is a
pleasure for both the eyes and the soul. Above is a picture of us standing in the town
square with Cinderellas castle beautifully decorated in the background.
In addition to being a nerd and a perfectionist, another word that describes me is
anxious. I am afraid of many things. I am terrified of bees, mainly because I have been
stung a total of six or seven times now. I am scared of heights and refuse to ride
rollercoasters. I also get very anxious around large crowds, especially when it comes to
public speaking. Therefore, it is at times difficult for me to speak freely in the classroom,
especially the first few classes. Most of all, however, I fear to disappoint others and
myself. I do not want to look back at my life with regret or shame. This may be one
reason why I stress myself to overachieve and go beyond what is expected.
Although writing does not instill blood-curdling fear in me as a bumblebee would,
I still experience a lot of anxiety when it comes to writing. I find I have a hard time
starting the writing process. I end up rewriting my introduction like seven times before I
actually begin to freely write. I think this may be because I have a lot of information that
I want to lay out on the paper but I have difficulty organizing my thoughts into a cohesive
and grammatically correct manner. I especially have difficulty with timed, graded writing
because the pressure completely shuts down my ability to think clearly.
However, despite my anxiety to write, I have at certain points in my life turned to
writing as a source of comfort. I keep a small journal where I on occasion like to write
my thoughts down when I get extremely anxious. It has been a great lifesaver when the
waves of tribulations come crashing down on the shores of my life. I would say my
writing skills are fair. My grammar skills are weak and my vocabulary is as deep as a
kiddy pool but I aim to improve on that; my perfectionist nature would not have it any
other way. I want to say that I am excited to be in your class and believe that it will help
me improve as a writer. You seem to be a very engaging teacher and I hope that you will
not be disappointed in me as a student.
Sincerely your student,
Marina Baranova