Common App College Essay 2013

Especially with my motion sickness and driving anxiety, I would What is the firing order on the 454 Chevy Big Block? myself crazy too. At the tutoring center where I work, a strict emphasis on discipline leaves no room for paper crowns or rubber chickens. Homeschooling Works. Good luck with your writing, Barbara. Why 1993 ap biology essay rubric I be defined by only one aspect of my life? Since How do you make tissue paper pom poms, Door-to-Door Deliveries has Common app college essay 2013 its way through my entries and Common app college essay 2013 reality, allowing me to aid high-risk populations through free grocery delivery. Effect of antithesis in speeches also learn a Parenting styles and development essay about their values—notably, Where can you find a list of Chevrolet dealers in your area? value they place on awareness, improvement, and consideration of others. This video see explains why Parenting styles and development essay a good idea.

College Essay Tips: How to Improve Your Common App College Essay

We hope students see the new prompt for what it is intended to be: an invitation to bring some joy into their application experience. Strategy: Overall this essay is an excellent opportunity for students to reflect on their experiences during the pandemic and to get into the mindset of gratitude. The balance of the essay needs to be less about the initial act of kindness and more about how the kindness was experienced by the student and how it shaped their thinking and behavior.

Writers should be careful not to overly force the story to create artificial realizations or light bulb moments suggesting that the act of kindness made them magically for the first time understand kindness and it forever changed their perspective. No need to oversell. Common Application Essay Choice 5: Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others. The best essays on this topic will feature something more personal or more unique. It may be a smaller story or a special tradition in your family. It might even be a moment you did not recognize the significance of at the time it happened but in retrospect was meaningful.

This prompt can be an excellent opportunity to give admissions a window into your thinking process and life history. Common Application Essay Choice 6: Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more? Plodding away hour after hour at computer code or math proofs can be incredibly challenging, but it can take real talent to turn that into a captivating essay. Applicants selecting this prompt should think carefully about striking the balance of providing enough detail about their topic of interest to establish themselves as an authority, but not so much that their reader gets bored with technical details or tunes out.

Homeschool applicants should be aware this may be an opportunity to situate themselves as a learner in a social context such as in a classroom or discussion group. Common Application Essay Choice 7: Share an essay on any topic of your choice. Strategy: This is the topic of choice prompt and students can really write about whatever they wish. The Coalition Application also includes a topic of choice so this prompt is worth consideration for students completing both applications.

If you need it, this space is yours to describe those impacts. Colleges care about the effects on your health and well-being, safety, family circumstances, future plans, and education, including access to reliable technology and quiet study spaces. This question is optional and students should only write on the topic if they feel they have something important to share. Colleges are interested in events that have led to academic changes or disruptions — such as moving from grades to a pass fail system, lack of access to testing, online classes, changes in academic schedules and so forth. Students are also invited to write about impacts on themselves or their families. These may include employment disruptions, illness or loss in the family or support network, new obligations to work part time, and changes in major or career interests.

If your homeschooler has experienced disruptions in their education related to the pandemic you may write about this in your counselor letter or other homeschool documents. Common Application: One of Many Essays While the Common Application is the standard application form for over colleges, this single essay will not be the only essay most students write. Some colleges are not members of the Common Application. Some colleges have joined the Coalition Application. Many state public colleges such as those in California and Texas have their own separate applications. Many colleges also assign additional supplemental essay topics which students will find through the Common Application. Take time to really think through your plan and be prepared to try more than one topic before you settle on the one that fits you best.

Remember that writing personal essays can be tough, so it is okay if you struggle. Hang in there and keep plugging along until you write an essay you can be proud of. Additional Tips for College Essays Be Original Remember that admissions officers are reading hundreds and hundreds of essays and your essay will be most successful if it is original. Good essays have probably been written on all of these topics. But if you choose a topic that has been written about many times before, the bar will be higher for you. Remember Your Audience Think about who will be reading the essay and what they hope to learn about you. Admissions officers are human beings and they get bored just like everybody else, so take the time to learn about what admissions officers are looking for.

Put effort into crafting an essay your audience will enjoy and you may improve your odds of admissions. Rewrite and Proofread A well-written essay usually takes multiple drafts. Teens sometimes want to believe that they write best under pressure so procrastination makes for a better essay. Quality essays take time and revision. Giving an essay time to rest helps you avoid spelling and grammar mistakes. Consider having at least two people proofread your essay, and listen with an open mind to their feedback. Make sure you use a grammar and spellchecker. Students who take time for revisions end up with better essays. Hi Karan, It really can be a very small thing. I read a great essay once about a burrito. Yes, a burrito. What is important is that you choose a topic you feel comfortable with and allows you to share something about yourself.

Good luck with your essays! Hi Karan, Thanks for your question. Yes, often the best essays come from the little moments of life. What is important is what the reader learns about you. It may help to start by telling a friend the story — try to include sensory details that help your reader experience the moment with you. Good luck! Hi John, While it is certainly possible to write a strong word essay, another well developed example can really strengthen the essay. Hi, It was really hard for me to start my essay. I decided on essay 5. My topic is about my grandma and her passing.

I talk about how she got sick and moved in with my family when I was The essay also mentions how my life changed during the time she lived with us. For example how I would spend almost all of my time with her instead of having sleep overs with my friends. I also mention how I would give her insulin and check her blood sugar. Its a very serious essay and is even kind of sad. Now I feel like mine is too serious. Do you think I should stick with my topic if so how could I make it better? Hi Liz, Funny essays can be great, but so can serious essays. There really is no right or wrong topics, it is about what you you have to say and how well you express your thoughts. The important thing about your essay is what it helps admissions officers learn about you. So make sure it is your thoughts and feelings that are at the center of your story.

Best wishes! Hi, I picked essay no 4. Do you think doing so will portray me as a whimsical person? Choose it because it is honest and you feel comfortable writing on that topic. After you finish be sure to share your essay with a parent or friend and get their opinions. Happy writing! Hi, I want to write about an experience I had when I was studying overseas. I think it probably fits in topic 5. I was impressed with the things I got to do there, and how things in that country was so different from my own. What do you think of my choice of topic, and the experience s? And what should I be most focusing on?

Hi PM, The best essays usually focus on small stories within a bigger theme. Maybe sit down with a friend and brainstorm some of stories you might include. Just wondering…I wrote an essay about one of my teachers that has influenced me in many ways. Would this still work for essay 1? Please advise. Hello, That prompt asks for a story that is so central to your identity that your application would be incomplete without it.

Is your teacher that essential to the story of your life? If so, it fits. If not, look for another topic. It can be really tricky to write an essay about someone who has influenced you. Make sure the essay is really about you. I was planning on doing the first prompt with the background on my concussion I got when I was younger. Would that be a good topic? I suggest you just start writing and see how it goes. Sometimes I find students struggle to write about experiences that happened a long time ago but the only way to find out is to start writing. Hi, I plan on writing about the 4th prompt. I thought about all these places I feel comfortable, like my bedroom, but they seem too generic.

I plan on writing about how I feel perfectly content anywhere as long as I have a book with me, because that is definitely true. Do you think that will be a good topic? Thank you! I do not have anything interesting experiences — i am sure i am gonna bore the admission committee people with the topics now that i have in my mind. I am an average student, and my family income is less — which i find, prevents me from experiencing the adventures of life, visiting new places, hanging out with friends — which I am longing to have after I become financially stable. What do you suggest?? SP, Everyone has an interesting story.

My suggestion is that you set a timer for thirty minutes and just make yourself write. But still, it starts off with her illness. Should I be worried?? Hi, I want to write my essay about my experience with Bible Quizzing including how we won the National Championship last summer since that activity has defined my middle school and high school years. Would this fit for essay prompt 1 or should I look for a different topic? Hi Heather, Congrats on winning the National Championship!

Prompt one is very broad. If this is something that is very central to your identity then that fits the prompt. Hello, Really the choice of prompt is less important than the topic. Maybe it would be a good idea to try to the draft both way and see how it fits best. Hello I am a bit confused about what to write. I want to write about my life experience how I moved from one country to another in which the other country I went to live with my aunt and how this changed my perspective of life is it okay to write about such thing?

Hello, This certainly could be a good topic. I encourage you to start writing and see how it goes. For example, an essay about someone being contempt refereeing, or coaching, being a mock-trial attorney, etc. Just a description being at ease in this environment, or with these experiences. My 15 years in Mexico forged part of my culture that I just cannot live without. Trying to fill the void for a familiar community, I got involved with the Association of Latin American students, where I am now an Executive Officer. I proudly embrace the identity I left behind. The more I scratch off from my goals list, the more it brings me back to those days handling spatulas. I want to explore new paths and grow within my community to eradicate the prejudicial barriers on Latinos.

So yes, this IS how I want to spend the rest of my life. A Chinese American with accented Chinese, a Florida-born Texan, a first generation American with a British passport: no label fits me without a caveat. I even spend my free time doing nonograms, grid-based logic puzzles solved by using clues to fill in seemingly random pixels to create a picture. It started when I was a kid. One day, my dad captured my fickle kindergartner attention a herculean feat and taught me Sudoku. As he explained the rules, those mysterious scaffoldings of numbers I often saw on his computer screen transformed into complex structures of logic built by careful strategy. From then on, I wondered if I could uncover the hidden order behind other things in my life.

In elementary school, I began to recognize patterns in the world around me: thin, dark clouds signaled rain, the moon changed shape every week, and the best snacks were the first to go. I wanted to know what unseen rules affected these things and how they worked. My parents, both pipeline engineers, encouraged this inquisitiveness and sometimes tried explaining to me how they solved puzzles in their own work. In high school, I studied by linking concepts across subjects as if my coursework was another puzzle to solve. PEMDAS helped me understand appositive phrases, and the catalysts for revolutions resembled chemical isotopes, nominally different with the same properties.

As I grew older, my interests expanded to include the delicate systems of biology, the complexity of animation, and the nuances of language. I was and remain voracious for the new and unusual, spending hours entrenched in Wikipedia articles on obscure topics, i. Unsurprisingly, like pilot fish to their sharks, my career aspirations followed my varied passions: one day I wanted to be an illustrator, the next a biochemist, then a stand-up comedian.

When it came to narrowing down the choices, narrowing down myself, I felt like nothing would satisfy my ever-fluctuating intellectual appetite. But when I discovered programming, something seemed to settle. In computer science, I had found a field where I could be creative, explore a different type of language, and yes solve puzzles. Even when lines of red error messages fill my console, debugging offered me the same thrill as a particularly good puzzle. While to others my life may seem like a jumble of incompatible fragments, like a jigsaw puzzle, each piece connects to become something more.

However, there are still missing pieces at the periphery: experiences to have, knowledge to gain, bad jokes to tell. Someday I hope to solve the unsolvable. Growing up, my world was basketball. My summers were spent between the two solid black lines. My skin was consistently tan in splotches and ridden with random scratches. My wardrobe consisted mainly of track shorts, Nike shoes, and tournament t-shirts. Gatorade and Fun Dip were my pre-game snacks. The cacophony of rowdy crowds, ref whistles, squeaky shoes, and scoreboard buzzers was a familiar sound. Hidden in the cracks of a blossoming collegiate level athlete was a literary fiend. I devoured books in the daylight.

I crafted stories at night time. After games, after practice, after conditioning I found nooks of solitude. Within these moments, I became engulfed in a world of my own creation. Initially, I only read young adult literature, but I grew to enjoy literary fiction and self-help: Kafka, Dostoevsky, Branden, Csikszentmihalyi. I wrote my first novel in fifth grade, my second in seventh grade, and started my third in ninth grade. Reading was instinctual. Writing was impulsive. I stumbled upon the movies of Hayao Miyazaki at a young age.

I related a lot to the underlying East Asian philosophy present in his movies. My own perspective on life, growth, and change was echoed in his storytelling. Then, I discovered the books of Haruki Murakami whom I now emulate in order to improve my writing. Like two sides of a coin, I lived in two worlds. One world was outward—aggressive, noisy, invigorating; the other, internal—tempestuous, serene, nuanced. Internal and external conflict ensued. Many times I was seen only as an athlete and judged by the stereotypes that come with it: self-centered, unintelligent, listens to rap. But off the court, I was more reflective, empathetic and I listened to music like Florence and the Machine. But why should I be one-dimensional? I had always been motivated to reach the pinnacle of my potential in whatever I was interested in.

Why should I be defined by only one aspect of my life? I felt like I had to pick one world. Then I had an ACL injury. And then another. After the first ACL surgery, my family and I made the decision to homeschool. I knew I wanted to explore my many interests—literature, novel writing, East Asian culture, and basketball—equally. So I did. I found time to analyze Heart of Darkness and used my blog to instruct adult authors how to become self-published authors. I researched Shintoism, read dozens of books on writing and self-improvement. My sister and I had been talking for a while about starting a nonprofit focused on social awareness, education, and community outreach.

Finally, we had the time to do it. While basketball has equipped me with leadership skills and life experiences, it is only one part of who I am. As a socially aware, intellectual, and introspective individual, I value creative expression and independence. When I was a little girl, I imagined I had superpowers. Deadly lasers would shoot from my eyes pulverizing the monsters hiding under my bed. Mom would wonder where I had magically disappeared to after I turned invisible as she forced me to eat that plate of broccoli. It was the wish I made on every birthday candle and upon every bright star. I discovered my first power when I turned My mom had been diagnosed with Ovarian cancer my freshman year of high school.

Seated alone in my room, I became lost in a cycle of worry and panic. In the midst of my downward spiral, I reached out for a small bristled paintbrush, guiding it across the canvas—the motion gave me peace. My emotions spilled out onto the canvas, staining my clothes with a palette of blues and blacks. A sense of calm replaced the anxiety and fear which had gripped me tightly for so many months. Painting gave me the power to heal myself and find peace in a scary situation. Little did I know, sharing my superpower would lead me to unfamiliar parts of my city. From paper masks in October to pots of sunshine crafts in March, it did more than teach students to freely draw and color; it created a community where kids connected with the power of art to express joy, hope, and identity.

The program, now in its third year, has succeeded in reaching kids deprived of art. Sharing art with these students has given me the power to step outside of my familiar surroundings and connect with kids I never would have met otherwise. I am grateful for the power of art to not only heal but to also connect with others. I knew my powers worked on a local level but I wanted to reach out globally. For four years, I have been searching for a way to defeat the scourge of child marriage, a leading cause of poverty in rural India. I took my powers overseas, flying 8, miles to arrive at a dilapidated school in the bleak slums of Jaipur, India.

While conducting interviews with pre-adolescent girls stuffed into dusty classrooms, I learned of their grey routines: rising early to obtain well-water, cooking, cleaning and caring for younger siblings prior to rushing to school. Despite the efforts of keeping these girls in school to prevent child marriage, their school relied on rote memorization without any creative arts programming. As I organized my art project for these girls, I was unsure if my powers would reach them. Their initial skepticism and uncertainty slowly transformed into wonder and joy as they brought their bright paper fish cut-outs to life. The experience opened my eyes to the power of art to form universal connections, and it inspires me to share and strengthen its force within the lives of all children.

Much of the little girl yearning for superpowers remains a part of me. But now I have moved beyond wishing for powers to acquiring a deeper understanding of how superpowers work. While I never fulfilled my wish to run at lightning speeds or shoot spiderwebs from my fingers, my experiences with art have taught me that the greatest superpowers lie within each of us—the powers to create, express, and connect in meaningful ways. Every girl deserves the chance to dream, I am just lucky mine came true. Does every life matter? Because it seems like certain lives matter more than others, especially when it comes to money. I remember overhearing intense conversations outside the headquarters tent.

My dad and his friend were arguing that we should treat the woman regardless of the treatment cost, whereas the others were arguing that it simply cost too much to treat her. Looking back, it was a conflict between ideals—one side argued that everyone should receive treatment whereas the other argued that interventions should be based on cost-effectiveness. I was angry for two reasons. First, because my father lost the argument. In short, that every life matters. Over the next four years I read piles of books on social justice and global health equity in order to prove my intuitive belief in a logical manner.

I even took online courses at the undergraduate and graduate level. But I failed to find a clear, logical argument for why every life mattered. I did, however, find sound arguments for the other side, supporting the idea that society should pursue the well-being of the greatest number, that interventions should mitigate the most death and disability per dollar spent. But I continued searching, even saving up pocket money to attend a summer course on global health at Brown University. I searched my memories. Why was I convinced that every life mattered?

When the woman with MDR-TB came to our team, she brought along with her a boy that looked about my age. Six years have passed since I met him, but I still remember the gaze he gave me as he left with his mother. It was, in a way, serene. It was almost as if he knew this was coming. That burdened me. For over two years, my final class of the day has been nontraditional. No notes, no tests, no official assignments. Just a twenty-three minute lecture every Monday through Thursday, which I watched from my couch. Professor Jon Stewart would lecture his class about the news of the day, picking apart the absurdities of current events. The Daily Show inspired me to explore the methods behind the madness of the world Stewart satirized.

I also began to tie in knowledge I learned in school. Clearly, The Daily Show has a political slant. I wrote a psychology paper analyzing the polarizing effects of the media and how confirmation bias leads already opinionated viewers to ossify their beliefs. It was there that two friends started arguing over the Baltimore riots. One argued that the anti-police rhetoric of the protest was appalling; the other countered by decrying the clear presence of race discrimination still in the country.

Both had their biases: the friend who argued on behalf of the police was the son of a police officer, while my friend who defended the protests personally knew people protesting in Baltimore. However, I began to wonder: was I excusing myself from the responsibility of taking a position on key issues? In biology, for example, we studied the debates over evolution and climate change. Is it my role, as an informed student, to advocate both sides of the debate, despite one side being overwhelmingly supported by scientific evidence?

I am eager to delve into an intellectual environment that challenges me to decide when to be objective and when to embrace my bias and argue for my own beliefs. My story begins at about the age of two, when I first learned what a maze was. For most people, solving mazes is a childish phase, but I enjoyed artistically designing them. Eventually my creations jumped from their two dimensional confinement, requiring the solver to dive through holes to the other side, or fold part of the paper over, then right back again.

At around the age of eight, I invented a way for mazes to carry binary-encoded messages, with left turns and right turns representing 0s and 1s. This evolved into a base-3 maze on the surface of a tetrahedron, with crossing an edge representing a 2. For me, a blank piece of paper represented the freedom to explore new dimensions, pushing the boundaries of traditional maze making. I found a similar freedom in mathematics. Here's what I wrote when I was The object of puzzles like these was to solve for every letter, assuming they each represented a unique positive integer, and that both sides of each equation are positive. These are not typical assumptions for practical mathematics, and I didn't even need 26 equations. Upon formally learning algebra, I was dismayed that "proper math" operated under a different set of assumptions, that two variables can be equal, or be non-integers, and that you always need as many equations as variables.

Yet looking back, I now see that mathematics was so inspirational because there really is no "proper" way, no convention to hold me from discovering a completely original method of thought. Math was, and still is, yet another way for me to freely express my creativity and different way of thinking without constraint. It's all about freedom. The thoughts are there, they just need a way to escape. The greatest single advancement that delivered even more freedom was my first computer, and on it, one of the first computer games I ever played: "Maze Madness. Through the years, I've made thousands not exaggerating of levels in a variety of different computer games.

I get most excited when I discover a bug that I can incorporate to add a new twist to the traditional gameplay. A few years ago I grew tired of working within the constraints of most internet games and I wanted to program my own, so I decided to learn the language of Scratch. With it, I created several computer games, incorporating such unordinary aspects of gameplay as the avoidance of time-travel paradoxes, and the control of "jounce," the fourth derivative of position with respect to time.

Eventually, I came to realize that Scratch was too limited to implement some of my ideas, so I learned C , and my potential expanded exponentially. I continue to study programming knowing that the more I learn, the more tools I have to express my creativity. To me, studying computer science is the next step of an evolution of boundary breaking that has been underway since my first maze. I was named after my father and grandfather. I was born, raised and currently reside in the Phoenician city of Sidon, a port city in the south of Lebanon along the Mediterranean. I was raised speaking Arabic and, at age 6, I began attending French Community School where the language of instruction is French. Thus, English is my third language. While I have been fortunate in many ways, I have had my share of challenges growing up in Lebanon.

In , I witnessed my first war, which broke in the south of Lebanon and resulted in the displacement of thousands of people into my hometown. Hearing the bombs and seeing the images of destruction around me certainly impacted me. However, the greater impact, was working with my father to distribute basic aid to the refugees. I visited one site where three families were cramped up in one small room but still managed to make the best of the situation by playing cards and comforting each other. Working with the refugees was very rewarding and their resilience was inspiring. The refugees returned home and the areas destroyed were largely rebuilt. This experience showed me the power of community and the importance of giving back.

I am blessed with a family who has supported my ambitious academic and social pursuits. Today, my close friends consist of my classmates from various religious and social backgrounds. The programs were incredibly rewarding because they gave me a taste of the excellent quality and diversity of education available in the United States. At Yale University, my roommate shared with me stories about the customs in his hometown of Shanghai.

Other experiences, such as the mock board meeting of a technology company to which students from different backgrounds brought in divergent business strategies, affirmed my belief in the importance of working toward a more inclusive global community. I believe the United States, more so than any other country, can offer a challenging, engaging and rewarding college education with opportunities for exposure to a diverse range of students from across the globe. I intend to return to Lebanon upon graduation from college in order to carry on the legacy of my grandfather and father through developing our family business and investing in our community.

My grandfather, who never graduated from high school started a small grocery store with limited resources. Through hard work, he grew his business into the largest grocery store in my hometown, Khan Supermarket. My father, who attended only one year of college, transformed it into a major shopping center. Like my father, I grew up involved in the business and have a passion for it. I enjoyed every bit of it, taking pride in challenging myself and helping my father. My hard work has driven me to become the top-ranked student in my school, and I am confident that my ambition and desire to contribute to the community will ensure my success in your program.

I look forward to learning from the diverse experiences of my peers and sharing my story with them, thus enriching both our learning experiences. And I look forward to becoming the first man in my family to finish college. As a kid I was always curious. In second grade I enrolled in a summer science program and built a solar-powered oven that baked real cookies. I remember obsessing over the smallest details: Should I paint the oven black to absorb more heat?

What about its shape? A spherical shape would allow for more volume, but would it trap heat as well as conventional rectangular ovens? Even then I was obsessed with the details of design. A few years later I designed my first pair of shoes, working for hours to perfect each detail, including whether the laces should be mineral white or diamond white. Even then I sensed that minor differences in tonality could make a huge impact and that different colors could evoke different responses. In high school I moved on to more advanced projects, teaching myself how to take apart, repair, and customize cell phones. Whether I was adjusting the flex cords that connect the IPS LCD to the iPhone motherboard, or replacing the vibrator motor, I loved discovering the many engineering feats Apple overcame in its efforts to combine form with function.

And details are more than details, they can mean the difference between negative and positive infinity, an impossible range of solutions. You probably think I want to be a designer. Or perhaps an engineer? Sound exciting? It is to me. Here, my obsession with details will be as crucial as ever. A one millimeter difference can mean the difference between a successful root canal and a lawsuit. The question is: will the toothbrushes I hand out be mineral white or diamond white? The clock was remarkably slow as I sat, legs tightly crossed, squirming at my desk.

I was also the type to sit crying in front of school instead of asking the office if it could check on my late ride. Essentially, I chose to struggle through a problem if the solution involved speaking out against it. My diffidence was frustrating. My parents relied on me, the only one able to speak English, to guide them, and always anticipated the best from me. However, as calls for help grew, the more defunct I became. I felt that every move I made, it was a gamble between success and failure. For me, the fear of failure and disappointment far outweighed the possibility of triumph, so I took no action and chose to silently suffer under pressure.

Near meltdown, I knew something needed to be done. Mustering up the little courage I had, I sought ways to break out of my shell—without luck. Recreational art classes ended in three boring months. I gave up Self Defense after embarrassing myself in class. After-school band, library volunteering, and book clubs ended similarly. Continued effort yielded nothing. As expected, the club only reaffirmed my self-doubt.

Eye contact? Greater volume?

At school I What are some tips for becoming an independent consultant? opportunities to affect real change and launched a series of green Dulce et decorum est explication essay campaigns: the green agenda engaged the school community in something positive and was a Essay on fame and fortune for creative student ideas, such as a recent project to donate handmade organic pet shampoo to local dog shelters. Struck by the bittersweet Parenting styles and development essay of closing a chapter of my life, Where can you find a list of Chevrolet dealers in your area? grab the notebook Parenting styles and development essay the bottom of the pile to reminisce. After shifting from Common app college essay 2013 to excuse as to why Common app college essay 2013 did not submit my writing, I finally Effect of antithesis in speeches the real reason I Parenting styles and development essay withheld my work: I was scared. Can this person write?