The author wants to transfer to a university to study English because they have a passion for stories and believe in the power of words. They feel they neglected their writing for too long and lost their ability. Studying English will allow them to immerse themselves in a culture of learning surrounded by other passionate students and teachers. The author is determined to use the power of words to tell stories that otherwise go unheard and to one day inspire children through stories like authors inspired them as a child. They are eager to learn from college professors who can help them explore more challenging literature and point out insights they may miss on their own.

1. Once upon a time, I sat down to write a story—and discovered that I had forgotten how.
My words, my constant friends from earliest childhood, had been neglected too long, and
they had left me. I felt a cutting sense of loss: an amputation in my identity. The thought
of never writing another story frightened me. I enrolled at De Anza College that same
week. I am transferring as an English major because I believe in the power of words; I
believe in the importance of stories.
By transferring, I will be immersing myself in a culture of inquiry and learning,
surrounded by students who are as exhilarated as I am to play with the intricacies and
subtleties of language. I am eager to learn from and about those who have devoted their
lives to words, from Thomas Malory to Toni Morrison. There is little more thrilling than
to catch the infectious enthusiasm of a brilliant teacher.
I want to explore what I might do, where I might go, and who I might become within the
broad story of storytelling. I am determined to live and work with purpose. Stories make
facts and data emotionally irresistible. It is not the statistic that there are an estimated 27
million slaves worldwide that has made me a conscientious consumer, but the story of an
eight-year-old boy chained to a cocoa tree. I want to exercise the power of words to tell
the stories of those whose voices are stifled.
A precious dream of mine is that I might do for children what authors did for me. When
my childhood was too much for me, when bullies taunted me, when my father’s
Asperger’s Syndrome wounded me, I had books. I sailed down the Mississippi with Huck
and Jim; I led the French army with Joan of Arc; I crept through Mirkwood with Bilbo. I
was more than a forlorn, vulnerable little girl. I was omnipotent. Freedom takes many
forms, and I want to be a liberator.
Whereas I enjoy writing and reading for my own edification, I cannot overstate my
appreciation for the experienced insight of college professors. I love the wonder and
freedom of exploring on my own, but I am also eager to travel with expert guides who
can point out sights I might not have noticed otherwise. I am excited to delve into more
formidable literature, books that have aroused my curiosity but whose complexities I
have not yet been able to grasp fully. I want to be taught.
As Margaret Atwood says, “a word after a word after a word is power.”