I’ve embarked on the task of applying for post-college scholarships and fellowships. Aside from the long applications, letters of recommendation, and countless other bits of personal information, the hardest part has been writing my personal statements. For each program I have to pinpoint, craft, and frame why each is vital to my intellectual, personal, and career goals. I haven’t really written personal essays of this sort since I was applying for undergrad in high school. It feels like ages ago. Though I’ve written what seems like hundreds of papers in my college career, I haven’t felt the “oh my god this piece of writing is going to change the path of my life from here on out” until now. Here’s to hoping I can find the right words.