The following is my cover letter. I am putting this as my welcome message because I feel as if it embodies the current version of me and how I feel. I hope you enjoy!

 

Dear Dr. Alikhani,

I am an eighteen-year-old artist, but I am also a girl who codes. I have always been an artist. I began to explore three-dimensional art during my sophomore year of high school for an art competition. I thought that I had truly explored all dimensions of art at this point, yet, I proved myself wrong when I set my sights on computer science. My initial exposure to coding was also during my sophomore year of high school, and my interest was piqued. To me, the strange arrangement of symbols and characters appeared to be art. The mystery on the screen was something to unlock creatively. It motivated me to tackle the art of computer science with school courses and programs, which led to my participation in the Girls Who Code Summer Immersion program last year.

I was appalled by my discovery that computer science was mostly a male-dominated art. Through Girls Who Code, I learned that women should not be limited by cultural boundaries. I sat wide-eyed with my full undivided attention at the former runway model who detailed her journey to becoming a software engineer at reputable companies such as Nike and L’Oreal. I listened in awe as a Girls Who Code alumna recounted her experience that led to her successful startup, ARROW, through her newfound interests in computer science and business. I chose to no longer live by the gender roles my naive and childish self-had embraced. As I met more audacious women in technology, I grew more ambitious for myself and more unapologetic in my choices. I too aspired to join these women in the empowering sisterhood.

Just like everyone else, I too want to make a difference in this world. I like to think that this goal is driven by love, whether it be a love for other human beings or self-love. Personally, I love love. It serves as our most powerful emotion and drives us to become compassionate human beings to change the world and make it better for other humans. With a computer science degree and the creative skills of an artist, anything is possible. I plan on going to my home country, Bangladesh, (I’ve never been), and provide aid to the millions of people who live in poverty. I don’t have an exact game plan in mind, but the first step is to recognize my goals.

One challenge I have faced and continue to face is my being a perfectionist. Being a perfectionist can both be beneficial and detrimental. I’ve had many experiences where I would not stop working on assignments until I believe it’s “perfect”, but of course, it rarely is. This has made my time management skills especially poor. However, as a perfectionist, I am motivated, determined, and persistent. Once I set my goals, I am very driven to see it accomplished. I’d like to say this applies to achieve my degree in computer science, but many people have tried to scare me away from pursuing this. I am well aware of how difficult this major can be, and I am almost convinced that this could be a challenge that is beyond my abilities. However, this is something to be determined in the future. I don’t want to sell myself short based on other people’s perceptions. Right now, I can only have faith in my abilities and trust myself to be able to handle it. I look forward to using these abilities in your writing class. Thank you.

Sincerely,

Sanjidah Abdullah