Dear Andrew,

My name is Nikita Mikhailov. I never had a nickname that stuck so you can address me simply as
Nikita. I am a freshmen student studying Economics at the Belk College of Business. My hometown is the
city of Fayetteville, North Carolina. The reason I chose UNC Charlotte is, because I adore the urban scene.
As I have extended family in Canada, I frequently visit the cities of Toronto and Montreal. Visiting these
cities I have developed a fascination, and adoration, for the lively atmosphere of high rises, and fast paced
lifestyles. I became so invigorated by this admiration that whenever I stray to far from the city, in the case
of going back home, I often feel great longing and the desire to return to it. It is, because of this love that I
have chosen to make UNC Charlotte, and the city of Charlotte my home. When searching for schools
Charlotte enamored me. I was reinvigorated by the excitement of urban living. I chose UNCC because of
the excellent and moving presentations I heard at the Belk business school. The assistant dean and advisors
inspired me to not only pursue a degree in business, but to choose UNCC as the place to do it. As a
business major I understand that importance of clear and concise writing. With this in mind, I hope that this
course can help me develop this invaluable skill. I also hope that it can provide me with the tools to
effectively convey my thoughts/ideas more clearly. Whether in writing or conversation, I always find
myself stumped to convey the intricacies of my ideas to people. In conversations I often use too many
words to get to the point. As I develop skills throughout the course I hope to change this. In future course
sessions I would like for you to address how you asses grammar on finalized assignments; the severity /
penalty for making grammatical mistakes. As English is my second language, I have always found myself
struggling to achieve grammatical precision on submitted work. In school I would often have trouble with
missed commas, as well as run on sentences. As a writer I think of myself as average. I tend to understand
the intricacies of themes and ideas in literature, but have to work very hard to convey a concise and
effective argument on paper. On the topic of uniqueness, I think my foreign roots grant me a certain degree
of distinctiveness. I am fluent in two languages, Russian being the second. My fluency in Russian has
allowed me to appreciate classical literature from some famous poets/ writers like Pushkin and Tolstoy.
I have chosen the quote: To say my fate is note tied to your fate is like saying, your half of the boat
is sinking by Hugh Downs. The section where this quote is located talks about attendance, withdrawals,
and evaluations. I believe this quote is fitting in this location, as you have stressed in class, and syllabus,
that you care for your students. The figurative sinking of the boat can be explained by the following: If half
of the boat is sinking, then the whole boat is going to sink, as we fail so too do you feel failure as our
mentor. To quote the syllabus, I require respect towards me and your fellow students. I tolerate crap
directed at me better of the two []. Your inclusion of this quote reaffirms my statement. In relation to the
syllabus as a whole, the original quote by Hugh Downs makes all the more sense. In the syllabus, you
provide us with all the information we may need to succeed: you outline the course values of SLO, and
stress the importance of draft work. You provide all the tools, and knowledge we need to succeed, and
avoid failure.
I chose the SLO of Critical Reflection. I chose this SLO, because I believe this is a crucial skill of
successful writing. The other mentioned SLOs focus on obtaining knowledge, whether it is convention,
composition, or rhetorical. These concepts differ from critical reading, and critical reflection, which focus
on the application of that knowledge. In the critical reflection stage I am taking what I know about the text,
like themes, and making plausible connections to the work as a whole, in order to create an argument.
Finally, I would like to pose you a question. As the lecturer of UWRT I find it odd to ask, but have
you every personally struggled with writing as a student, and if so what technique and habits did you
implement / would recommend to become a better writer.
Sincerely,
Nikita