Mary Pope Osborne, a 1971 graduate from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill,
is best known for her popular children’s series, ?The Magic Tree House. ?Osborne caught my
attention with her time travel tales with siblings Jack and Annie. I always wished to write like
her and I have many notebooks filled with my own stories at home.  Recently I began to think of
pursuing a career in writing and going to the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill without
even realizing that Mary Pope Osborne had attended this college herself! I know that it is a
highly ranked journalism college, and that is the major I am interested in. It seems like fate that
one of my favorite writers followed a path that I have thought of for myself.  In this essay I will
discuss my first thoughts on what I might want to be when I grow up, how my thoughts have
shifted, and finally how I will pursue that career with college. 
Asking her kindergarten class a teacher says, “What do you want to be when you grow
up?” Various answers are shouted out. “I want to be a vet! I want to be a firefighter!” My dream
job when I was that age was like many - a vet. Soon, I realized that there was no way I would be
putting needles in animals so I switched to a career that I already had a small start in. Around the
age of seven, I started to write lots of short stories.   However, as I got older, and I researched
this job to find out more about it, I learned there were a couple of aspects I didn’t like too much.
Of many that try to publish their writings only a few fictional writers will get this honor, and of
those, only a few end up being truly successful.  Without the good fortune to be one of the few,
earning a good livelihood is difficult.  This left me considering how I could find a career that is
more stable but still allows me to pursue writing.
This past year I changed my future career idea based on information I learned through
our school’s Ramp Up program. I still want to be a writer, but I would like to go into the
business aspect of writing because I learned that this is an area of growth in the business world
that is need of more writers.  There are many different types of business writing careers.  I have
looked at proposal writing which consists of contributions towards research on properties,
buildings, companies, etc. to get the best one offered. To make a successful proposal in writing it
is necessary to research the offered deal, understand the client’s needs, and evaluate the solution.
A good education in writing skills and communication will be important to succeed in this field.
According to the website collegemediamatters, the University of North Carolina Chapel
Hill is one of the best universities in the United States for journalism and mass communication.
Choosing to major in journalism would advance me towards becoming a very successful creative
proposal writer.  A major in mass communication is also an important aspect to business writing.
Mass communication is the process of sending information to a group of people by using
television, magazines, and other media. This course would be a critical path to learn the most
efficient way to gather information and how to distribute it effectively. 
I have described how my interests have driven what I would like to do in the future, and
how more knowledge has caused my thoughts to shift and create a goal to attend a college that
will equip me to pursue my chosen career.  North Carolina Chapel Hill college is one of the best
in the United States for my future job goals. After going to North Carolina I plan to pursue a
career in proposal writing and still do creative writing in my free time.  Mary Pope Osborne is a
successful fictional author and has popular books, and I would hope to do similar.  However, I
feel that having a main career in business writing will allow me to be financially sound,  but also
give me time to pursue the enjoyment of trying to write fiction. “A strong, successful man is not
a victim of his environment. He creates favorable conditions. His own inherent force and energy
compel things to turn out as he desires,” is a quote by an American author, Orison Swett Marden.
In order to be a writer, I must make things turn out in my favor and my way. I will choose the
college that helps me the most and I will get all of the information out of it that I need. In order
to do the career I have in mind, I must go for it.