How the VHL Has Helped Me Academically

[Gustav 6,416]

While it's true that the VHL may have also hurt me academically--after all, I could be using the time I'm spending on this article to study--I think there are some very nice things to point to in its favor. For the three of you who don't know already, I'm currently in engineering school. I've never really been able to apply engineering to sim leagues or sim leagues to engineering in terms of what I'm learning in class, but there's one thing I do quite a bit around these parts that I'm just now starting to be able to transfer over to the school world.

 

And that's writing.

 

You see, for most of my time in school, I haven't written on any sort of consistent enough basis to seriously improve my writing skills. A lab report here, a short paper there, but not much more than a few projects per semester, mathematically equating to maybe 5 or 6 papers a year, or one every other month. Contrast that with sim leagues, where I'm an article writer. Here, it's true that I could just write a few run-on sentences about what my player page on the portal says this week, every week, but I like to be proud of what I do, and as such, I like to put out the best work that I can. This year, the scope of my major has shifted largely from learning concepts and doing assignments to figure out the math involved to applying those concepts through projects...and there's much more writing in projects.

 

I was already a decent writer in high school and coming into the league, but something feels a bit off with some of my earlier articles. I've definitely gotten better, and with the majority of my writing being here over that time, I have no real choice but to attribute that improvement in part to sim leagues. This means a few things outside of better grades--I'm finally finding dependable people who want to work with me rather than being thrown in with random groups who don't like to communicate, and I recently scored a 5.0 on the writing section of the GRE (which is above the average at any grad program I know of in my field)! 

 

I think some of the skills picked up through dedication to sim leagues can be legitimately helpful (I'm also much better with spreadsheets and never would have touched Photoshop had I never joined here). If you're in high school or wherever and you write articles here, you may be studying  without even realizing it.

[Beaviss 4,957]

VHL has also helped me by yelling at me for my mistakes in discord until I'm forced to fix them. 

[MexicanCow123 914]

VHL has helped me by having other people around that enjoy being like me

Spoiler

HORNY

 

The VHL has taught me so much when it comes to my behavior. Thank you VHL.

Edited September 27, 2021 by MexicanCow123

[fishy 1,757]

I'm so glad that the VHL has helped you feel more confident in your writing skills and given you a medium to develop further in an authentic way!

 

Writing is a skill that most people don't consider to be a skill that requires continued refinement and practice. Our ability to speak fluently is sometimes convoluded with writing skills, but I've found that the two are, in fact, distinct. Good writing requires development in critical thinking skills as well as an understanding of how to communicate your thoughts or information to a (in this case) specific audience.

 

The best way to practice writing–or any skill, really–is by applying it to an environment that's interesting to you. I think you're less likely to get better at writing when you're having to apply those skills to papers you couldn't care less about, and the VHL offers a really great opportunity to regularly challenge your brain without it feeling like too much of a requirement you need to fulfill. 

 

You've been one of the people whose forum contributions are consistenly regarded as higher quality than the average post. I hope you feel that your effort has been recognized, and if not, then we can start today!

[frescoelmo 1,276]

I think grading (RIP) helped me with; a) expanding vocabulary (not much but it helps) b) constructive criticism and c) processing.

[Fire Tortorella 2,653]

The old grading system helped a good handful of members learn English/write better English as well.