Personal and Professional Life Goals Essay: NCSU College Admission

By looking into the future, we, as humans, like to see ourselves doing something good or personally beneficial. Humans reach this state of success by setting and accomplishing goals. A goal is a very broad task that can range anywhere from scoring in basketball to discovering the cure to cancer. I, like any other human, have a set of goals of which I pursue. Describing all my goals would not fit into one paper so I have chosen my top three goals.

To succeed in any goal, one has to put forth their best effort. That being said, my first goal is to succeed in any task I attempt. By trying my best, I can complete almost any goal set to myself. However, I do not succeed in every task I attempt. Failure is generally assumed to be a negative word. I believe failure is essential for success because people will always learn from their mistakes. I believe if one puts their full effort in completing a task he/she will truly not fail, regardless the outcome.

There is virtually unlimited amount of information in society. Also, with technology advancing at an alarming rate, new information is being recorded daily. This information is essentially sitting, just waiting to be learned. I would like to learn as much of this mass of information as possible. I am the kind of person who enjoys hearing small random facts about virtually anything. For example, "it is impossible to keep your eyes open while sneezing." Completely random, yet, I find great interest in this fact. Being the nerd I am, I have tested this theory and when I sneeze and I am yet to keep my eyes open. I also would like expanding my knowledge on subjects in school, preferably math and science subjects. Additionally, mastering all this information would greatly benefit me in real world situations.

After thinking about future jobs, I have realized I don't necessarily want a super high paying job, I just want one I am happy to do. As my dad always says to me, "if you do something you love, you never work a day in your life." This quote is very inspiring to me and I seek to "never go to work in the future." With respect to the love of my job, I also want it to pull in enough money so I can easily support a family. I believe one doesn't need loads of money to live a happy life, just need the essentials paid for. People will find happiness in other things than money. Personally, I find joy in small things such as a playing a game of catch or family dinners, both of which have little or no financial requirement. With a great job, I would not only have an enjoyable life at work, but I would have an enjoyable life at home.

With only a limited amount of time, people need to stay true to their beliefs and make the most of life. Now that all my goals are in place, it is time to fulfill them to the best of my ability. North Carolina State University is the first stepping stone to success in my life. With a solid Engineering program, classes overflowing with information, and a high job-placement rate, North Carolina State University will help me complete almost all my personal goals. I have planned the road ahead and now it is time to walk.

--------NCSU said to write a personal statement with no required format or topic. I chose to write on my life goals. How does it sound?-------

None of this needs to be included. This is what I think of as a "warm up exercise for writing." It is your reflection that should be edited out of the final draft. Let the essay begin with a bold statement of your goals.

No need to explain yourself this way: Describing all my goals would not fit into one paper so I have chosen my top three goals.

Your goals are important enough to be the focus. Introduce them in this intro paragraph. Introduce the actual goals, not the notion of human goal setting, etc.

Here is something else we do not need to be told: To succeed in any goal, one has to put forth their best effort.

I am going to be honest. This essay does not describe goals. It is a reflective discussion, but it focuses on concepts that should not be the focus. Here is the only part I like:

With a solid Engineering program, classes overflowing with information, and a high job-placement rate, North Carolina State University will help me complete almost all my personal goals.--- this is where the essay really begins. It is important for you to read some recent articles about (what kind of?) engineering, see what is going on in the field, learn about recent events in the eng. department at NCSU, and write about specific goals related to your chosen field.

Sorry to be critical... but it is important to treat this like a serious exposition of your career outlook.. almost like a research paper about your current aspirations and a declaration of what you have learned, what you are learning, and what you have been reading, etc... what you INTEND for your time in college.