It is quite easy to just put in your admission essay the things you plan to do in order to survive the first two years of college, but elaborating on your long-term career objectives is another thing. If you can put the latter on your essay, it will make for a more effective narration.
Why long-term career goals are good application essay topics
It boils down (among other things) to sincerity, after all, you are talking about yourself and your serious plans 5 or 10 years from now. The far-term career goals are ideal topics because you can elaborate on them to your heart’s content and more than that, it will show the Admissions Committee how much foresight you actually have. If you have so many career goals (say, 8 of them), it’s inadvisable to put them all. Focus on 2 or 3 and put meat in it. You are supposed to write a short essay, tomes have no place on the Screening Committee’s desk.
Tips when discussing goals in your personal statement
Just saying “I want to be a doctor because I want to help the needy and alleviate the sufferings of the sick.”- then leave it at that. Let’s talk about this statement, first- it is obvious and sophomoric. Second, why else would you want to be a doctor if not that? (To get rich as the only answer, yes, some people would do that, but that’s another story). It is advisable to get hold of some course catalogues to check which classes would aid you vis-a-vis both your career short term and far term goals. Elaborate your goals in a comprehensive yet brief manner, and the Admissions officers would consider your essay as substantial and worthy of further consideration.
The kind of elaboration you do on the far-term goals could mean the difference between success and failure. What is crucial is not the mere mention of such goals, but how you could relate them to where you are now, to your values, and to the thesis statement of the essay. Adhere to all of this and you’ll be proud of the essay when you hand it over.
Related questions:
1. Why is a career goal worthy of discussion on the application essay?
2. What is an example of a bad sentence in the admission essay (regarding reason for applying)?
3. How does one handle the discussion of career goals?