The Pursuit of My Academic Goals by Dianna

The Pursuit of My Academic Goals by Dianna - April 2024 Scholarship Essay

My academic goals include striving for excellence in academics, participating in class more often, and connecting content taught within a class to the real world. I consider these goals crucial for expanding my knowledge and skill set for the type of field I want to enter. The medical field is a highly competitive environment that requires its professionals to strive for excellence, lead discussions on the future of medicine, and be skilled in the clinical or laboratory setting. If I want to become a veterinarian and give the best quality care to animals, then I must keep these goals in mind.

I strive for excellence whenever I am doing my classwork. I may not be the best at certain topics, but I will use my best effort to understand the material being taught to me. I constantly listen to the lectures my teachers give when explaining a concept and connect it with the notes I have taken previously. Furthermore, I find that failure is the best teacher: if I fail certain questions on a practice test, I am more likely to remember it and make new connections on what the question is asking me and provide the correct answer. If I start setting high standards for myself now, then I can expect my future self to adhere to them and ensure that others benefit from my best performance.

I find myself participating in class more often this year than previous years due to having a bit more experience. Although I am a shy and introverted person, serious discussions on topics, especially concerning medicine or animals, pique my interest. I like these kinds of discussions as long as they are in small groups and I am confident in my knowledge pertaining to the topic. Being more vocal and improving my public speaking are still some skills I need to work hard on, but in the long-term, they are quite useful to have when communicating with patients (or their owners for animals), associates and peers, or the general public.

I get to connect content taught within a class to the real world. There is a certain class at my school that allows me to connect the knowledge I’ve learned in a unit to the real world frequently. After obtaining some knowledge in a unit, my teacher sets up some example case studies for the students to apply their knowledge to. There are patient histories, clinical manifestations, etiologies, pathophysiologies, diagnoses, treatments, and prognoses to identify and describe within these case studies. This is great practice for when I am actually working in the field of veterinary medicine, and making these connections now will only serve to improve my knowledge and skills in the future.

Overall, the academic goals I set for myself are to help my knowledge and skills for the future. My motivation for pursuing these goals is to get a foot into the medical field and care for animals. By following my academic goals and reminding myself of why I am working so hard, I know that I will someday become a veterinarian.