My Dream College by Mitchell

My Dream College by Mitchell - August 2020 Scholarship Essay

I have been hard at it for over a year now. Similar to what most seniors in high school face, I have worked through the process of considering my goals for college, identifying and researching different schools, and narrowing down my choices. It has been a stressful but incredibly rewarding journey. I have visited twenty different campuses, been on hundreds of college websites, and talked to admission counselors in multiple states. I really have invested the time to make an informed decision. I am searching for my dream college. I think there are five characteristics of my dream college.

First, one of the key characteristics for me is that the college is as willing to invest in me as I am willing to invest in it. I am not referring to the monetary commitment all students have to make, but to the time, effort, and dedication that it will take for me to be successful. I have thought about college as the place where I will have the opportunity, motivation, and support to grow as a student and as a person. I will do my part but my dream college would also want me to grow in amazing ways. The college has to do more than just offer a lot of really great classes. It needs to provide opportunities for me to have life experiences, gain career expertise, and offer linkages to networks of alumni that will help me achieve my goals.

Second, I think it is critical that professors are really masters of their craft and want to teach students and push students to be outstanding in the classroom. My father is a college professor and I have learned a lot by seeing how much time and effort he puts into mentoring students, preparing lectures, and looking for ways for students to get involved in learning outside the classroom. I want an experience where professors want to work with students on research projects, want to provide encouraging feedback to students, and expect them to do the very best in their work.

Third, my dream college would allow be to balance my academic life with playing a collegiate sport. I am a lacrosse player and I have always wanted to play this sport in college. I have been recruited to do so and so it was important for me to consider how to balance learning and my commitment to the team. I have been really lucky as my skills on the field have opened some doors to incredible colleges. On my visits, however, I really wanted to make sure that academics was the top priority but that playing the sport was taken seriously.

Fourth, my dream school would really make me feel like I was meant to be there. All students get advertising and marketing materials and it seems to me that what is being sold is the same for everyone. There was rarely an acknowledgement of what I was interested in and wanted to do. In a number of my interactions with schools though, I was impressed that the admissions counselor or the coach really focused on me, my goals, and my strengths and my weaknesses.

Fifth, my dream college will prepare me for my chosen career path: I want to be a business entrepreneur. I want to run my own business. I have really enjoyed creating small versions of business organizations and I have had some success with these ventures. Understanding and running a business has allowed me to be creative in many ways in terms of thinking about products and the marketplace, increasing efficiencies in turning over products, and getting the attention of possible customers. I have learned a lot about the basics of business but I have so much more to learn. My dream college would really give opportunity for me to develop this skill set.

Finally, my dream college is going to be engaged with the community and care about social justice issues. I want to pursue a career and be a citizen in a way that I can influence my community in positive ways. I think the college I attend will have to engage important issues and encourage students to talk about them and develop them. The classroom should be a place where I can talk about what is going on the world and think about ways that I can really change the world.