Having a Healthy Definition of Success in College by Samantha

Having a Healthy Definition of Success in College by Samantha - February 2021 Scholarship Essay

In today’s culture of being busy, seeking instant gratification, and comparing yourself to others, it can be difficult to define success in a healthy way. Today, through social media, we are constantly comparing ourselves to others in terms of superficial things such as followers, likes, and beauty. In addition to this, we are constantly moving and becoming increasingly impatient as we often spend our time with activities that can be done instantly with little thought. This can cause a skewed perception of what success is because it’s easy to think of success as being better than everyone around you in surface level areas like salary, GPA, looking like you have the best relationship, popularity, etc, without considering more meaningful areas such as happiness, fulfillment in your career, and actually having a good relationship with your family and friends. In looking at the flawed way that culture defines success, I want to keep a healthy view of success in my mind as I go to college next year. My view of success in college is getting a degree, learning valuable skills, and setting myself up to pursue a fulfilling career.
Learning and finishing with a degree are extremely important in being successful in college, because those things are the direct purpose of attending college. While I am in college, my goal is going to be to learn the material as best as I can and to avoid studying solely so I can get an A. It is easy to sometimes get by in a class with only putting in as much effort as I have to to get the grade I want, but I want to take classes that I am genuinely interested in so that I will be motivated to learn. I know that there will also be general education classes and likely some classes within my major that I won’t enjoy, but even then, I should strive to grow in my knowledge and to fully understand what I am learning. Doing so will allow me to have a successful college experience by enabling me to leave college with the information that I will need in the rest of my life, as well as an appreciation for anything I learn that will not directly apply to my future. Additionally, my main goal will be to graduate and earn a degree. This seems like a fairly basic determinant for success, but I think that it is important to keep in mind. The main purpose for going to college is to get a degree, so it would be a huge waste of time and resources to go to college and not graduate. Also, getting a college degree is a significant accomplishment that demonstrates one’s ability to work hard and see something through. This is important because having this demonstration and being educated will help me in my future by opening up opportunities for careers or graduate school that would otherwise be unavailable.
Another important aspect of what it means to be successful in college is to be able to figure out what future career I want and prepare myself to pursue it. Currently, I want to be a veterinarian, but I know that there is a possibility that I could change my mind down the road. During college, I will need to figure out if veterinary medicine is the career for me or not. I will do this by shadowing veterinarians to see if I would enjoy the job and by learning as much as I can about the field of veterinary medicine. This will prevent me from having the hypothetical problem of realizing that I don’t want to become a veterinarian after I’ve already started veterinary school and wasted my time and money. If I decide that I don’t want to become a veterinarian, then success in college will look like finding a different field that suits me, by seeking out career resources such as aptitude tests. I will then focus on taking the classes and getting the grades that I will need to either find a job in that field or enter graduate school. If I do decide that I still want to become a veterinarian, then success in college will be graduating with a degree in Biology, passing all of the prerequisites for vet school, completing the shadowing hours that I need, and getting the grades and test scores that I need to be accepted into veterinary school. If I am able to do all of this during college while still maintaining a healthy view of my schoolwork and avoiding overworking myself, then I will consider myself successful in college.
Overall, I want to have a healthy view of success while I am in college by focusing on learning and earning my degree while discovering what career is best for me and preparing myself to enter that field after college. I plan to do this by focusing on doing my school work for the purpose of learning, and not just to get a certain grade. I will also create a realistic plan that will enable me to stay on track to both graduate and either attend graduate school or get a job in my chosen field. In doing this, I hope that I will have a memorable college experience, in which I achieve my goals while setting aside time to enjoy my life and make quality, lasting friendships.