Writing about Goals

A discussion of goals and contexts is usually the first portion of the rationale essay, so readers can get a sense of why you’re pursuing your degree, how you want to use your degree, and what you hope to achieve. Use these questions to help you think and write about goals:

Personal Goals

  • How do you intend to use your degree?
  • What knowledge, qualities, or characteristics do you hope to develop through your studies?

Academic Goals

  • Based on any self-assessments you have done and any previous college course work (at ESC or other colleges), do you need to strengthen certain academic skill areas or develop certain perspectives? More generally, what do you want to learn via this degree?
  • What skills and/or ways of thinking about the world will help you become a more fully-educated person?

Professional Goals

  • Where would you like to be professionally in five or ten years?
  • How will your degree help you to reach your professional goals?

Contexts

  • Why do you want to pursue a degree? Can you provide enough background so that readers can understand the reasons that led you to pursue a degree and the results you expect to achieve by pursuing a degree?
  • What type of degree (associate, bachelor’s) do you want to pursue?
  • What concentration (if any) do you want to pursue and why?