This is supposed to be an essay about my educational goals and the ways in which the College Scholar Program will help me to achieve them. However, I can honestly say that I don’t currently have any educational goals, which raises quite a conundrum in relation to this essay. Suffice to say that I do aspire to a few general goals – I plan on graduating from college with a major (or maybe two or three and/or a couple of minors), probably going on to graduate school and eventually finding myself a pleasant job. But that’s just about as far as I can expound on that.
Now, when I say that I have no goals, it does not mean that I lack ambition; I just haven’t found the ability to concentrate it in one direction yet. I’m still looking for a purpose, penciling things into that goal book that is my head, actively pursuing whatever happens to be in that goal book; I’m just waiting for the right opportunity to trade in my pencil for a nice, comfy pen – one without an eraser – but I haven’t found what it is that I’m looking for.
For example, when I applied to Lehigh, I chose to go into the IBE Program, mostly because it appeared interesting at the time, it appeased others (notably my parents, who pay the bills) and I took pleasure in reading that it was “not for the squeamish – it’s intended for the University’s brightest students.” Yes, I planned on graduating with a major in finance and an extensive knowledge of engineering.
But a lot happened during the end of my senior year, and all of the sudden growing up and being a busi-gineer (growing up at all, for that matter) had lost all of its sparkle. By the time I arrived at Lehigh for summer registration, I had already made up my mind to transfer into the College of Arts & Sciences. I had no idea what to do with myself beyond that, but I was quite optimistic about the flexibility I’d have. Flexibility has lived up to the hype thus far, as I’ve penciled in majors in math, philosophy, and, most recently, urban studies, and then found that I’m not in love with these subjects.
And I think that it’s perfectly great to have no idea what I am doing with my life – it just seems to be a little early in life to be completely sure of the direction in which I am headed. I enjoy the spontaneity with which I can do things (whereas in the IBE program, I’d have something to the point of four electives spread over four years) and my lack of one fixed direction really allows me to go in all directions at once. The classes I’m currently taking will most likely be useless for whatever major(s) I finally choose, but they’re definitely making me more well-rounded.
This is how I think that the College Scholar Program will help me. I’ll still be able to take eighteen-plus credits a semester in a variety of subjects (thanks to being released from distribution requirements), host a radio show, edit photos for the Brown & White, and so on and so forth – all of the things that make me me.
Then, on some fateful day somewhere off in the future, I will realize what it is that I want to do. Something will just come up, hit me on the head, and say, “Tom, I am what you were put here for,” to which I will reply, “But of course!” (or something along that line, possibly (hopefully) more witty).
And then I will pick up that pen…