Looking Towards the Future by Isabella

Looking Towards the Future by Isabella - August 2025 Scholarship Essay

People always say college is a place where the youth can take the reigns on their future and grow into the people they aspire to be, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t allured by the prospect of that idea. For some time now, I’ve been thinking a lot about my future and my aspirations for college and life in general. While it was a little difficult to start laying out plans in the first semester of my first year at college, less stress in the second semester made it easier to think more clearly about the road ahead. With the first day of my second year fast approaching, what better way to think about the future than by taking it one step at a time, starting with my aspirations for the upcoming school year?

Naturally, some of my ambitions relate to academic life. In the upcoming semester, I am taking 15 credit hours, and while that might not seem special for some, as many students take on that exact workload, it is an important milestone for me. During my first semester, instead of smoothly assimilating myself into college life by starting off with 12 credit hours, I believed I could take on 15 hours and succeed; however, poor time management, shabby study habits, and undiagnosed ADHD, among other things, made my first few months at my university a struggle. Going into my second semester with 12 hours and medication made it easier to reflect on old habits that did not work well for me and start making improvements little by little. With more clarity in mind, I am ready to try again this semester and take on 15 hours as I did in the past, hoping to do significantly better this time around than before.

And with new classes comes interacting with new (though sometimes old) instructors, leading into another goal of mine: connecting with at least one or two of my professors. Professors can act as mentors who provide knowledge and wisdom, and sometimes, certain students may be given the chance to build rapport with them and learn about various opportunities. If I am able to build a good relationship with at least a few of my instructors, I may be given the chance to learn about different professional avenues, hear more in-depth explanations on topics I find interesting, or just talk about life in general.

Speaking of professional avenues, I have ambitions related to the professional world as well. If time and luck allows me to, I am hoping to find internship opportunities, ideally on campus or in my school’s city, for something related to video game design. As someone with no work experience but wants to go into the video game industry, finding internships would be one way to not only gain that experience I need but also connect and network with my peers. After all, college is the best way to get started with that sort of thing.

Of course, some of my aspirations relate to my personal life as well. As someone who loves consuming stories in various forms (books, shows, even fan works), I want to create my own stories and make an effort to write more in my second year - not just academic writing but personal writing too. I want to start getting all of the ideas I have in my head written down and share some of them with others, whether that be in the form of books, video games, or another medium. And if I put in the effort to write frequently and consistently, I can continuously improve upon my work, from grammar to pacing and finding a voice. If someone were to enjoy the work I put into creating something, that would make my whole world.

I would also like to use college as a way to get out more and socialize. Being in a few clubs and having a friend from high school going to the same university definitely helps, but I want to branch out more and experience new things and people instead of staying cooped up all the time in the library, classes, or my dorm. There are plenty of events going on around campus and in the wider city, and various apps and websites dedicated to such things makes it easier to find them, so choosing which activities sound interesting is a good way to make new friends and learn new things. Additionally, joining another club or student organization, ones that ideally relate to writing or video games (though I am open to the possibility of something different), could be another great way to not only meet new people but also do something fun and build skills while I’m at it.

While there are plenty more things I have in mind for the next academic year and beyond, these aspirations are the ones most important to me. Of course, I am not expecting myself to be perfect: if I am unable to complete every goal I have set, then those incomplete ones are things I will simply seek to complete the next year. But hey, that doesn’t mean I shouldn’t strive to do the best I can to become the person I want to be, right?