Ending College with a Bang by Nora

Ending College with a Bang by Nora - August 2025 Scholarship Essay

The 2025-2026 academic year is about to start… that means it will be my last year of college (and possibly my last year of schooling, but it depends on what career I decide to do). My time at college felt like it flew by so fast. It was only yesterday that I was a nervous freshman, and very sad at having to move away from home and being far away from my family and close friends. Now, I’m a seasoned veteran and am more used to being independent. During the last three years, I have had many goals that I set for myself, both small and big. For some, I was able to accomplish them, but for others, I unfortunately fell short (but I often tried my best, which is what really matters).

This upcoming year will be no different. Even before school has started, I already have a few goals that I want to accomplish. I especially want to be intentional about them since it is my last year of university, and I want to go out on a high note.

My first aspiration for the new school year is to do an internship. I can’t believe that for the past three years, I never took part in one. It is said that internships are a must in college, because it helps prepare you for your future career. You get real-world and hands-on experiences that allow you to practice for the real deal once you start working. Not to mention that it looks good on a resume. That is why I am motivated to finally do an internship this year. When I enter into the workforce, I want future employers to see me as a valuable asset and as someone who will know what she is doing on the job. Therefore, having that practice will help propel me to that level and score me numerous job opportunities.

Secondly, I want to continue my streak of volunteering. During my time at college so far, I have volunteered with the local organization SickleCellMN, the Salvation Army, and my school’s food pantry program. This upcoming year, I plan to either continue with the Salvation Army, volunteer with the National Alliance on Mental Illness, or whatever else sounds interesting. Just like internships, having volunteer experience will look good on my resume. Also, given that I will be going into the healthcare field, where the main tasks are to help sick and struggling people, having lots of volunteer experience will help me prepare for that.

Lastly, and most importantly, I hope that by the time I graduate and close the chapter on my time in university, I am 100% certain on my future career and next steps after getting my bachelor’s degree. Right now, I am not really sure what I want to do. Coming into college, my mind was set on becoming a doctor. It was a dream that I’d had since I was a little girl, and I was willing to go through whatever it took to achieve it. But despite how hard I tried, most of my classes (especially math and chemistry) were super difficult and were giving me unbearable stress. As a result, I have dropped out of my pursuit of medicine. Now, I am open to either being a registered nurse, an art therapist, or any other job that I may like. Although it was hard to drop medicine halfway into my college education, I knew it had to be done. I highly value doing a job that I will enjoy, instead of doing something I’ll possibly dread just for the money or the respect it brings. So hopefully this year, my future career will come calling to me and I won’t regret dropping my dream of being an MD.

Of course, these won’t be my only aspirations for this school year. As the year goes on, I will develop more and more. But for now, these are the goals I hope to accomplish as a college senior who will be riding off into the ‘sunset’ (AKA the real-world and workforce) in about 9 months. Ultimately, I want to end college with a bang.