To me, the G.O.A.L.S term provides an outline for how the next four years of college should look like to any student. College is more than just taking classes no matter what job one takes in the future, and G.O.A.L.S is a solid plan on achieving the most you can during college.
When thinking about global awareness, I plan on achieving this by joining clubs which focus on cultural achievements. As an Asian, I am interested in other Asian and Indian cultural groups which explore diversity. I have already joined the classical dance team and APIDA which hosts cultural festivities through the year where we might perform. I hope to continue to expose myself to other cultures through clubs and also show off my own culture too.
Since working in a lab for two summers in high school, one of my goals in college has always been to do research. I plan to achieve original inquiry by getting in contact with faculty members in the biology field and requesting to work in a lab. My ultimate goal would be to be able to answer one of my own questions through research when working under a faculty member who could guide me.
Since my future aspiration is to go into the medical field, I plan on enriching my academic curriculum by taking honors classes and upper-level science courses. I chose BioChem as my major, but I actually think I will change my major to something which is less math-focused because that way my major reflects my interests and goals better. I also plan taking supplemental classes that technically aren’t required for medical school but will expose me to skills that are helpful in the field. For example, there are classes like microbiology, organism development and molecular genetics which sound interesting and helpful.
I plan to exhibit leadership by getting involved in clubs which I am really interested in and would enjoy leading myself. In addition to that, I am interested in possibly being a RA or an orientation peer leader as an upperclassman. I enjoy working with people and I think being an RA really reflects qualities like being a good mediator, friend, and a team leader. Similarly, I found my orientation leader helpful and learned some last minute things from her, so I feel like I would be helpful to future students as an orientation leader while building leadership skills.
For service engagement, I know that I definitely plan on volunteering at a hospital whether that be on campus at the Wexner Medical Center or back at my home town’s hospital. I also know that they’re a lot of services that I can join which are focused on helping women which is something that I am interested in. My ultimate plan is finding something in addition to volunteering at the hospital that I am actually passionate about volunteering at. While I am not sure what that activity is yet, I plan on trying multiple organizations to do so.