Educational Goal Research Paper

My educational goal is to attend Western Oregon University and graduate with a bachelors degree in biology. I want to major in biology because my goal is to become a dentist. After graduating from Western Oregon University I will apply to a dental school to earn a dental degree. During my college career I will work hard to maintain a high grade point average just like I have in high school. My goal for high school was to get a 4.0 all through high school so that I could be the valedictorian. I was able to achieve this by doing my homework every night and studying tirelessly. There was times when I thought that I wasn't going to be able to accomplish this. For example, this year I am taking AP physics and I have always struggled with science
classes. I had a B leading up to the final and I knew that if I didn't get an A on the final then I wouldn't be valedictorian. For that entire week I decided to ask the teacher questions, watch videos read the textbook, do practice problems all night and more. On test day, it all the work paid off because I got a high A on the test and ended up with an A in the class. I was ecstatic because I realized that I had finally met my 4 year long goal. My inspiration for this was my own personal drive to succeed, but also my sister because she had too been the valedictorian when she graduated high school. I also wanted to make my parents proud of me because ever since I was young my mom and dad always stressed the importance of school.
My dad only attended school until he was in fifth grade because he had to work to help provide for his family. He is always telling me that if I put a lot of effort into my education then I wont have to work a tough job like him. They always expected straight A's on the report card and when they didn't see them they would talk to my teachers to see what was going on. Since my sister had always gotten the awards growing up, I wanted to prove to them that I too was capable of academic success. A big reason that I want to become a dentist is because of my parent as well. When they were children growing up in Mexico their parents never really forced them or taught them how to take care of their teeth properly. Access to a dentist was also limited since they grew up in the poor side of Mexico. Similarly here in the United States since neither I or my parents are citizens, so we don't visit the dentist and have to do our best with what is available to us. Many times my parents have told me that I should always take care of my teeth because their teeth are in poor condition. My mom tells me that her teeth hurt to chew certain foods and that she is not free to eat whatever she
wants. This hurt me inside because I don't believe that anyone should have to experience that kind of pain and not be able to do anything about it because of money. For this reason I plan to earn a Dental Degree and get a licensed to become a dentist so that I can help those that need it the most.
One of the most significant challenges that I expect to face in successfully completing college is being away from my family.
My family are the people that I choose to be around the most and adjusting to life without them all the time will be tough for me. For example, my mom still sets up my doctor appointments, does my laundry and embarrassingly, sometimes speaks up for me as well . However I think that finally not having her do these things will benefit me as I learn to be more independent. To overcome this challenge I plan to meet responsible people who will be alongside me throughout my college and career journey. Another challenge I will face is overcoming my shyness. I know that to be successful in college I will have to engage in order to be successful. For that reason I plan to join different clubs and perhaps take classes that will help me open up with
others.