Career Goals Essay For Scholarships (With Examples)

Scholarships can make college a much lighter burden — or even a reality — for many students, but there is a limited number to go around. Because of this, scholarship competitions can be intense.

As a part of these competitions, you’ll likely have to submit at least one essay, often about your career goals.

In this article, you’ll find tips and advice on how to write your career goals essay as well as example essays to help you get an idea of what scholarship committees are looking for.

What Is a Career Goals Essay?

A career goals essay is a personal and written explanation that gives insight into your background, why you’re interested in participating in the program, and the career that you’d like this degree to launch you into. The essay functions to explain why you want to achieve your professional goals and how you intend to get there.

A career goals essay shows a scholarship committee why the program you’re seeking funding for is a critical step on your path towards success in the field.

In almost every application process, a portion asks the candidate to answer an essay question. When applying to an educational program, like an MBA, the essay prompt usually relates to your career goals.

Why Scholarship Essays Ask About Career Goals

Many people are deserving of having a portion of their tuition covered, but the few that are chosen are those who articulate why they are a worthwhile investment to spend a scholarship fund on.

When selecting which individuals are worthy of receiving financial assistance to further their education, the admissions board wants participants who have a clear plan in mind for the trajectory of their related careers.

Unlike with an undergraduate application that usually asks for educational intentions, people applying to an MBA program or similar already have a lot of that experience behind them. They are well on their way to their career, and the admissions essay is more specified. This goes for scholarship essays for these kinds of programs as well.

Example Career Goals Essay Prompts

While some scholarships might come right out and simply ask, “What are your career goals?” most will rework the question into something different that still accomplishes the same goal.

Below are some examples of career goals essay prompts that a scholarship program could pose to its applicants:

1. Discuss your career goals. Many scholarships prefer the most direct approach when giving an essay prompt to their applicants. This type of question gives the candidate a lot of wiggle-room to discuss their passions, motivations, and career goals.

2. Where do you see yourself in 10 years? This question is often used as a prompt for a career goals essay because it gives the applicant a timeline to describe their aspirations. It forces them to be realistic in where their career will be and how they will accomplish this within the next ten years.

3. How will this scholarship contribute to your professional success? A scholarship committee wants to be sure that the money they’re giving will contribute to a student’s overall professional success. This question asks about the applicant’s game plan in the long-term and evaluates how this program is going to assist in their future.

4. What is your dream job? Since a dream job is often categorized as a person’s career goals, this is a common question phrasing on scholarship essays. Asking about a candidate’s dream job answers whether this program aligns with the student’s long-term career goals.

5. What matters most to you and why? Sometimes, a scholarship essay prompt won’t ask about your career or future at all. Instead, they’ll ask a question like this that assesses your motivations, values, and character.

   It’s important to a committee that they award the scholarship to a candidate who demonstrates career planning and drive, but it’s also crucial that they display a positive character.

3 Examples of Career Goals Essay Responses

7 Tips for Writing a Scholarship Essay About Career Goals

1. Write about goals relevant to the scholarship. Although you may have many different kinds of goals for your personal and professional future, a scholarship essay only discusses objectives that are relevant to the program you’re applying for.

   If you’re applying for a scholarship specific to the field you’re pursuing, it’s simple to stay on track and only discuss career goals relevant to this discipline. For broader scholarship packages, stick to goals and accomplishments that are relevant to your educational major.

2. Be honest. Applying for a scholarship is stressful because the applicant’s education is usually reliant on receiving these funds in one way or another. Even though it’s tempting to exaggerate your skills or pretend you’re more passionate about something than you are to make yourself a more competitive applicant, it’s a bad move.

   Scholarship personnel is looking for genuine answers in career goals scholarship essays. Being honest about your prior experience and future goals in a personal statement essay betters your chances of being awarded a scholarship.

3. Use your own, unique voice. The essay portion of a scholarship application is your chance to stand out by using your voice. Nobody else, regardless of their academic or professional achievements, is you. Make this clear in your career goals scholarship essay by keeping your unique written voice engrained in the words you produce.

   While you want to maintain a professional tone in any application essay, it’s a wasted opportunity if you don’t dazzle them a little with your personality.

4. Be specific. A big reason that scholarship committees ask applicants to write a career goals essay is to determine how prepared they are in planning their long-term professional goals. They aren’t interested in providing a scholarship to students who aren’t going to follow through with their career plans.

   To better the possibility of being viewed as one of these well-planned applicants, be specific in describing your career goals. Make it clear that you know what you have to do to achieve your goals and plan to do so.

5. Explain long and short-term goals. Even if the essay prompt asks you to describe where you see yourself in ten years, you still need to tell them the steps leading towards this picture of success.

   Include the short-term goals that add up to your larger career objectives in your essay response. Explain how accomplishing the smaller goals puts you at an advantage when tackling long-term ones.

   Including both long and short-term professional goals make your essay more comprehensive.

6. Explain how the program and scholarship will help you. Before writing your career goals essay, consider how this program and scholarship will help you in your career. The answer to this question is essential.

   The goal of providing students with a scholarship is to help them through the finances of an education. Your essay should be clear in how it will do this for you.

7. Follow the essay formatting guidelines. This may sound obvious, but it’s surprisingly easy to forget this step when your essay is finally flowing and when you’re scrambling to get it submitted on time.

   Check, double-check, and triple-check the essay guidelines for content, word count, and formatting requirements. If you miss any of these steps, your essay may be immediately disqualified no matter how good it or the rest of your application is.

What to Write in a Career Goals Essay if Your Goals Have Changed

Many times career goals essays are written by students who have already completed at least some college or are applying to a post-graduate program and need more money to continue.

There’s a good chance that your career goals have changed since you started or graduated college. For example, say you wanted to be an engineer, so you got your undergraduate degree in engineering but realized you didn’t like it after working in the industry for a few years.

You decided that nursing would be more up your alley, and now you’re applying for a scholarship for a nursing program. While this isn’t unusual, it can make it more difficult to write a career goals essay since your past work doesn’t necessarily match your future goals.

In this case, you’ll simply need to explain why you changed your career path and why this next one is the best choice for you. Share your decision-making process to show that you haven’t taken the switch lightly, and talk about what you’ve already done to try to pursue this path.

Scholarship Essay FAQs

1. How do you write a career goal for a scholarship essay?

   You write a career goal for a scholarship essay by sharing your passion, explaining both your long- and short-term goals, and relating your goals to the scholarship.

   Explain why you want to pursue the career you’re pursuing, where you hope to be in the future and how you plan to get there, and how the scholarship will help you do this.

2. How do you describe your career goals in an essay?

   You describe your career goals in an essay by explaining what you want to do in your career, why you decided on this career path, and what you’ve done so far to make that a reality.

   You can usually work these factors into any prompt you receive, so think through them before you start writing so that you can use them as an outline of sorts.

3. What are career goals examples?

   Examples of career goals include:

   • Working as a grant writer for a nonprofit organization.

   • Becoming a department manager and eventually an executive in your field.

   • Owning your own plumbing company.

   • Caring for underserved communities as a nurse practitioner.

Author

Sky Ariella

Sky Ariella is a professional freelance writer, originally from New York. She has been featured on websites and online magazines covering topics in career, travel, and lifestyle. She received her BA in psychology from Hunter College.