Maintaining Motivation: Educational Goals

As many of us near our senior year of high school we all begin to think seriously about pursuing our education further and what we want to come of it. This is also the time when we pick a major and sometimes incorporate graduate school into our future goals. These educational goals that we form at an early age reflect our desires most truly because we have yet to be discouraged by hardly anything. However, the downside is that in many cases rising college students don’t realize all that entails reaching the goals they have set for themselves. As a result, many students falter in their pursuit towards the original set goal. There are several common ways in which students deviate from the original plan. Some students begin college under a desired major and tend to switch out early on due to difficulty. My paper will devise a way to combat academic discouragement and most importantly avoid these situations by using several motivational theories. Some other students become so discouraged by the idea of college that they drop out all together. Through my research, steps are incorporated to help keep students from such a drastic alternative. Most commonly, students that plan to attend graduate school become either discouraged by the years added or eager to complete their education process early. Each of these three cases involves a diversion from the original plan and they can all be avoided using the same applied theories. I conducted research to determine reasons why people tend to drop out, change majors, and cut their education short. Throughout my paper I will include ways to make it easier to follow through with initial academic goals while battling discouraging factors. Even though the task may be more difficult for some than ot...

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