APL Assignment 1. Choosing your academic goals.

FS101, All the News that’s Fit to Print

Professor Eric Pallant

This assignment is intended to assist you in identifying your academic goals for the years ahead. It will be included in your Academic Planning Portfolio (APP). The APP is a collection of documents in which you will explore your academic and career options, and develop a curriculum that will meet your personal goals as well as the College's graduation requirements. It is also a planning tool for developing your schedule in the semesters ahead, and it will follow you to your new advisor when you declare your major at the end of your sophomore year.

The first step in creating your Academic Planning Portfolio is for you to outline your Academic Goals in a short essay. In this essay please discuss what you hope to accomplish academically during the next four years at Allegheny College and explain how you plan to utilize the learning opportunities available at the College. These learning opportunities may include departmental majors and minors, interdisciplinary programs, off-campus study, experiential learning and internships, and service learning. Finally, you should discuss how you think your academic program at college will contribute to your plans after you graduate. It is understood that your academic goals and plans for the future will change and evolve over the course of your career here at Allegheny College.

To facilitate discussion of your academic goals, you might read over campus and departmental publications, visit campus offices, talk with faculty in your field(s) of interest, interview upperclassmen and women, and even talk with your advisor. In short--you should explore the many resources available at the college and identify how they can be utilized to help you achieve your goals.

You might consider answering the following questions to help you develop your ideas for this essay:

1. Why did you choose to come to a liberal arts college rather than attend a university? How might that decision reflect upon your academic goals here at Allegheny College?

2. What department or academic program do you think you might major in? Why? What interests you about this field? How do you think you might utilize this major after you graduate?

3. Do the sections of the New York Times you are finding most interesting coinciding with your field of major interest. Does that matter?

4. What do you believe will be the greatest academic challenge you will face during the next four years at Allegheny College? How do you plan to address this challenge?

Your essay should be 500 words in length and is due on September 23. Please submit two copies. One will be placed in my copy of your Academic Planning Portfolio. The other will be returned to you with my suggestions.