James Conrad J. Contreras
HCS504
Dr. Stephen J. Tvorik
Introduction Definition of success differs from each person, depending on the way they view it in their life. Each age group may have a different perception on what a success is. On my own idea, success is something that I want to achieve in the future, something that was planned with goals, ways to obtain it and a path on how it will be a reality. On this paper, the discussion is about succeeding in graduate school, setting goals, the obstacles we might meet before achieving success and the different ways in order to surpass the challenges.
Personal and Professional Goals Personal goal in continuing graduate studies is to improve the existing knowledge from bachelor degree to a graduate level, advancing the skills and develop a better and mature attitude. Professional goal is to expand the scope of practice from a registered nurse to a nurse practitioner by pursuing a continuing education. Short-term goal is to graduate on a timely manner and be able to accomplish the school requirements. Long-term goal is to open a private clinic doing a general family practice and consultation, ranging from a new born to a geriatric.
Challenges You face in Meeting your Goals Time management is one of the many challenges in doing a graduate school. It is hard to balance out the time needed for school with assignments and examinations, possessing a fulltime and part-time job and also to provide a space for personal time. Another obstacle is to have a financial situation on which you need to decide if you could afford to do cash out basis or have a student loan. As the program continues, the situations will be tougher and to the point that students might need to decrease the time for work to accommodate school responsibilities. Having a new school environment or approach can also be a hindrance, like for me who graduated in a foreign country and used on