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Prospective Students
How to Apply
Tip Sheet for TEP Goal Statements
Prompt:
Please write a short (300-400 word) goal statement explaining why you want to become a teacher. Within your goal statement, be sure to reflect upon how your educational experience with children or youth has influenced your decision to pursue teaching as a career. The statement will be read by the Admissions Committee, by school administrators, and by teachers with whom you may be placed for internships.
Since the UW Teacher Education Program seeks to admit students who have diverse talents and backgrounds, you may wish to touch upon personal experiences or qualities that are relevant to your application and teaching. This may include: diverse cultural experiences, family background, extracurricular activities, accomplishments, career goals, life and work experiences, obstacles you have overcome, special talents, or any other factors that you believe would contribute to the diversity of the Teacher Education Program and the teaching profession.
Tips on Writing Your Goal Statement:
Here are some key questions to help you think about how to write a goal statement that you’ll be proud to submit with your application.
What is your purpose for writing this statement?
Your audience is the admission committee and your central task is to persuade them that you are a unique and qualified applicant. Keep in mind that this is also one of your few opportunities to introduce yourself to the university admissions committee on your own terms so think carefully about what you want the committee to know that isn’t already apparent in your test scores, transcripts, and letters of recommendation.
What will you include as the content of your statement?
Decide how you want to approach writing your response to the prompt by thinking about why you’re choosing to pursue teaching, why you’re choosing to apply to this particular program, and what qualifications or strengths you bring to the admissions process. You should also include information about your goals as a teacher and how your previous experiences within the field of education may have influenced these goals.
How can you communicate your message concisely?
It’s important to follow the directions in the prompt and stay within the length requirement of 300 to 400 words, which is approximately one page, double-spaced. It will be challenging for you to convey everything that you would like to communicate to your audience, so make every word, sentence, and paragraph count. During your first revision, you’ll need to cut out any extraneous information that isn’t relevant to the purpose of your essay.
Be sure to pay careful attention to the organization and structure of your writing, your word choice, and the mechanics, including the grammar and spelling within your writing. You might find it helpful to first outline your essay and then write a draft, which you should subsequently revise with feedback and editing from friends, family, colleagues, and others. As a last bit of advice, start working on your goal statement early so that you have plenty of time to have others read it and you have time to revise.
Additional Online Resources:
