life questions

So after a year of no job offers, I've decided to go back to school.  Well it's still in the deciding process, but we're pretty sure that it's the best thing to do.  As I've been working on my application to grad school I've come across some interesting questions, questions that have pierced me deep as I have pondered their meaning.

Part of the application is a letter of intent, the application says this about the statement of intent:

This statement gives the admissions committee an opportunity to learn the following:

1. your preparation and background for the program to which you are applying and the special emphasis you hope to pursue in it,
2. your academic or professional goals and reasons for your choice of career,
3. your particular academic or professional reasons for applying to Brigham Young University and the scholarly or professional contributions you expect to make to your program;
4. .....

Those middle few questions have really got me thinking.  What are my academic and professional goals?  What scholarly contributions will I make to the field of civil engineering?  I've been thinking for the past year that I want to do 'transportation' engineering, designing roadways and such.  But really, I never really thought of that before I ever went to college.  I never even thought of all that before I took a transportation class.  The real reason I switched to civil engineering was for structures.  

I think I speak for most engineers when I say that engineering is fun regardless of what it is your engineering.  Making awesome things is just always cool, whether it's buildings, roads, dams, engines, computers, waste water treatment plants.... it's just cool to build something intricate and amazing.


So I've applied to graduate school at BYU, and I'll hopefully bet going into structural engineering.  It will be strange going back to school, but hopefully I'll do a little better and care a little more, and it will probably be a lot of fun in the end.