Serious advice coming.
“and that attending their college will bring me closer to those goals.”
Please rethink this (or this wording.) Granted, my experience is with a “most competitive.” But schools can be very sensitive when an applicant says that the target college is a means to an end, one’s personal goals (usually, post-grad.) They feel you should understand the particular college and 4 year experience they offer. It can also be viewed as a generic explanation- i.e., any top college will do it for you, that it’s just one of many with the prestige you want. That’s not showing the love.
Even if you tell us that, well, you want the rigor, the higher level of peers, etc, over the 4 years (which is legit,) their reaction can still be this sensitivity to whether you want that colege or just any great one. Be careful.