5 Simple goals to set at the start of every college semester

5 Simple Goals to set at the start of every College Semester. I didn’t start setting semester goals until I was about to complete my sophomore year. I didn’t know that it would have any effects, I didn’t think it mattered whether I set semester goals. Turns out it did.

Setting goals is very important. It’s important because it helps you achieve your aspirations. Setting goals also helps you, track your progress, and continue to grow towards your hopes and dreams. It is difficult to get to a destination when you don’t even know where the destination is right? So think of coming up with semester goals as a road map to ensure you have a great semester.

After I started setting semester goals, I noticed that my GPA slowly started to rise. I felt more aligned with my study goals, and career goals, and it ensured that I had an overall smoother semester.

Visit your course advisor

The first goal you should set is to visit a course advisor. Course visors are like GPs for academic health. Why should they be your first stop? Because, if you see them in the first or second week, it will make sure that the steps you and your advisor agree on are towards raising your GPA.

When you see your advisor, you might be wondering what to ask, or how they should help you. Here is what you want to accomplish from that visit. You want to know what your academic standing is. Is it good, bad, or average?

You want to know your previous semester scores. Are they good enough to fulfill prerequisite needs for more advanced courses? If not, then your advisor should tell you how to fix it.

You also want them to help you create great class combinations that will make sure you have an easy time this semester. Finally, you want to set GPA goals with the help of your advisor.

Why would you need to set GPA goals with your course advisor? Because they can calculate your GPA for you and tell you how to get your GPA from where it is now to where you want it to be. Use that as a road map to fix your GPA and academic standing for the rest of the semester.

Visit your career office

The second goal should be to see your career advisor. Why is this important? Because Career advisors help with major and minor selection. If you still haven’t picked then this visit will be especially useful to you. Talk to them about what career goals you have, about what industry you are interested in and they will help you make a well-informed decision.

If you have already decided what you wish to do in terms of a major and a minor, a career advisor will help you select classes that are going to add the most value to help you achieve your career goals

You should also see them even though you have already selected a major and minor because people change their minds all the time. I know so many of my acquaintances who started their programs by majoring in International business administration only to graduate with a degree in Psychology or Applied Technology or even Journalism. Account for your being human and humans change their minds all the time. This visit will check your career temperatures and see if you are still hot for your set career goals.

Attend at least 80% of all your classes

Another great goal to ensure a very successful semester should be to attend at least 80% of all your classes.  Even though a perfect record is ideal, people get sick, get depressed, and experience burnout so you are allowed one or two days off if needed. Class attendance has so many benefits, which I have discussed at length in a previous blog which I shall link here.

Take your assignments seriously

A fourth goal that will ensure you have a successful semester will be to take your assignments seriously. This I can attest. You want to make sure that you give your assignments everything and then some. Why? Because they contribute up to 30% of your total score. Purposing to take them seriously will mean that you can secure these essentially “free marks”. All you’ll be left with to worry about will be acing your midterms and finals. This shall be addressed in the last goal of ensuring a great semester.

Set a study schedule

The last but not the least goal you need to make sure you have an incredible semester is to set a study schedule. I shall get to stick to a study schedule in a minute, but first, let’s focus on setting a study schedule.

Think of setting a study schedule like scheduling a date. Only instead of it being a date with someone else, it’s a date with some incredible course text that will help you get a great GPA and set up your future. Setting your study schedule means you have blocked out time for studying, it means at that time the people who would normally whisk you away somewhere are well aware that you are very unavailable.

This gets us to the point about sticking to a study schedule, setting a study schedule is useless if you won’t bother to stick to it. It will only work if you respect the schedule that you have set for yourself.

This ties in with the last point about the last thing you have to worry about. Setting a study schedule and sticking to it will make sure that you are doing everything in your power to get good grades.

Alright folks that’s everything for now.

To recap, setting goals will help you start your semester right and make sure that you are setting your semester up for success. This can be accomplished by setting 5 simple goals. First, see your course advisor. They will tell you exactly how to boost your GPA this semester. Second, see a career advisor.

Be sure that what you are doing is aligned with where you want your career to go. Third, purpose to attend most of your classes, you won’t regret it if you do. Fourth, take your assignments seriously. Make sure you give them everything you have so that you only have your midterms and finals to worry about. You will take care of this by creating a study schedule and sticking to it.

Setting these five goals will help you start your semester right. These goals will make sure that you have a road map to follow and somewhere to look for encouragement in the middle of the semester when things get rough when you are tired and wondering what’s the point of it all.