5 Important types of goals for college students

Important types of goals for college students.

From my experience being an undergrad, there are two ways to go through college. You could attend your classes, write your exams and assignments and graduate after four years or… you could have a plan and goals and graduate with so much more.

I discovered this a little late in the game but hopefully, with this post, you can start as soon as possible. As far as I’m concerned, there are only five types of goals that matter to a college student. Academic, health, career, network, and leadership goals.

1. Academic goals

First and foremost are academic goals. Don’t get me wrong the other types of goals matter a lot however, as a student, the most important, priority number one goal should always be academic goals.

Academic goals may vary from semester to semester depending on where you are starting from. If you are already a 4.0 student then your goals could be ways to maintain that 4.0 GPA and if you don’t know how here is a post to help with that.

If you are just now realizing that you want to do better then your academic goals might have to do with raising your GPA and those milestones will vary from semester to semester as your target increases.

Other academic goals might be to get into various academic contests in college. As long the goal has to do with your academics, then it makes the list. Here is a little word of advice though, first make sure that your GPA is taken care of then add other things after, ok?

2. Health goals

Did someone say burnout? Did someone say mental health?

Even though I love school and I loved college, I got burnt out so many times even when I really tried to pace myself. The truth is, sometimes it’s just unavoidable. The point is though that you have to prioritize your health and general wellness.

This could easily be a post on its own, so I shall break it down and link it here for ya. For now, let’s have a broad brush-stroke view of it. Wellness means mind, body, and soul.

That means that you are feeding your mind with healthy things when you are off the school clock. That means you aren’t taxing your brain. It also means that you are managing your stress levels and seeking help as and when needed.

Here is a post on how to recover from college burnout

As far as body wellness is concerned, this means that you are eating relatively healthy at least. If you don’t have time to cook, then you need to make sure that your takeout has some vegetables in it and that you are getting regular exercise.

Finally, your soul, your spirit. This will have to do with your energy and the people you surround yourself with. Are they good for you, or are they draining you and making a college that much harder? You also need to try meditation, I am telling you meditation changed my life.

Here is a post on the benefits of meditation for college students

3. Career goals

The third type of goal every college student should have is career goals. What’s the end game of your undergrad? Why did you choose your major and minor? What do you intend to ultimately do with them?

Career goals are shaped by the things you choose to give your time to outside the classroom. That means any on-campus or off-campus part-time jobs, volunteer opportunities, and community outreach efforts.

I have to insist that academics remain at the forefront. At the end of the day, no company wants a mediocre student. They will insist on you having tonnes of experience, but if your GPA doesn’t make the cut then all that experience still won’t get your foot through the door.

Just make sure that your career goals don’t interfere with your academic goals.

4. Networking goals

The fourth type of goal that every college student should have is networking goals. If you are an introvert like me, I can feel you dreading this. Don’t worry, I dreaded it too. I still do.

However, your network is your net worth, so we introverts have to get over ourselves and do what needs to be done.

Keep in mind that companies don’t hire people, people hire people, so networking is essential.

You have four years to create a great network of individuals who will be across various industries. Take advantage of this and do your best to create meaningful acquaintance ships with people. Create an impression and add value. Give them a reason to hold on to your contact information.

There are other networking opportunities like during career fairs. I will be writing a blog post on how to make the most of a career fair, so keep an eye out for that. During a career fair, recruiters come to you, right?

Make sure you prep and put your best foot forward during career week. Exchange cards and keep in touch. Leveraged correctly, this will make your work a heap easier when you are job hunting.

5. Leadership goals

Finally, the fifth type of goal that every college student should have is leadership goals. These will be goals that are designed to make sure you take every opportunity to lead.

Okay, I shall just take some time to explain this before you take it and run with it and apply it all wrong.

Opportunities to lead don’t exist for you to boss people around, they exist to help you grow as a person. I will give you an example. When I joined campus I found myself always being the group leader and for a time I resented it because I found myself doing all the work myself.

This wasn’t necessarily a bad thing because at the time I felt like I couldn’t trust other people’s quality of work. However, years of finding myself in this position to lead taught me how to develop people. To trust people and to give people the time and space to grow and improve.

By the end of my undergrad, I loved group work because I knew how to be a group leader. It changed from me doing all the work myself to fair delegation and collaboration. This taught me so, so much, and it will teach you a great deal too.

Another reason why you want to take advantage of leadership opportunities is that being a leader will force you to take an introspective look at yourself. You will get a superb understanding of what your strengths are as well as your weaknesses. This will help you grow both as a person and a leader.

To recap, coming out of your college years with just a degree is a crying shame. You have the option to come out on the other side with so much more.

There are five main types of goals that every college student should have. These five goals include academic goals, career goals, networking goals, health goals, and leadership goals.

These five goals are like your super pack. They will make sure that every second you spend in college yields tenfold returns in every aspect of your life.