81 Examples of Student Goals

John Spacey, May 15, 2022

Student goals are plans to achieve something that are established by a student. These can include both academic goals and other life goals in areas such as wellness, school life, work experience, social life, hobbies, activities, life experience and mastery of talents. The following are illustrative examples of student goals.

Attend School Events	Become More Visible at School
Become a Teaching Assistant	Calculated Risk Taking
Challenge Assumptions	Challenge Peers / Teachers / Theories / Textbooks
Community Activities	Complete Homework Quickly / Efficiently
Contribute to School Culture	Cultural Participation
Develop Confidence	Develop Debating Skills
Develop Friendships	Develop Grit / Resilience
Develop a More Productive Routine	Develop a Project / Experiment / Prototype
Do Good / Live Up to Moral Standards	Exercise
Find a Tutor	Find an Internship
Focus While Studying	Found a School Club
Gain Acceptance to College / University	Gain Experience in a Profession / Trade
Gain Work Experience	Get Up Early / Improve Sleep Schedule
Handling Conflict / Difficult People	Health & Wellness
Improve Behavior	Improve Communication
Improve Decision Making / Problem Solving	Improve Finances (e.g. reduce spending)
Improve Grades	Improve Nutrition / Eating Habits
Improve Presentations / Speaking Skills	Improve Productivity of Study Time
Improve Quality of Homework / Assignments	Improve Sleep Habits
Improve Writing Skills	Independent Learning
Join a School Club	Join a Sports Team
Lead Club Activities	Lead Discussions
Lead Teams	Learn a Language
Make Better Use of Time	Make Decisions
Master a Talent	Meet People
Networking	Obtain a Driver's License
Overcome Problems (e.g. sideline negative people)	Overcome a Bad Habit
Overcome a Fear	Part-time Employment
Participate in Class	Participate in School Life
Political Participation	Prioritize Family
Public Speaking Opportunities	Pursue Epic / Peak Experiences
Pursue Leisure & Recreation	Pursue a Hobby / Interest
Quality Time	Reading
Reduce Time Consuming Media (e.g. view less television / streaming media)	Reduce Time on Social Media
Research Careers	Research Colleges / Universities
Research Projects / Topics	Sideline Negative Influences
Stick to a Study Schedule	Sustain Friendship / Prioritize Time with Positive People
Take Time to Play / Explore / Pursue Adventure	Travel
Tutor Others	Volunteer at School (e.g. event organization)
Volunteer in Community	Work / Collaborate With Others
Write a Journal

Goals vs Intentions

Goals are an outcome that you would like to achieve such as a particular grade. Intentions are goals for your own behavior irrespective of outcomes. For example, the intention to study hard without an target for your actual grades. If you are setting goals for others, they often focus on outcomes such that goals may be required to be smart. This can be counterproductive because outcomes are beyond your control. It is often better to focus on what you can do as opposed to how things work out.

Smart Goals

Organizations and institutions often require that goals be smart meaning that they are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound. This means that your goals need to have some number or confirmable outcome and a target date. The following are a few examples.

Improve study habits to focus without distraction for 45 minute study sessions with 10 minute breaks between. Target: maintain this new habit for all of first term. [includes a numerical target for the time that you will focus]

Get my driver's license by the end of the year. [includes a confirmable fact]

Join the sailing team in the summer. [includes a confirmable fact]

Reduce time on social media to 30 minutes a day in first term. [numerical target]