Higher
Education
Life
Goals
01
Academic
&
Intellectual
Growth
6
goals
1
Declare
a
major
you
can
explain
in
one
sentence
And
pair
it
with
a
minor
that
has
nothing
to
do
with
it
.
The
second
subject
is
often
what
you
end
up
talking
about
in
interviews
.
2
Make
the
dean
'
s
list
at
least
once
Not
for
the
certificate
.
It
is
proof
that
you
can
hold
a
standard
you
set
for
yourself
when
nobody
is
checking
.
3
Take
one
class
every
year
with
no
connection
to
your
degree
Medieval
history
,
astronomy
,
stage
lighting
,
anything
.
Electives
are
the
cheapest
tuition
you
will
ever
pay
for
curiosity
.
4
Get
to
know
three
professors
well
enough
for
a
real
letter
Not
a
template
reference
—
a
specific
one
,
with
an
anecdote
in
it
.
That
requires
office
hours
,
not
just
strong
grades
.
5
Produce
one
piece
of
work
you
would
put
your
name
on
publicly
A
thesis
,
a
research
paper
,
a
portfolio
piece
,
a
performance
.
Something
that
exists
outside
the
gradebook
.
6
Learn
to
read
a
research
paper
properly
Skim
the
abstract
,
fight
through
the
methods
,
question
the
conclusion
.
This
skill
outlasts
every
course
you
take
.
02
Skills
&
Craft
5
goals
7
Become
genuinely
competent
with
one
technical
tool
SQL
,
Python
,
R
,
Figma
,
Excel
modelling
,
a
video
editor
—
one
of
them
,
at
a
level
where
you
stop
needing
tutorials
.
8
Learn
to
write
a
300-
word
email
that
gets
a
yes
Name
the
ask
in
the
first
two
lines
,
give
the
context
after
,
close
with
a
specific
action
.
Most
people
never
learn
this
.
9
Give
a
presentation
without
reading
from
your
slides
Know
the
argument
well
enough
to
deliver
it
standing
up
,
with
the
room
in
front
of
you
and
no
script
.
10
Reach
conversational
level
in
a
second
language
Enough
for
a
ten
-
minute
conversation
without
switching
back
to
English
.
Fluency
is
a
decade
-
long
project
;
conversation
is
not
.
11
Build
something
from
scratch
and
show
it
to
a
critic
A
website
,
an
app
,
a
short
film
,
a
zine
,
a
small
business
.
Show
it
to
someone
with
no
reason
to
be
polite
about
it
.
1 / 4
03
Career
&
Professional
Foundation
6
goals
12
Complete
two
experiences
in
opposite
environments
One
internship
at
a
large
institution
,
one
on
a
small
team
of
fewer
than
fifteen
people
.
You
will
learn
which
one
you
can
tolerate
.
13
Have
fifteen
conversations
with
people
doing
work
you
'
re
curious
about
Fifteen
minutes
,
twenty
minutes
,
coffee
.
Ask
what
the
job
is
actually
like
on
a
Tuesday
,
not
what
the
job
title
means
.
14
Keep
your
résumé
to
one
page
from
sophomore
year
onward
Update
it
every
semester
,
even
when
you
are
not
applying
.
A
résumé
written
the
week
an
application
is
due
reads
like
it
.
15
Maintain
a
portfolio
that
reflects
the
last
twelve
months
GitHub
,
a
personal
site
,
a
reel
,
a
case
-
study
deck
.
The
work
should
be
current
,
not
your
first
-
year
project
still
pinned
to
the
top
.
16
Collect
at
least
one
rejection
from
somewhere
you
were
afraid
to
apply
A
rejection
from
a
stretch
application
is
worth
more
than
an
acceptance
from
a
safe
one
.
It
tells
you
where
your
ceiling
actually
is
.
17
Leave
with
a
plan
—
offer
,
funded
place
,
or
documented
next
step
A
signed
job
offer
,
a
funded
graduate
position
,
or
a
written
plan
with
dates
and
names
. "
Figuring
it
out
"
is
fine
for
a
summer
,
not
for
May
.
04
Relationships
&
Community
4
goals
18
Build
a
group
of
four
to
six
people
you
could
call
at
2
a
.
m
.
Not
a
network
—
a
small
circle
.
It
takes
two
years
of
showing
up
to
build
and
about
two
months
to
lose
if
you
stop
.
19
Join
one
organisation
and
stay
long
enough
to
run
something
A
club
,
a
team
,
a
publication
,
a
society
.
Attending
is
easy
;
taking
responsibility
for
an
event
or
a
budget
is
where
you
grow
.
20
Have
a
mentor
,
and
be
a
mentor
Find
someone
three
steps
ahead
of
you
,
and
someone
a
year
behind
.
Both
relationships
teach
you
more
than
either
one
does
alone
.
21
Volunteer
forty
hours
in
the
town
you
actually
live
in
Not
the
town
you
came
from
.
A
food
bank
,
a
school
,
a
shelter
,
a
library
.
Forty
hours
is
about
one
hour
a
week
for
a
year
.
2 / 4
05
Money
&
Independence
5
goals
22
Finish
with
your
credit
card
balance
at
zero
and
a
budget
you
follow
Not
the
budget
spreadsheet
you
made
in
September
and
abandoned
in
October
.
The
one
you
actually
use
.
23
Learn
to
cook
five
meals
without
a
recipe
Five
is
the
threshold
where
food
stops
being
a
cost
centre
and
starts
being
a
habit
.
Roast
chicken
,
a
pasta
,
a
soup
,
a
grain
bowl
,
eggs
.
24
Hold
one
job
for
a
full
year
Campus
desk
,
café
,
lab
assistant
,
freelance
client
.
Long
enough
to
be
bored
by
it
and
stay
anyway
—
that
is
the
skill
employers
test
for
.
25
Save
$
2,000
before
graduation
Even
if
it
takes
four
years
at
$
42
a
month
.
The
number
that
matters
is
having
any
cushion
at
all
when
the
first
real
bill
arrives
.
26
Know
your
student
loans
cold
Total
balance
,
interest
rate
,
servicer
name
,
grace
period
,
and
the
exact
date
the
first
repayment
is
due
.
Look
it
up
once
,
write
it
down
.
06
Health
&
Wellbeing
4
goals
27
Build
a
sleep
schedule
that
survives
finals
week
A
fixed
wake
time
you
keep
even
in
December
.
Sleep
is
the
single
largest
input
into
your
grades
,
and
the
first
thing
you
will
be
tempted
to
trade
away
.
28
Find
a
form
of
exercise
you
will
keep
after
the
campus
gym
stops
being
free
Running
,
climbing
,
cycling
,
swimming
,
pickup
basketball
.
If
it
only
works
because
the
building
is
a
four
-
minute
walk
away
,
it
will
not
survive
graduation
.
29
Use
campus
counselling
at
least
once
—
before
something
goes
wrong
Go
while
you
are
fine
.
Learning
how
the
service
works
when
you
are
calm
means
you
will
actually
use
it
when
you
are
not
.
30
Learn
your
own
burnout
signals
and
write
them
down
Skipping
meals
,
cancelling
plans
,
sleeping
through
alarms
,
reading
the
same
paragraph
five
times
.
Name
them
now
so
you
recognise
them
in
March
.
3 / 4
07
Experiences
&
Perspective
4
goals
31
Spend
a
semester
abroad
or
a
summer
somewhere
you
have
never
been
A
different
country
,
a
different
region
,
a
different
city
.
You
learn
more
about
your
own
defaults
in
eight
weeks
away
than
in
four
years
at
home
.
32
Attend
a
lecture
,
a
match
,
or
a
concert
in
a
field
you
know
nothing
about
A
graduate
seminar
on
hydrology
,
a
wrestling
meet
,
an
opera
,
a
county
fair
.
Sit
through
all
of
it
,
and
stay
until
the
end
.
33
Take
a
trip
with
no
itinerary
and
a
fixed
return
date
Two
or
three
days
,
a
cheap
bus
or
a
full
tank
of
petrol
,
no
reservations
.
The
return
date
is
what
makes
the
freedom
usable
.
34
Do
one
thing
that
would
worry
your
parents
slightly
—
then
tell
them
Audition
,
road
trip
,
a
semester
off
,
a
change
of
major
,
a
move
.
Then
tell
them
about
it
afterwards
,
calmly
,
with
a
plan
attached
.
08
Character
&
Self
-
Knowledge
3
goals
35
Learn
to
decline
good
opportunities
to
protect
great
ones
Four
years
is
long
enough
to
be
offered
more
than
you
can
carry
.
The
ability
to
say
a
clean
no
is
what
separates
a
full
calendar
from
a
good
one
.
36
Write
down
what
you
believe
about
your
field
,
then
find
the
strongest
argument
against
it
Two
hundred
words
,
in
your
own
handwriting
,
dated
.
Then
go
looking
for
the
person
who
disagrees
and
listen
to
them
properly
.
37
Finish
something
hard
you
seriously
wanted
to
quit
The
thesis
,
the
lab
,
the
team
,
the
business
,
the
language
.
The
point
is
not
the
outcome
—
it
is
knowing
what
you
do
when
quitting
is
available
.
09
After
Graduation
3
goals
38
Keep
two
habits
from
college
:
one
that
pays
,
one
that
doesn
'
t
have
to
The
first
is
a
professional
practice
—
writing
,
coding
,
drawing
,
reporting
.
The
second
is
for
you
alone
,
with
no
audience
and
no
output
.
39
Have
a
specific
answer
to
"
what
'
s
next
" —
and
be
willing
to
change
it
by
May
"
Consulting
in
Chicago
starting
in
August
"
beats
"
seeing
what
'
s
out
there
."
Specificity
gives
people
something
to
help
you
with
.
40
Stay
in
touch
with
the
one
professor
who
changed
how
you
think
One
email
a
year
is
enough
.
Tell
them
what
you
did
with
what
they
taught
you
.
Most
never
hear
it
,
and
almost
all
of
them
keep
the
letters
.
4 / 4
