2 customisable OKR examples for College Admission

What are College Admission OKRs?

The Objective and Key Results (OKR) framework is a simple goal-setting methodology that was introduced at Intel by Andy Grove in the 70s. It became popular after John Doerr introduced it to Google in the 90s, and it's now used by teams of all sizes to set and track ambitious goals at scale.

Writing good OKRs can be hard, especially if it's your first time doing it. You'll need to center the focus of your plans around outcomes instead of projects.

We have curated a selection of OKR examples specifically for College Admission to assist you. Feel free to explore the templates below for inspiration in setting your own goals.

If you want to learn more about the framework, you can read our OKR guide online.

Building your own College Admission OKRs with AI

While we have some examples available, it's likely that you'll have specific scenarios that aren't covered here. You can use our free AI generator below or our more complete goal-setting system to generate your own OKRs.

Our customisable College Admission OKRs examples

You will find in the next section many different College Admission Objectives and Key Results. We've included strategic initiatives in our templates to give you a better idea of the different between the key results (how we measure progress), and the initiatives (what we do to achieve the results).

Hope you'll find this helpful!

1OKRs to secure admission in a reputed college post May 21

  • ObjectiveSecure admission in a reputed college post May 21
  • Key ResultSecure sufficient financial aid or scholarships to cover 80% of tuition costs
  • TaskApply for selected scholarships and financial aid programs
  • TaskResearch various scholarships and financial aid options available
  • TaskFollow up on applications to secure approval
  • Key ResultObtain acceptance letters from at least three chosen colleges
  • TaskFollow-up with each college post-application
  • TaskResearch and choose 3 potential colleges
  • TaskComplete and submit application for each college
  • Key ResultComplete all required college application process steps accurately and thoroughly
  • TaskFill out all sections of the application form comprehensively and honestly
  • TaskCompile and proofread all required essays or personal statements
  • TaskObtain, review, and submit all necessary recommendation letters

2OKRs to apply and secure acceptance to a preferred college

  • ObjectiveApply and secure acceptance to a preferred college
  • Key ResultEarn a score of 1300+ on the SAT examination
  • TaskExpand vocabulary and reading comprehension skills
  • TaskPractice math subjects covered on the SAT
  • TaskEngage in regular and structured SAT review sessions
  • Key ResultComplete and submit 5 college applications by end of next quarter
  • TaskResearch and select 5 ideal colleges for application
  • TaskComplete all application requirements for each college
  • TaskSubmit all 5 applications
  • Key ResultGain acceptance into at least 1 of top 3 preferred colleges
  • TaskPrepare for and take relevant entrance examinations
  • TaskComplete and submit application forms for top 3 preferred colleges
  • TaskWrite and perfect personal statement essays

College Admission OKR best practices to boost success

Generally speaking, your objectives should be ambitious yet achievable, and your key results should be measurable and time-bound (using the SMART framework can be helpful). It is also recommended to list strategic initiatives under your key results, as it'll help you avoid the common mistake of listing projects in your KRs.

Here are a couple of best practices extracted from our OKR implementation guide 👇

Tip #1: Limit the number of key results

The #1 role of OKRs is to help you and your team focus on what really matters. Business-as-usual activities will still be happening, but you do not need to track your entire roadmap in the OKRs.

We recommend having 3-4 objectives, and 3-4 key results per objective. A platform like Tability can run audits on your data to help you identify the plans that have too many goals.

Tability Insights DashboardTability's audit dashboard will highlight opportunities to improve OKRs

Tip #2: Commit to weekly OKR check-ins

Don't fall into the set-and-forget trap. It is important to adopt a weekly check-in process to get the full value of your OKRs and make your strategy agile – otherwise this is nothing more than a reporting exercise.

Being able to see trends for your key results will also keep yourself honest.

Tability Insights DashboardTability's check-ins will save you hours and increase transparency

Tip #3: No more than 2 yellow statuses in a row

Yes, this is another tip for goal-tracking instead of goal-setting (but you'll get plenty of OKR examples above). But, once you have your goals defined, it will be your ability to keep the right sense of urgency that will make the difference.

As a rule of thumb, it's best to avoid having more than 2 yellow/at risk statuses in a row.

Make a call on the 3rd update. You should be either back on track, or off track. This sounds harsh but it's the best way to signal risks early enough to fix things.

How to turn your College Admission OKRs in a strategy map

Quarterly OKRs should have weekly updates to get all the benefits from the framework. Reviewing progress periodically has several advantages:

  • It brings the goals back to the top of the mind
  • It will highlight poorly set OKRs
  • It will surface execution risks
  • It improves transparency and accountability

Spreadsheets are enough to get started. Then, once you need to scale you can use a proper OKR platform to make things easier.

A strategy map in TabilityTability's Strategy Map makes it easy to see all your org's OKRs

If you're not yet set on a tool, you can check out the 5 best OKR tracking templates guide to find the best way to monitor progress during the quarter.

More College Admission OKR templates

We have more templates to help you draft your team goals and OKRs.

OKRs resources

Here are a list of resources to help you adopt the Objectives and Key Results framework.

What's next? Try Tability's goal-setting AI

You can create an iterate on your OKRs using Tability's unique goal-setting AI.

Watch the demo below, then hop on the platform for a free trial.

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