Walking or taking public transit to each class daily yields a lot of downtime. Listening to your favorite jams may be enough to hype you up for a few minutes, but a podcast will engage your brain in a more meaningful way. These 10 essential podcasts provide immense value to college students from all walks of life. Start listening and learning today!

1. Deep Dive With Ali Abdaal

Ali Abdaal began his journey on YouTube during his schooling as a junior doctor, posting videos on the best study tactics. Now, he interviews the world’s most prominent creators, entrepreneurs and inspiring minds of today’s generation.

You learn alongside Ali, which is what makes this podcast so actionable. The teachings extend past college, making your time invested in listening well worth it. Topics span a wide range, including:

• Overcoming stress and anxiety
• How to turn your passions into a million dollars
• Preventing procrastination
• Navigating your quarter-life crisis
• Combating perfectionism
• Practicing sleep fitness

2. TED Talks Daily With Elise Hu

Who hasn’t heard of TED Talks at this point? TED Talks Daily is what it sounds like — a daily dose of TED. Name a topic, and TED has covered it. It is one of the most critical podcasts for college students who want to stay informed about global concerns because TED Talks is highly attentive to the most pertinent issues.

Topics include AI, the value of varied educational structures, the addictiveness of social media and gun violence. Hear thoughts from the most eloquent experts in usually 15 minutes or less.

3. Doing It! With Hannah Witton

Hannah Witton is a sex educator, and her podcast embraces intersectional discussions about all relationship types, gender, sexuality, parenting, bodies, mental health and disability. Witton debunks societal assumptions and unravels nuances about these subjects by discussing them with experts.

She also gives a voice to lesser-known demographics and explores how these topics influence politics. Witton comes at it with an enthusiastic and curious mindset, which is essential for all college students in navigating these culturally taboo matters.

4. No Books on a Dead Planet With Leena Norms

In this podcast, Norms examines books that focus on environmental subjects. College students who listen to her show will become more aware of the world outside their highly insular campus. Plus, they might be encouraged to pick up more leisure reading — outside of their many required reading assignments.

Norms’s sense of humor is unmatched when peeling apart heartbreaking novels like “Parable of the Sower” or eco-conscious classics like “The Uninhabitable Earth.” Listen to increase your bookish sensibilities and climate awareness.

5. The College Info Geek With Thomas Frank

Productivity guru Thomas Frank uses his podcast to empower students to perform better while taking care of all of their obligations. Learn to study, be an essentialist, deal with life post-graduation, move out of your parent’s basement and more, including:

• Productivity Lessons from Video Game Design
• Can We Do Anything About Burnout?
• How to Learn a Foreign Language Independently
• How to Introduce Yourself Without Sounding Boring
• Improving Brain Performance Using Music Created by Robots

While there are 300 episodes under this umbrella, Frank has expanded his topics in his new podcast, The Inforium.

6. Stuff You Should Know With Josh Clark and Charles Wayne Bryant

Another aptly named podcast brings you every bite of trivia you need to whip out at a college party. Stuff You Should Know has breached the 2,000-episode mark, covering almost every topic under the sun. You’ll always learn something unexpected, which makes you more well-rounded and a fascinating conversationalist. Who doesn’t want that extra boost when traversing college friendships?

7. NPR’s Life Kit With Marielle Segarra

This podcast is the secret college course you need that doesn’t exist. From how a library card can save you money to dealing with toxic group chats, Life Kit provides actionable advice for making college life more accessible to tackle. NPR expanded its Life Kit suite into other niche podcasts, including Life Kit: Health, Money and Parenting.

8. Adulthood Made Easy With Sam Zabell

Adulting is so complex and frustrating that it’s become a meme. Adulthood Made Easy is brought to you by a fellow twenty-something adult trying to uncover life’s secrets. Confront your kitchen with confidence and joy while dealing with grief. Zabell’s subjects are close to home, making this one of the most relatable podcasts.

9. Voice Hugs With Vivian Van and Rowena Tsai

Voice Hugs is a podcast all about introspection and interpersonal relationships. Van and Tsai dig into those deep, meaningful conversations many of us are too afraid to have — even with loved ones. They urge listeners to welcome every season of life with kindness to others and themselves, which many forget in the lightning-fast pace of college.

Start with some of the most vital episodes in their catalog include:

• Opening up to people is hard
• The Art of Nonviolent Communication: Building empathy and connection
• Career Chat: feeling lost, redefining success and trusting yourself
• Social media makes me feel insecure
• Forgiving your past self
• Overcoming the fear of judgment

10. Bad With Money With Gabe Dunn

Nobody is perfect with their money in college, especially when it is the first taste of freedom many people have. Have you struggled to have talks with your friends about how you need to be frugal? Is home ownership a cult? Is Warren Buffet the financial genius everyone claims? Dunn answers the tough questions while providing tips for paying off debt, affording medication and countless other matters.

Podcasts for the Modern College Generation

College is about more than learning study techniques. Modern students need a wide breadth of soft and hard skills to walk through campus gracefully. These podcasts provide an ideal and diverse foundation for many topics students encounter in their higher education journey. How will you start making the most out of your listening hours?