If you’re in the biz of creating and hosting your own podcast, you’re probably super familiar with audio content and its target audience. You won’t be surprised to hear that podcasting right now is a young-person’s game and a vast majority of podcast listeners are Gen Z and millennials . . . AKA students! So, if you’re wanting to start a podcast that’ll definitely have an engaged audience, making a podcast for students is a smart way to find success!
Knowing and understanding your target audience are important for starting a podcast and creating content that resonates with their personalities, lifestyles, and interests. You’ll want to consider this when creating a podcast for students. That said, if you’re not sure where to start, you’re in the right place. We’re sharing a round-up of podcast ideas that students would enjoy listening to.
Real Relatable: 20 Podcast Ideas For Students
Best Podcasts for College Students of All Majors
Studying Tips & Strategies
Of all the podcast topic ideas we could talk about, this one makes the most sense for any type of student podcast. What makes it such a great podcast topic is the number of people who can relate to it. Think about it. Exams and presentations are normal parts of student life, and with them comes the need to prepare. Unfortunately for a lot of us, learning and retaining information doesn’t come naturally. What better way to attract a student audience than by offering practical study tips and strategies, helping each listener feel more prepared to put their knowledge to the test?
Personal Growth & Development
A podcast offering guidance through the ups and downs of adulthood is another one that is guaranteed to be valuable for students. (Check out Almost Adulting and The Dream Bigger Podcast!) College students, in particular, face many milestones that can easily feel overwhelming. A successful podcast for college students will provide advice and inspiration to guide them as they face the many challenges that await them.
Real Campus Stories
College student or not, there’s something fascinating and, often, entertaining about the lives and experiences of other people. College students would definitely tune in to a podcast featuring shocking, touching, and relatable stories from others in similar situations. Whether through call-ins from fellow students, personal anecdotes, or stories passed through the grapevine, this podcast would capture the attention of university-goers.
To get an idea of how to pull of this podcast idea, check out Scandalous College Stories from What We Said.
Career Advice
If you haven’t chosen a career path before arriving on campus, your first year or two is often spent figuring it out. Since this can be stressful, offering insights into the decision-making process can help create a successful podcast for students. For inspo, def check out The Career Contessa!
Health & Well-Being
For many young adults, college is their first taste of true independence. However, self-care both physical and mental doesn’t always come naturally. A podcast focused on helping college students prioritize self-care and emphasizing the importance of nurturing both body and mind would be highly valuable to this audience.
For some great college-related podcast episodes, listen to Conversations with Cam: My Sister, Lucy Linville, on the Transition from College to the Real World and Note to Self: Back to School: All Things College, Rush, Post-Grad, & the Story of How I Got Arrested (lol). Also, be sure to check out the best podcasts for college girls for inspiration!!
Best Podcasts for Medical Students
Industry Innovations
It’s safe to assume that many medical students are interested in the latest technology, research, and advancements relative to the medical field. (Check out The Art of Being Well and SHE MD for great examples!) These are the very things that have the potential to shape their career or, in the very least, change the way they do things. A podcast dedicated to sharing the latest medical industry innovations is one that medical students are likely to tune into.
Inspiring Stories
Depending on the field of study, many medical students face their fair share of dreary and downright side cases. Even those who don’t can easily become overwhelmed by the long hours, exhausting work, and loads of stress. A podcast dedicated to sharing inspirational stories can work wonders for their mental health. In each podcast episode, you can invite people to share inspiring stories that just might be exactly what an overwhelmed medical student needs to hear.
Achieving Academic Success Without Sacrificing Health & Well-Being
Medical students often have to deal with long hours and loads of stress. Although it’s no less important, self-care often takes the backburner for students in medical school. A podcast aimed at sharing practical tips and strategies for maintaining good health and well-being while in medical school would prove to be especially valuable for those with very limited time and energy outside of school.
Personal Development
Great bedside manner is one of the factors that can differentiate a good doctor from a great one. But bedside manner, or the way you interact with and treat the patients you see, doesn’t always come naturally. A personal development podcast can be especially valuable to those pursuing a career in the field who also want to work on themselves in the meantime.
Critical Thinking
Taking a closer look at current events or relatable issues is a great way to encourage critical thinking–a skill that happens to be especially important for those hoping to work in the medical field.
Best Podcasts for Law Students
Legal Ethics
A podcast for law students focused on legal ethics explores the moral and professional standards of the legal profession. It offers a platform for discussing topics like attorney-client confidentiality, conflicts of interest, and ethical dilemmas lawyers face across different areas of law.
Current Events From A Lawyer’s Perspective
This podcast would focus on sharing and discussing the latest news stories through the eyes of a lawyer or lawyer-to-be. To ensure this podcast thrives, featuring interviews with lawyers, judges, and policymakers is essential. These experts deliver direct insights into how legal decisions and policies shape current events, offering students an engaging, real-world perspective that extends far beyond textbook learning.
Passing The Bar
Preparing for the bar exam is a huge milestone for law students. A podcast on passing the bar would be dedicated to providing essential tips, study strategies, and insights on how to prepare for this stressful exam. You could even include tips from experts who’ve passed the bar themselves.
Legal News
A podcast dedicated to legal news would be a great tool for law students who want to stay updated on developments in the legal world. This podcast could cover everything from Supreme Court rulings to legislative changes that impact different sectors of the law. The key to pulling off this podcast is staying informed and dedicating a fair share of your time to browsing for information to share.
Career Guidance & Professional Advice
This podcast would be dedicated to helping law students transition from law school to professional life. It would include practical tips and strategies for making the transition easier, as well as cover topics like how to build a legal career, networking strategies, landing internships, and choosing a legal specialization.
Best Podcasts for High School Students
Career Exploration
A podcast focused on exploring various career possibilities can be an excellent resource for high school students. In each episode, you can help students navigate the wide array of career options available. At this stage of life, many students are unsure about which path they want to take in the future–a decision that can feel incredibly overwhelming. Hearing from professionals from different industries can offer guidance and lead high school students in the right direction.
Creating Healthy Habits
Developing good habits in high school is key to long-term success in academics, sports, and personal life. A podcast on healthy habits can offer practical tips on time management, goal setting, exercise, and nutrition valuable both now and in the future.
Mental Health
Another great podcast idea for high school students is one focused on mental health. As the podcast host, you can provide support for high school students dealing with stress, anxiety, depression, or other emotional challenges. As mental health awareness grows, there’s no better time than now to have a podcast dedicated to this topic, especially for our youth. For podcasts like this to draw inspiration from, listen to Real Pod, Dear Gabby, or Trying Not to Care!
Important Life Skills
You could also create a podcast focused on teaching essential life skills to high school students as they prepare for adulthood. The podcast could cover practical, yet rarely-covered topics, such as financial literacy, communication skills, and basic household management. Something like A Balanced Black Girl!
Relationships
A podcast on relationships specifically geared toward high school students would be a useful tool as they face the complexities of friendships, romantic relationships, and family dynamics. Understanding how to build healthy relationships is crucial for emotional well-being and personal development during the teenage years.
How To Create A Podcast For Students
Step 1: Choose a topic & audience.
To create a podcast for students, you first need to decide what the podcast will be about and identify your target audience. A good podcast for students will address topics relevant to student life, such as academic success, mental health, time management, career advice, or specific subjects like science or history.
Step 2: Plan & format.
Once you’ve chosen a topic, you will then need to decide how each episode will be structured. You’ll need to determine the length of episodes, how often new episodes will be released, what type of content will be covered, and the format of each episode!
It’s important to outline the episodes in advance to stay organized. You’ll also want to think about what content students will be most interested in, whether it’s interviews, monologue, panel, narrative, or a combination of formats. Releasing weekly episodes ensures you’ll retain an audience, as consistency is key with podcasting. Try to stick to shorter episodes–20–30 minutes is ideal for holding students’ attention, especially during commutes or study breaks.
Step 3: Gather your equipment.
Quality audio is crucial for a podcast, even if it’s student-focused. You don’t need to spend a ton on a professional studio setup, but a good microphone, headphones, and sound editing software are essential to ensure clear, high-quality audio. Also, be sure to choose an area free from background noise for recording. Here’s more on how to make your podcast sound better!
Step 4: Create engaging and relatable content.
To be successful, your podcast needs to grab and hold the attention of student listeners. Students have busy schedules, so it’s important that each episode is full of engaging, relatable, and easy-to-follow content.
Step 5: Promote your podcast.
To build your podcast audience, you need to build an audience. When targeting students, you should use a variety of platforms to spread the word about your podcast and make it accessible. Social media is a great place to start.
Platforms popular among students include Instagram, TikTok, or Twitter. You can also try collaborating with student organizations, clubs, or campus radio stations to reach more students. And, of course, be sure to distribute your podcast on platforms like Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
There are a ton of great podcast ideas for students, you just have to know where to start!
Which podcast idea for students do you think would be the biggest hit? Which one would you listen to as a student? Let us know in the comments!
Then, head to the Dear Media blog for more awesome, relatable, and informative content about all things life and podcasting! (What else even is there?) And, be sure to check out the Dear Media shop for all the swag you need to look hot on campus!
