In recent years, social status has been re-conceptualized as a unique and dynamic social identity that shapes motivational processes, guiding pursuits of status-related goals. Therefore, social status is not a static social positioning, but instead a developing construct that informs cognitions and behaviors, particularly during status transitions. This dissertation, drawing from the Status-Based Identity Framework, was anchored within the context of young adults striving to achieve social mobility by attending college. Young adulthood is a distinguished developmental phase marked by heightened capacities for goal striving, representing a period where individuals are tasked with finding their own place on the social ladder. Status-related identities including a student’s past, current, and aspired future social statuses can inform this pursuit. Thus, the following dissertation attempted to unravel the associations among status identities and status-related goals. The first study examined how past and current social statuses, as well as connections to status-based social groups, were associated with educational goal pursuits and commitment toward their education. The second study sought to understand how social status informed young adults’ beliefs about what causes social status attainment, particularly regarding the endorsement of meritocratic belief systems and how they are associated with personal aspirations for attaining an elevated social status. The final study examined how status aspirations were associated with changes in educational goal strivings, and whether more realistic compared to overambitious aspirations helped students remain properly engaged with their educational goals. Moreover, Study 3 examined whether stronger connections to peers at college helped students from lower social statuses remainengaged with their educational goals. Together, these three studies provide a better understanding of how young people’s social mobility aspirations develop and inform status-related goal pursuits during critical life-course transitions.