The status of mental health among college students has been identified as a likely predictor of academic success and is understood to be influenced by a multi-faceted and interconnected system of factors outside of intelligence. Factors including self-esteem, social anxiety and motivation to succeed are all critical indicators of mental health and academic success but have not yet been adequately synthesized. This systematic review aims to address this by synthesising evidence for the relationships between self esteem ,social anxiety and achievement motivation in the context of higher education. Consistent with PRISMA, a broad search of PsycINFO, Google Scholar, Scopus and Web of Science covered published (from 2000 to 2024) peer-reviewed articles in peer-checked journals, producing 32. The findings show that self-esteem is significantly and positively related to achievement motivation and significantly and negatively related to social anxiety, while the social anxiety is significantly and negatively related to achievement motivation. The findings further provide evidence that  self-esteem acts as a primary psychological resource that facilitates motivation as well as diminishes social anxiety and the latter mediates the relationship between the former and the latter. These findings underscore the need for comprehensive counseling program at the university level to facilitate emotional and academic adjustment of students.