There is not a strong academic foundation in the literature on relationships between knowledge-seeking behavior, and grit, and ambition, in high school seniors and college students. This quantitative correlational study utilized ex post facto data to explore the relationship between two independent variables, grit and ambition, and a dependent variable, knowledge-seeking behavior. There were two moderating variables, gender and academic classification. In addition, grit's sub-variables -- consistency of interest and perseverance of effort -- were informally examined. A total of 262 students participated in the study from five mutually exclusive academic classifications: three from a large public high school and two from a mid-sized private university. All participants were located in northern Georgia. The survey instrument was a combination of a construct created to measure grade-seeking and knowledge-seeking behaviors, as well as the grit and ambition scales previously developed by Dr. Angela Duckworth to measure persistence to achieve goals. The findings from the study were mixed. The data showed that there were no statistically significant differences between the five academic classifications when it came to knowledge-seeking. However, there were statistically significant differences between academic classifications when it came to grit and ambition. No statistically significant differences in gender were found for the dependent and independent variables. There were no significant positive relationships found between knowledge seeking behaviors and grit for any of the academic classifications. However, there were significant positive relationships found between knowledge seeking and ambition for two of the academic classifications. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://bibliotheek.ehb.be:2222/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]