Social entrepreneurs play a crucial role in addressing entrenching societal problems that are difficult to solve at the individual level. To cultivate future social entrepreneurs, institutions increasingly provide experiential education programs where participants engage directly in social entrepreneurial activities. This study aims to identify psychological factors influencing the development of social entrepreneurial intentions among participants in such programs. Highlighting the challenging nature of a social entrepreneurial career, we propose that participants' learning goal orientation, meaning at work, and bottom-line mentality climate perception shape their intentions to become social entrepreneurs. We collected and analyzed two-wave survey data from 149 university students participating in an intensive experiential social entrepreneurship education program in South Korea. Results indicate that learning goal orientation positively affects meaning at work, which in turn, enhances social entrepreneurial intentions. Furthermore, bottom-line mentality climate perceptions moderate the positive relationship between learning goal orientation and meaning at work, as well as the positive effect of learning goal orientation on social entrepreneurial intentions via meaningful work. This study has several significant implications. First, it proposes and demonstrates that individual participants' learning goal orientation and meaning at work serve as predictors of the development of social entrepreneurial intentions during an experiential entrepreneurial education program. In doing so, it sheds light on the critical role of psychological variables in influencing the outcomes of entrepreneurial education. Second, the study reveals the negative effects of bottom-line mentality climate perception on shaping social entrepreneurial intentions, suggesting the necessity for educational frameworks that incorporate environmental contexts. Finally, this research offers evidence-based insights that educational institutions, policy-makers, and business leaders can utilize in devising strategies and systems to nurture the next generation of social entrepreneurs.