Schools out for Summer and staying productive can be a challenge! Well, for most people anyway and we’ve got a helpful list for those of you who are going to be continuing your academic careers at your college/university. This list has compiled ten ways to be productive as a student during your summer!
Get an internship or part-time job: This is obviously the most important and the most typical thing a college student should be thinking about. While it is good to relax and go on a rewarding vacation after a hard week of finals, preparing yourself for the job market or to pay off your loans by getting an internship or a part-time job is probably the best way to keep staying productive over the summer. Whether it is in valuable experience or hard-earned cash, there is always a payout of some kind.
Work out on campus or at the gym: Don’t get lazy! Though it may be a million degrees out and the only thing you can think of is to bask in front of the air conditioner, get out there and work out! Summer is a good time to sweat out the toxins of being kept up in a dorm, and to keep that bangin’ bod healthy and in shape! Who said freshman 15 habits don’t carry over?
Go home, visit friends and family: Almost deemed mandatory by parents of any student studying away from their hometown, a home visit shouldn’t be dreaded by any means. Go home, enjoy the rarity and taste of a home cooked meal, and definitely catch up with your old buddies from high school. Keeping relationships fresh outside of college is just as important as it is in college.
Start a blog or photo diary: If you don’t already have a blog or a photo diary, now is a good time to start. While it is hard to keep one consistently during the school year it’s great to look back on memories as you’ve written them and can bring a lot of joy to you far into the future. A blog or photo diary is a fun, easy way to record your life because to be honest, college probably WILL be the best years of your youth. And if you’re the kind to actually hand write in a paper journal–KUDOS. This is one of our favorite activities for staying productive.
Summer school: Credits, credits, credits! Taking a summer school course not only helps you finish school earlier and perhaps save you a semester of tuition, but it can really help your GPA. I took Biology during the summer as a general requirement and since it was a lab I got the benefit of having those weird lab hours not dictate my school schedule, and since the course was squished into 5 weeks it was the bare bones of biology. The basics of photosynthesis, ecosystems, etc. and to be frank, it was so easy and I got full credit with an A. Knowing myself, if I had taken the full course during the year I probably would have gotten a B instead.
Writing exercises to keep you fresh: During the summer it’s good to keep your writing active and your mind working. Browse online for writing exercises like describing an emotion using only concrete details. Even if you’re not an English or creative writing major, doing these writing exercises not only helps you improve your writing but opens the doors to all sorts of new creative ways to formulate your papers.
Read a non-NYT best seller book: Let’s face it. A New York Times bestseller doesn’t always mean it’s a good book. To be honest, one of my professors once told me you can either write brilliant literary fiction and be poor, or you can write shoddy genre fiction like Twilight or romance novels and make millions. In lieu of the book for the masses–check out some literary authors like Adam McOmber, Junot Diaz, Joyce Carol Oates, etc. Or if you want more variety, buy an issue of The New Yorker or buy a short fiction collection.
Browse your fundamental text-books: This applies a lot more to the sciences and engineering majors, but try staying productive by taking a moment to browse your freshman-year text books. It’s good to just refresh your mind on the fundamental basics especially when you’ve spent all year focused on a really specific niche of your major. Doing this is a good reminder of what the general mission of what you study is and can help you with terminology that may not have been used since freshman year but is important nonetheless.
Catch up on movies, TV, or games: Just relax! Have a Netflix night with some hometown buddies and watch the movies that you never got to see in theaters, catch up on the new season of Dexter or Game of Thrones you didn’t get to finish, and play the video games that everyone else played months ago. While we don’t advocate for sitting in front of the tube watching infomercials for the sake of vegetating, it’s good to enjoy your time away from school just as much as is staying productive
Clean up your social media, make some new profiles: During the school year you can really rack up some embarrassing picture tags on Facebook. Whether it was your loss at beer pong, or that freshman prank that got you–it’s never too early to clean up your social media especially if you want to get #1 on this list.
