Personal Productivity
5 Tips for Students to Make a Jobless Summer Productive
AUTHOR: Gloria Kopp
So the summer has rolled around and you don’t have any plans. Maybe you didn’t get the internship you wanted, or you’re looking to spend the summer having fun before you graduate and get down to work. Whatever the reason, you can still make the summer productive, and give yourself a leg up for the new semester. Here’s 5 tips that will help you get ahead.
1. Get job ready
You may not be working right now, but you sure can get ready for work in the future. There’s several ways you can go about this. Firstly, why not try volunteering? There’s always worthy causes that need a helping hand. Take a look around and see who needs help in your area. You’ll have something to use in your resume, and you’ll feel good helping others out into the bargain.
“As well as this, look at creating professional social media profiles. Sites such as LinkedIn help people find jobs by letting them virtually network. Create a professional profile for yourself, and get it ready so you can add your achievements throughout the year”, says Rachel Kolbee, a career advisor at Bigassignments.
2. Don’t let your learning slip away
During the summer, many students like to throw away their notes and let school become a distant memory. However, when they go back, it means they have a whole lot of work to catch up on. If you want to avoid this, keep your notes and peruse them during the break. See how much you can remember.
As well as this, remember to keep reading. You’ll keep learning if you seek out new information, and it’s highly helpful when it comes to writing assignments next year. Buy books second hand or borrow them from the library, and you’ll have a wealth of information to draw on.
3. Explore courses you couldn’t at college
There may have been a course you couldn’t do at college in the past year, thanks to a packed timetable, or being too late to sign up for it. Now you have time, why not pursue it now? Look up institutions near you, as many will be running classes during the summer. Take it now, and you can have extra knowledge to work with when you go back in the new semester.
Thomas Green, a College advisor at Ukwritings comments: “If you can still pursue that course at college, keep checking in over the summer to see when new places pop up. If you keep on top of it, you can grab a place before anyone else.”
4. Work on your scholarship applications
As you know, college is expensive, and you need to find a way to pay for it. If you’re not working this summer, you can use the time to start working on your scholarship applications.
“There’s thousands of scholarships out there, and you can get a lot of money for your coming education if you know how to apply for them. Apply for as many as you can, and you can take some of the financial burden off yourself for the coming year”, – shares her opinion Lisa Connor, a Head of Scholarship Committee at Academized.
5. Get ready for next year
There’s plenty of things you’ll need to do to get ready for the coming year of college, so get prepared now. If you keep up with everything that needs doing over the coming months, you’ll avoid the end of summer rush that every student experiences at least once.
For example, take this time to restock all your school supplies. Notebooks, pens, and binders all have a habit of disappearing during the school year. Stock up on them now so you have them ready for next year. You can even pick them up cheaply from discount stores, meaning that you’ll save money.
As well as this, you can order your textbooks early. Avoid that long line at the beginning of the year by ordering those books ahead of time, then they’ll be ready and waiting for you.
It’s also worth sorting your housing arrangements too. Renew your lease, talk to new roommates, and familiarise yourself with the conditions of your housing.
These five tips will help you get the most out of your summer. Follow them, and you’ll head into the new school year ready and waiting for anything it can throw at you.
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