Summer Activities

Choose your activities purposefully. Think about your interests and your passions. Are you on the rowing team? Maybe there’s a camp that could use you as a volunteer. Love to read and think you might pursue a degree in education? Maybe your church can help you find a tutoring job in center for needy kids. Consider a summer course at a nearby college. Most importantly, use this time to reflect on your interests and pursue them. Think quality over quantity and reassess your activities for the school year if necessary, taking on leadership roles in the areas you love and perhaps scaling back on the activities you don’t.

Begin Your Research

Get yourself a copy of the latest edition of Fiske Guide to Colleges. Keep it on your coffee table or kitchen island or any place you’re likely to leaf through it regularly. Visit college websites and spend some time exploring. Many schools have virtual tours. Take a look at the many online resources for college research as well.

Start to Think About College Visits

If you’re headed on summer vacation with your family and there’s an interesting college on the way, ask them to stop. While it’s ideal to visit colleges when school is in session, you’ll benefit from any and all visits (even if it’s just to say, “Yuk, I’d never go there.”).

Make a College Calendar

Devote a calendar solely for college planning. Ask your parents to set aside time now for visiting colleges during your junior school year, even if you don’t yet know what schools you’d like to see. Schedules fill up quickly for families who juggle multiple kids and their activities, so help your parents plan accordingly. Think about when you’ll take the SAT and ACT. How does the testing schedule fit in with your other activities?

Use Your Resources

Talk to your parents, relatives, older siblings and their friends about their college experience. What did they like and dislike? Why? Would they do anything differently if they could do it all over again?

Relax!

The college planning process is best tackled one step at a time. It’s an exciting time in your life, but don’t forget to experience the present. Begin your college exploration, but enjoy your friends and family this summer as well!

If you're applying to a school far away, you might only get one chance to visit before you make your final decision on which college to attend. Even if the school is close to home, you might not find the time to squeeze in an extra visit. Junior and senior years, after all, are busy times. Here are a few tips on maximizing the time you spend looking at colleges and on leaving an impression after you go home.

Plan to spend 3 hours to half a day at each school to allow enough time for an information session or meeting with admission officer and a campus tour. Having a friend on campus show you around is often a helpful way to view a campus.

Arrange your visits several weeks or more in advance by scheduling information sessions and tours online and arranging interviews if required or offered. Depending on your interests, include plans to sit in on a class, speak to a professor or coach, or eat in a dining hall.

If your plans change when you are visiting and you decide not to attend a tour or information session, check in with the admissions office to let them know you are there and visiting a different way. Some schools keep track of visits as demonstrated interest. If you decide to return to a school for a second visit, stop in the admission office to ask a question, pick up information or add yourself to their mailing list.

Email or mail a thank you note to those who were helpful on your visit. This could include an admission officer or professor you met with. In particular, if you had an interview, whether evaluative or informational, be sure to follow up with a thank you for the person’s time and mention some detail of the meeting that left an impression on you so the person will have something to remember you by.