How to Prep for College During Your Summer Break
Summer is an important time to think about preparing for college, but there are so many competing priorities that it can be hard to decide the best use of your time. You may want to consider academic priorities but also volunteering, family, and more.
While you’re thinking about what’s most important to you, it may also be helpful to consider what colleges prioritize.
How to Prep for College During Your Summer Break
Are you a high school junior, sophomore, or even freshman trying to decide how best to spend your last few summers prepping before college? High school summers are difficult because there are so many competing priorities - so many “right” ways to spend your time. College counselors, whether private or assigned through your high school, may have conflicting opinions. You also may have family traditions - summer programs, spending the summer with Grandma - that you wish to continue. You may need to take summer makeup classes or want to take classes at a local college to get ahead. And you may be worried that your SATⓇ or ACTⓇ scores aren’t high enough to get into the college of your dreams. So many summer college prep options! So little time!
All of these priorities are important ones. So how can you decide what is most important for you?
Go through the following list - here’s an easily printable copy, if that helps - and check off everything that definitely applies to you. Then, at the end, we’ll use NACAC’s most current State of College Admission to sort your priorities according to what is important to colleges.
Here’s the full list of everything you should consider working on this summer!
Academic: You want to show you’re academically-minded, industrious, and studious all year round!
Internship in a laboratory or other well-respected institution
Summer college courses or Kumon-style supplementary educational courses - to get ahead in math, science, or history
Enrichment - subjects you struggle with - classes or private tutor - so you won’t struggle next year
Fun: You want to make sure you’re enjoying your summer!
Summer camp
Hanging out with friends
Making money: Everyone needs money, right?
Work
Babysitting
Yardwork/pool maintenance
Entrepreneurial endeavor - something YOU or you and a friend started?
Saving up for a big expense - eg. car
Putting money in college fund
Family: It’s important to spend time with family. Sometimes your parents require this, and sometimes they just would really appreciate it :)
Helping out at home - child care for siblings
Helping out an older relative (grandma)
Making time to just be a part of the family
Volunteering: Makes you a better human because you become more empathetic - and it also looks great on your college resume
Soup kitchen
Homeless shelter
Group home for folks with learning and physical challenges
Helping out at a hospital or care center for the elderly
College prep
- Taking college classes
- Getting ahead on high school credits
- SAT Ⓡ / ACT Ⓡ prep
- Filling out your Common Application (it doesn’t officially open until August 1st so save your answers elsewhere!)
- College essay
- Tutoring
Now: How do you decide what’s most important for you? Everyone’s personal priorities are different, but what colleges are looking for is not.
You may or may not have heard of NACAC - it’s the National Association for College Admission Counseling, and it is respected in the college access world as the definitive authority in college admissions. Your guidance counselor likely attends NACAC conferences, and if you work with a private college advisor, that person will have lots of new information upon returning from conferences. So when we are thinking about trends in college admission, we look to NACAC for definitive answers.
According to NACAC’s “Factors in the Admission Decision,” from their “State of College Admission”:
“For the Fall 2023 admission cycle, NACAC member four-year colleges reported that the most important factors in admission decisions were grades in high school courses and strength of the high school curriculum.”
Important questions to now ask yourself:
What can I do about my GPA/grades/class standing over the summer?
Why not take courses or tutoring to get ahead of the curve? This summer, we’re offering private tutoring in reading, writing, mathematics, and other subjects that are specifically designed to get students ready for the upcoming academic year with proven teaching methods.
What can I do to improve the strength of my classes/high school curriculum during the summer?
Your best bet is to make a quick call to your guidance department or school office. Make sure to call during business hours - most schools will close early and be working lightly on Fridays. Call between 9:30am and 11:30am, Tues-Thurs, to make sure that someone is in the office and not at lunch or away over a long weekend. Ask if, over the summer, you can switch the strength of your classes to something more challenging - either Honors or AP classes, wherever it is possible and you think you can handle the challenge.
Due to the pandemic and its ongoing aftermath, standardized test scores have become less important to admissions officers, but they can still significantly impact acceptance at top schools.
What can I do to improve my standardized test scores in the summer?
PLENTY! The summer is the best time to study, because you have uninterrupted time. Standardized test prep classes take dedication, which many students can’t spare during the school year, with the multiple distractions of schoolwork and extracurriculars.
Because this is the only thing most students can actually change during the summer, it is the place we suggest to focus the most energy over the summer. Get your scores up when you’re not also under the gun of every other pressure from coaches, teachers, principals, teammates, and friends!
