Successful summer college prep — Using summers wisely
Summer college prep is vital to successful college-bound students. Wise students will use their extra free time from the rigors and schedules of the regular academic year to get ahead of the competition. Think of elite athletes! These athletes will rigorously train year round. They do not take breaks to pig out and sit by the pool all day, or if they do, they pay for it later.
Smart students are like elite athletes competing for scholarships! Their competition is the other students who want to get into the school they want to get into and those that are competing for the same scholarships. Believe me, the competition is not going to just sit around and do nothing just because your student chooses not to.
So what do students need to do to get ahead of the game in the summers?
- Test Prep! Test Prep! And More Test Prep! This is your time to really get in the game and learn the strategies, tactics, and techniques that will put you ahead of the competition. Every hour you put into improving your test scores can yield thousands of dollars in scholarship money. Think of it as if you are making $100 an hour. Would you be willing to take a course and spend time preparing for college tests if you knew you would net $100 per hour? I sure would! And so do countless other students!
- Study skills—Have your student take a study skills course to help them learn better, faster and easier so that they can make better grades when school starts again in the fall.
- Volunteer—Summer is a great time to get volunteer hours for community service.
- Get a job–Work experience is a great thing to put on college applications and future resumes.
- Summer experiences—These opportunities are as varied as each individual family. Some families will travel together. Others will go on mission trips. And still, others will start a business. Help your student to come up with some ideas.
The key point is to make sure that your student doesn’t fritter his or her summer away. Louis Pasteur famously said, “Fortune favors the prepared mind.” So get in the mindset of helping your student to prepare for college!
If you have a 7th grader, see our article on Duke TIP.
If your student hasn’t taken our BEAT the Test course, why wait? Taking it in the summer will put them ahead of the game.