Summer Steps for College Success

The middle of the summer is not the time of year you find yourself thinking about your university courses. Maybe it should be.

If you are like many people you see the summer as a chance to get away from university routines, take a break, and recharge for the fall. But there are some small, powerful, and valuable things you can do during the summer break that will ensure you are ready for success when the fall term starts up at your college. Instead of hoping for success by scrambling to finish all of your assignments by the final due date, a few summer activities can get you in the mental and intellectual state to handle the shift that happens in September.

1. The Course was the Start of Learning

Think back to last spring. Did you have a course that was cool, interesting, you liked it, but you couldn't spend as much time on it as you liked? Life gets in the way of completing 100% of all course requirements sometimes. There's also that course you hate that sucks up all of your spare time with busywork you don't care about. But now it's summer, and you can return to your courses without the artificial pressures of deadlines, grades, and due dates.

Summer can be the time where you finish reading those articles that you maybe skimped on, or that book you only skimmed to get your discussion points for that one day of class. It can be the time to review your notes and go look up that book or author the professor mentioned in class that caught your attention.

A college course is only 13 to 15 weeks long so it can't possibly teach you everything you need to know about the topic. Professors provide a "sampler" of information, research, and thoughts from scholars on the topic of the course in hopes that you will continue to look into it to answer your questions about the topic. To rely on a course as your one and only chance to get something is to misunderstand the point of a class.

Summer can be used to finish doing the readings, and reach out a bit further. Look to sources cited in the reading for other stuff. Have a look at that paper you slapped together, what changes would you make to it now that you've had some time to reflect? You can either rewrite them, or make notes in the margins for future you.

Summer is a great time to review your notes, update them, write them in more clarity, and review what you learned and wrote. Make sure you keep all the readings and the syllabus somewhere safe on the cloud, your computer, a USB drive, or a paper notebook. Knowledge has a habit of building by reaching back so you'll want to have access to those things when they are needed.

2. Become that Expert You Wanted to Be

Did you have a moment in class last spring where you felt like you should have been able to answer a question on a test, quiz, or in class discussion? Did you have trouble convincing a classmate you were right about something in small group or discussion? Summer is the time to brush up on what you felt like you should have known in that moment so that this fall you'll have a better chance.

Make a list of things you wish you had known more about during classes this past semester. Few students know this, but many universities continue your online library access for the summer. This means you can look up amazing digital resources - from newspapers, to books, to academic research, from home, or if you are lucky, poolside. Try to find good information that will help bolster what it is that you wanted to say. The more you write down about your questions, the more your unconscious mind will have things to draw on in class in the fall. Think about this as a gym for your mind. Although the benefits of working out aren't apparent during a session, maybe a couple of weeks later when going up the stairs or playing some basketball with friends you feel the difference. The same is true in discussions. The more you work out like this, the easier class discussions will be, and the more positive attention your professor will give you during the semester based on these thoughtful responses.

3. Front Load Your Semester

I know there are a few of you out there who are dreading the incredibly difficult load you have to face in the fall term. We've all been there, and it's not pretty. But with the help of the internet you can start using your relaxing summer days to release some of the stress that will be bearing down on you come early December.

If you are dreading a course, or you think it's going to be hard, relax. Realize that you are in university to learn. You are there because, to be quite honest, you don't know things yet. Classes are there to teach you things. With this in mind you can take a deep breath, and then open your favorite web browser. You can search the professor's name or the class name along with your university to reveal old syllabi, old notes, project descriptions - you never know what you might find online these days. You can use this information to start to prepare a plan for the fall. If there are readings listed, use your library privileges and have a look. Big assignment listed for midterms? Not stressful if it's July and August when you start to think about it and what you'll need to do. Although some dates and specifics change for each class, you will have the big picture in hand and underway before you even show up for the first day of class.

If you can't find anything listed for your professor, or if your professor is the ever-popular "Staff," don't lose hope. You can pretty safely look at syllabi and course requirements from other universities to get an idea of what the range or area of things are that you should be reading or familiarizing yourself with. If it's something like math or a language course, that material is not going to vary that much at all. If it's a literature course, or a history course for a particular period or place, the readings might vary a bit, but you won't be hurting yourself to read some of the relevant things about the course in the summer even if they are not on the syllabus. Why is that? Because you'll find that what you read in the summer will connect in amazing ways with what you are assigned in September. You'll give yourself the opportunity to learn and realize more about the course, and you'll be able to have deeper, more valuable and rewarding conversations with your professor, both in and out of class.

4. Reach Out!

It might sound pretty foolish, but there's a lot of value in reaching out during the summer to your new professors. Asking about what readings or books might be assigned and what the scope and aim of the course is can only help. Professors don't get a lot of email in the summer (well, email that we care about anyway) so your note will be like a breath of fresh air. Professors, for the most part, enjoy interacting with students but do not get many opportunities to do this outside of discussing grades, missed classes, or other administrative things. What we'd love most is to talk to an interested student about the course without all those administrative trappings.

Your email will do a few things. First it will humanize the course for you. The response will make you feel better about a class if you realize that another human being is going to be teaching it, and they are nice and welcoming to you as a response. Secondly, you'll get some information early on about textbooks and required readings. This will help you save money and time as you can buy and download the readings on your schedule, allowing you to shop around for the best textbook deal you can find. Finally, it will help you get a jump start on reading. If you know you are going to be busy in September with social activities, clubs, fraternities and sororities, sport, or whatever it is you enjoy on campus, why not get some of the early reading out of the way instead of laying around eating chips hoping a good movie comes on your parents' cable? There's, of course, nothing wrong with that, but you can take a break from it you know.

Well that's a good starting list I think. There are a lot more things you can do in college breaks to ensure you are prepped to get the most out of your new courses. Although they seem far away, you can do a lot of good for yourself by planning in the summer to digest what you learned in the spring and prepare your mind for the new information to come in the fall.