Tips to prepare for university

So you've just graduated from high school — now the big question: what are you going to do this summer? Here's how to stay in a productive mindset this summer and prepare to enter university.

If there's one thing you can expect in abundance at university, it's reading. Since you'll surely have hundreds of pages of text to read each week at school, you should keep your mind and eyes trained for the task. Over the summer, try to do some substantial reading every day. Mix it up with novels, different kinds of articles, and written communication on the Internet. By the same token, try to do some writing every day as well. You'll be able to hit the ground running when your studies start in earnest.

Moving on to life away from home means you'll be your own primary caretaker. How you eat, how much you sleep, and how active you are will be your own responsibility. Spend this summer developing healthy habits, like learning to cook with fresh ingredients, keeping to a regular sleep schedule, and getting plenty of daily exercise. A healthy, properly rested body makes for a more productive mind.

You're going to university for a lot of reasons. While you're there to learn and grow as a person, you're also there to prepare for your first post-graduate career. With that in mind, it's never too early to accumulate work experience. Try to find a job or internship this summer that relates to your career interests. You'll learn a lot, have something valuable to put on your CV, and you'll probably also earn money or school credit.

Donating your time to charities and other causes you support is a great way to spend quality time in your community and sharpen your social skills. At university, you'll meet a lot of new people and have the chance to be an enthusiastic participant in a wide variety of activities. Volunteering gives you the experience of working alongside like-minded peers while you take responsibility for the world around you. As a citizen of your university campus, those are vital values to learn in the summer before your freshman year.

Don't just think of this summer as a space between responsibilities. Stay mindful and healthy in those hot months so you can start things off right from your first day at university.