With so many unstructured weeks ahead, what exactly should you be spending your summer doing? In addition to familiarizing yourself with the admissions process, you should pursue activities that are meaningful to you or deepen your knowledge of a pre-existing interest. Don't be concerned with trying to impress admissions officers. They're after students who are genuinely committed to exploring their passions, not students who are merely resume-building. To make the most of your summer, keep in mind the following options:

• Volunteer. Julie Manhan says: "This is a great way to try your hand at something new or get experience in a field you’re interested in.  If you can’t find something you like, look for a need and be creative.  There may be a neighbor who could use help with yard work or a child who needs someone to help him improve his math skills.  Get your friends involved.  Maybe you could organize a food drive in your neighborhood to benefit your local food bank.  The only limit is your imagination."

• Join a summer camp or take a class. Teen Diaries Blog writes: "There is a summer camp for almost everything from sports to art. Try contacting local colleges or universities for camps specializing in a specific major you’re interested in. These will allow you to take classes in the field of work you plan to pursue and gain the campus experience which is pretty cool!" 

• Expand your cultural knowledge. Dave Barry at CollegeView believes: "Summer seems to invite students to turn off their brains and recline into three months of MTV, game shows, video games, and soap opera digest.  Don’t be one of those.  Go to the library and check out some classics or some poetry.  Stimulate your brain.  Even if you can make it through only one good book this summer, you’ll be ahead of the game."

Summer may have officially begun, but for fall college applicants, this is just the pre-season to admissions. Now's the time to get a headstart on the process and make things easier come autumn. With three months of vacation, students can kick back, relax, and still have plenty of time to get ready for the piles of applications that await. Here are some tips on how to maximize your productivity this summer and make the fall a breeze:

• Get experience. MyCollegeCalendar.org suggests: "There are opportunities for unpaid internships, local community volunteer programs, domestic or foreign volunteer programs, community college courses, high school advanced credit courses, and other pursuits."

• Explore your college options. Such A Smart Mom says: "Be sure to factor in your GPA and any SAT or ACT test results as you narrow your choices. If you have certain schools in mind, spend time looking over their websites. The National Center for Education Statistics’ College Navigator has great information about graduation rates, freshman student retention rates, admittance rates and financial aid awards for colleges. Simply type in the name of a school near the top of the page in the section aptly labeled Name of School."
  

• Sneak in a campus tour. Steve Cohen at Zinch.com lets us in on a secret: "One real plus of summer visits is that some colleges only conduct personal interviews during the summer months. That’s because admissions officers are usually on the road in the fall visiting high schools. So check ahead and see if the colleges you’re considering will schedule an interview." 
  

• Create a resume. Michael Streich writes: "Summertime offers many undisturbed hours to gather four-year’s worth of high school accolades in order to develop a resume. Students should bear in mind that many applications will have separate forms listing extracurricular activities and volunteerism."

• Have fun. MyUSearch Blog offers the following parting advice: "Use the summer to really reflect on the things that you hold most valuable. If you could do anything, without commitments for one full week, what would it be? When you have that answer, ask yourself why you value that activity so much and think about how college will help make this activity more than just something you can do in your free time.

If you're in high school, your parents and guidance counselors are likely pushing you to do some sort of community service work. They've probably told you the following a million times: "It will look great on your resume!" "You will be helping people in need!" "It will make you look well-rounded!"  However, community service doesn't just look good on a college application. Nowadays, volunteering for free can literally pay off in the form of scholarships and even full rides, reports USA Today.

Sure, star athletes and geniuses are still first in line for the annual $29 billion in institutional grants given out by colleges, but there is a growing trend in what are called service scholarships. Schools such as The College of New Jersey, Tufts University, and Drew University have implemented major service scholarship programs to help those who give back.  

The USA Today article discusses a young woman from Rochester, New York, who was always very active in community service. She thought that would make colleges more likely to accept her, but she was shocked when she opened up an envelope and found that Drew University was offering her a service scholarship that would cover her entire tuition (which is about $36,000 a year).

While these service scholarships award students for helping the community while in high school, once they get a service scholarship to a college, the hard work doesn't end there. In order to attend, most of the schools require you to fulfill a certain number of community service hours (sometimes up to 300 hours per year). However, the community service activities are frequently related to classroom learning.   

Schools and organizations that are beginning to add more service scholarship programs hope this will help take away a little emphasis on grades and put more on giving back to the community.