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.

You might have been raised to believe that bragging is impolite, but if you plan on getting into the college of your dreams, then you'd better rethink that philosophy. Not only is bragging about yourself perfectly acceptable, but it is also a vital part of the college application process. After all, your grades and test scores can only say so much about you, but when it comes to community service and extracurricular activities, you’d better start boasting—and a brag sheet will help you do so.

What is a brag sheet? A brag sheet is like a resume: it lists your accomplishments organized by school year and category (such as sports, clubs, and community service). You'll want to include information like the number of hours you've spent on each activity, positions you've held, and awards you've won. When college or scholarship applications ask you to list your extracurricular activities, you can refer to your brag sheet in order to fill in the information quickly. Rather than racking your brains for every last hour of volunteering you completed, it will all be there on your handy-dandy brag sheet. It’s a great timesaver!

Like a resume, the brag sheet is also a great way to prepare for an interview with an admissions counselor. Reread it before you go in to refresh your memory, so you are not left stumped when asked about your leadership skills or what you did last summer. After all, attending a Glee Club rehearsal or a lacrosse practice might have become second nature to you, which is why you need the brag sheet to help remind you of all your accomplishments outside of the classroom. The brag sheet is also helpful to give to the teachers whom you are asking to write recommendation letters; they know you well in the classroom, but the brag sheet gives them a sense of who you are after the school bell rings.

Your brag sheet is a work in progress. Update it on a regular basis so that it is always ready to go, whether you are applying for college, a scholarship, or even a part-time job. Brag on! Remember, colleges not only want smart students, they want active ones as well so that their campuses remain exciting and vibrant places to be.

Spring is here, and with warmer temperatures and greener grass comes something that has plagued many soon-to-be high school graduates: senioritis. Even the most hardworking students feel the urge to ditch the books in favor of any little distraction that comes their way during the final weeks before graduation.

Chances are, you have been hit with your own strain of senioritis, particularly if you have already been accepted to college and have sent in your enrollment deposit. What’s wrong with celebrating by kicking back and relaxing a bit? Nothing at all, provided it doesn’t get in the way of finishing your final semester on a high note. Many seniors write it off as urban legend, but it’s true: colleges have indeed been known to revoke scholarships and, in some extreme cases, rethink acceptances when they receive the abysmal final transcripts of seniors who checked out early.

Even though you are in the home stretch, it can feel like the longest few weeks you’ll ever have to endure. So what’s a senior to do? Here are a few ideas to tide you over until you can slam your locker for the very last time:

1. Get plenty of rest. You don’t have to be majoring in rocket science next year to know that when you are well rested, you can pretty much handle anything. If you can get a full eight hours of sleep per night, you’ll be more refreshed and will finish your homework much more quickly than if you’re dragging your feet. The quicker you finish your homework, the more time you’ll have to do whatever it is you’d rather be doing.

2. Get some fresh air. It’s been a long winter for many of us, so be sure to enjoy the good stuff that Mother Nature is starting to throw us. Take a break every so often from homework and go for a short walk, even if it’s just around the corner. Better yet, kill two birds with one stone and take your books outside—sunshine and a warm breeze while you study might be just the trick to help you get through that last act of Shakespeare or that massive list of Spanish vocabulary.

3.  Keep your eye on the prize. Stick your acceptance letter to the refrigerator door. Start wearing your soon-to-be college tee shirt. Paint your room in the colors of your chosen school. Do whatever you need to do to remind yourself that you worked hard over the past four years to get where you are today, and that you will NOT allow the few remaining weeks of school to undo it all. If you have to program your alarm clock so that you wake up to your college’s fight song, do it. Start each day knowing that it’s one more day closer to the summer, when you can finally take a break from your schoolwork.

Don’t let senioritis get the best of you. Make a strong push to get through the rest of the semester and then you’ll have the whole summer to do as you please.